The great danger of conversion in all ages has been that when the religion of the high mind is offered to the lower mind, the lowe...r mind, feeling its fascination without understanding it, and being incapable of rising to it, drags it down to its level by degrading it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sobe...r one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Christianity as a specific doctrine was slain with Jesus, suddenly and utterly. He was hardly cold in his grave, or high in his he...aven (as you please), before the apostles dragged the tradition of him down to the level of the thing it has remained ever since.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I must remind you that our credulity is not to be measured by the truth of the things we believe. When men believed that the earth... was flat, they were not credulous: they were using their common sense, and, if asked to prove that the earth was flat, would have said simply, "Look at it." Those who refuse to believe that it is round are exercising a wholesome skepticism.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If it could be proved today that not one of the miracles of Jesus actually occurred, that proof would not invalidate a single one ...of his didactic utterances; and conversely, if it could be proved that not only did the miracles actually occur, but that he had wrought a thousand other miracles a thousand times more wonderful, not a jot of weight would be added to his doctrine.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »