If the answers to prayer are merely what God wills all along, then why pray? Dan Barker More Quotes by Dan Barker More Quotes From Dan Barker People are invariably surprised to hear me say I am both an atheist and an agnostic, as if this somehow weakens my certainty. I usually reply with a question like, “Well, are you a Republican or an American?” The two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism addresses knowledge; atheism addresses belief. The agnostic says, “I don't have a knowledge that God exists.” The atheist says, “I don't have a belief that God exists.” You can say both things at the same time. Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic. Dan Barker atheist two people Truth does not demand belief. Scientists do not join hands every Sunday, singing, 'Yes, gravity is real! I will have faith!' Dan Barker sunday real hands There are many gods which Christians reject. I just believe in one less god then they do. The reasons that you might give for your atheism toward the Roman gods are likely the same reasons I would give for not believing in Jesus. Dan Barker christian god jesus It is a fact of history and of current events that human beings exaggerate, misinterpret, or wrongly remember events. They have also fabricated pious fraud. Most believers in a religion understand this when examining the claims of other religions. Dan Barker current-events atheism religion You can cite a hundred references to show that the biblical God is a bloodthirsty tyrant, but if they can dig up two or three verses that say "God is love" they will claim that you are taking things out of context! Dan Barker tyrants biblical bible If the Prodigal Son's a parable, and if Adam and Eve are metaphors, then maybe God is just figure of speech. Dan Barker atheism speech son Not thinking critically, I assumed that the successful prayers were proof that God answers prayer while the failures were proof that there was something wrong with me. Dan Barker successful prayer thinking Theology is a subject without an object Dan Barker theology objects subjects Freethought is respectable. Freethought is crucial. Freethought needs to be publicized. Dan Barker respectable needs religion Truth does not demand belief. Dan Barker demand belief doe The trouble is that neutrality is confused with hostility. We're not disrupting churches, or interrupting people's prayers. We're not fighting religion. Dan Barker confused fighting prayer It's not easy to change world views. Faith has its own momentum and belief is comfortable. To restructure reality is traumatic and scary. That is why many intelligent people continue to believe: unbelief is an unknown. Dan Barker intelligent faith believe Isn't atheism just another religion?' No, it isn't. Atheism has no creeds, rituals, holy book, absolute moral code, origin myth, sacred spaces or shrines. It has no sin, divine judgment, forbidden words, prayer, worship, prophecy, group privileges, or anointed 'holy' leaders. Atheists don't believe in a transcendent world or supernatural afterlife. Most important, there is no orthodoxy in atheism. Dan Barker atheist prayer book In any open question, we should argue from what we do know to what we do not know. We do know that fervent legends and stubborn myths arise easily and naturally. We do not know that dead people rise from the grave. Dan Barker stubborn people religion As humanists, we urge today, as in the past that humans not look beyond themselves for salvation. We alone are responsible for our own destiny and the best we can do is muster our intelligence, courage, and compassion to realize our highest aspirations. Dan Barker destiny compassion past Faith is not the result of fuzy thinking. It is the cause of it. Dan Barker causes faith thinking I threw out all the bath water, and there was no baby there. Dan Barker bible baby water It is wrong for a secular government to promote prayer. We think the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. What if the president declared a National Day of Cursing God because He failed us on September 11? Americans would say, "You've overstepped your authority." That's how we feel when he promotes prayer. Dan Barker government prayer thinking Only sinners need saviors. Dan Barker savior sinner needs Either in or out of time, the decision of a personal agency to commit an action happens antecedent to the action itself. Even if the deciding and the acting happened simultaneously, it would still not be true that the acting was antecedent to the deciding. Imagine God saying, "Oh, look! I just created a universe. Now I'd better decide to do it. Dan Barker agency acting decision
