Galen Strawson :
It is an insult to God to believe in God. For on the one hand it is to suppose that he has perpetrated acts of incalculable cruelty. On the other hand, it is to suppose that he has perversely given his human creatures an instrument -- their intellect -- which must inevitably lead them, if they are dispassionate and honest, to deny his existence. It is tempting to conclude that if he exists, it is the atheists and agnostics that he loves best, among those with any pretensions to education. For they are the ones who have taken him most seriously.
#
God
#
Freedom
#
Power
Gift it
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=8866&author=Galen Strawson"e=++It+is+an+insult+to+God+to+believe+in+God.+For+on+the+one+hand+it+is+to+suppose+that+he+has+perpetrated+acts+of+incalculable+cruelty.+On+the+other+hand%2C+it+is+to+suppose+that+he+has+perversely+given+his+human+creatures+an+instrument+--+their+intellect+--+which+must+inevitably+lead+them%2C+if+they+are+dispassionate+and+honest%2C+to+deny+his+existence.+It+is+tempting+to+conclude+that+if+he+exists%2C+it+is+the+atheists+and+agnostics+that+he+loves+best%2C+among+those+with+any+pretensions+to+education.+For+they+are+the+ones+who+have+taken+him+most+seriously.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F3244%2FGalen+Strawson_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=77926&author=Dinah Maria Mulock Craik"e=Though+it+is+folly+to+suppose+that+happiness+is+a+matter+of+volition%2C+and+that+we+can+make+ourselves+content+and+cheerful+whenever+we+choose+%E2%80%94+a+theory+that+many+poor+hypochondriacs+are+taunted+with+till+they+are+nigh+driven+mad+%E2%80%94+yet%2C+on+the+other+hand%2C+no+sane+mind+is+ever+left+without+the+power+of+self-discipline+and+self-control+in+a+measure%2C+which+measure+increases+in+proportion+as+it+is+exercised.+%7E+Ch.+10&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2571%2FDinah+Maria+Mulock+Craik_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=23676&author=Sir W Temple"e=++We+shall+say+without+hesitation+that+the+atheist+who+is+moved+by+love+is+moved+by+the+Spirit+of+God%3B+an+atheist+who+lives+by+love+is+saved+by+his+faith+in+the+God+whose+existence+%28under+that+name%29+he+denies.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F13075%2FSir+W_Temple_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=23661&author=Boris Pasternak"e=++What+you+don%27t+understand+is+that+it+is+possible+to+be+an+atheist%2C+it+is+possible+not+to+know+if+God+exists+or+why+He+should%2C+and+yet+to+believe+that+man+does+not+live+in+a+state+of+nature+but+in+history%2C+and+that+history+as+we+know+it+now+began+with+Christ%2C+it+was+founded+by+Him+on+the+Gospels.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2548%2FBoris_Pasternak_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=78410&author=Charles R Darwin"e=With+respect+to+the+theological+view+of+the+question%3A+This+is+always+painful+to+me.+I+am+bewildered.+I+had+no+intention+to+write+atheistically%2C+but+I+own+that+I+cannot+see+as+plainly+as+others+do%2C+and+as+I+should+wish+to+do%2C+evidence+of+design+and+beneficence+on+all+sides+of+us.+There+seems+to+me+too+much+misery+in+the+world.+I+cannot+persuade+myself+that+a+beneficent+and+omnipotent+God+would+have+designedly+created+the+Ichneumonidae+with+the+express+intention+of+their+feeding+within+the+living+bodies+of+caterpillars+or+that+a+cat+should+play+with+mice...+On+the+other+hand%2C+I+cannot+anyhow+be+contented+to+view+this+wonderful+universe%2C+and+especially+the+nature+of+man%2C+and+to+conclude+that+everything+is+the+result+of+brute+force.+I+am+inclined+to+look+at+everything+as+resulting+from+designed+laws%2C+with+the+details%2C+whether+good+or+bad%2C+left+to+the+working+out+of+what+we+may+call+chance.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1379%2FCharles+R+Darwin_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=113546&author=Johann Wolfgang von Gogh Goethe"e=That+God+of+the+clergymen%2C+He+is+for+me+as+dead+as+a+doornail.+But+am+I+an+atheist+for+all+that%3F+The+clergymen+consider+me+as+such+%E2%80%94+be+it+so%3B+but+I+love%2C+and+how+could+I+feel+love+if+I+did+not+live%2C+and+if+others+did+not+live%2C+and+then%2C+if+we+live%2C+there+is+something+mysterious+in+that.+Now+call+that+God%2C+or+human+nature+or+whatever+you+like%2C+but+there+is+something+which+I+cannot+define+systematically%2C+though+it+is+very+much+alive+and+very+real%2C+and+see%2C+that+is+God%2C+or+as+good+as+God.+To+believe+in+God+for+me+is+to+feel+that+there+is+a+God%2C+not+a+dead+one%2C+or+a+stuffed+one%2C+but+a+living+one%2C+who+with+irresistible+force+urges+us+toward+aimer+encore%3B+that+is+my+opinion.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F13993%2FJohann+Wolfgang+von+Gogh+Goethe_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=44518&author=Isaac Asimov"e=++If+I+were+not+an+atheist%2C+I+would+believe+in+a+God+who+would+choose+to+save+people+on+the+basis+of+the+totality+of+their+lives+and+not+the+pattern+of+their+words.+I+think+he+would+prefer+an+honest+and+righteous+atheist+to+a+TV+preacher+whose+every+word+is+God%2C+God%2C+God%2C+and+whose+every+deed+is+foul%2C+foul%2C+foul.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2787%2FIsaac_Asimov_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=55481&author=Source Unknown"e=To+believe+God+is+a+Privilege%2C+To+doubt+God+is+an+insult.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=23667&author=Olive Schreiner"e=++Now+we+have+no+God.+We+have+had+two%3A+the+old+God+that+our+fathers+handed+down+to+us%2C+that+we+hated%2C+and+never+liked%3B+the+new+one+that+we+made+for+ourselves%2C+that+we+loved%3B+but+now+he+has+flitted+away+from+us%2C+and+we+see+what+he+was+made+of+--+the+shadow+of+our+highest+ideal%2C+crowned+and+throned.+Now+we+have+no+God.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1184%2FOlive+Schreiner_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=23656&author=Gerald Kersh"e=++I+can%27t+believe+in+the+God+of+my+Fathers.+If+there+is+one+Mind+which+understands+all+things%2C+it+will+comprehend+me+in+my+unbelief.+I+don%27t+know+whose+hand+hung+Hesperus+in+the+sky%2C+and+fixed+the+Dog+Star%2C+and+scattered+the+shining+dust+of+Heaven%2C+and+fired+the+sun%2C+and+froze+the+darkness+between+the+lonely+worlds+that+spin+in+space.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F4258%2FGerald+Kersh_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=69577&author=Ingmar Bergman"e=People+think+there%27s+a+solution...+If+everything+is+distributed+in+the+proper+quarters%2C+put+into+the+right+pigeonholes%2C+everything+will+be+fine.+But+I%27m+not+so+sure.+...+Nothing%2C+absolutely+nothing+at+all+has+emerged+out+of+all+these+ideas+of+faith+and+scepticism%2C+all+these+convulsions%2C+these+puffings+and+blowings.+For+many+of+my+fellow+human+beings+on+the+other+hand%2C+I%27m+aware+that+these+problems+still+exist+%E2%80%94+and+exist+as+a+terrible+reality.+I+hope+this+generation+will+be+the+last+to+live+under+the+scourge+of+religious+anxiety.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F1497%2FIngmar+Bergman_64x64.png){kind=link}