A selection of thought provoking and possibly controversial excerpts from books I have read.
Our scientific and technological progress has, for the first time in history, given us many ways of causing the extinction of our own species. This is neither good nor bad. It is simply the outcome of a cumulative system of knowledge. But flawed as it may be, science is at present the best method we have for doing what we want it to do. (Why People Believe Weird Things - Michael Shermer)
All the ideas of the church are recognised for what they are-as the worst counterfeits in existence, invented to debase nature and all natural values; the priest himself is seen as he actually is-as the most dangerous form of parasite, as the venomous spider of creation. (Antichrist - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche)
(1) More than two thousand years ago, according to Lactance, the wise epicure said: "Either God wants to prevent evil, and can not, or he can and will not; or he he neither can nor will, or he will and can. If he wants to without the power, he is impotent; if he can and will not he is guilty of malice which we can not attribute to him; if he neither can nor will, he is both impotent and wicked, and consequently can not be god; if he wishes to and can, whence then comes evil, or why does not he prevent it?" For more than two thousand years honest minds have waited for a rational solution of these difficulties; and our theologians teach us that they will not be revealed to us until the future life.
(2) Ignorance and fear are the two pivots of all religion. The uncertainty attending man's relation to his God is precisely the motive which attaches him to his religion. Man is afraid when in darkness-physical or moral. His fear is habitual to him and becomes a necessity; he would believe that he lacked something if he had nothing to fear.
(3) How is it that we have succeeded in persuading reasonable beings that the things most impossible to understand was the most essential for them. It is because they were greatly frightened; it is because when men are kept in fear they cease to reason; it is because they have been expressly enjoined to distrust their reason. When the brain is troubled, we believe everything and examine nothing.
(4) If religion was clear, it would have fewer attractions for the ignorant. they need obscurity, mysteries, fables, miracles, incredible things, which keep their brains perpetually at work. Romances, idle stories, tales of ghosts and witches, have more charms for the vulgar than true narrative.
(5) In the matter of religion men are but overgrown children. The more absurd a religion is, and the fuller of marvels, the more power it exerts; the devotee thinks himself obliged to place no limits to his credulity; the more inconceivable things are, the more divine they appear to him;the more incredible they are, the more merit he gives himself for believing them. (Superstition In All Ages - A dying confession of a Roman Catholic priest - Jean Meslier)
A muslim girl does not make decisions or seek control. She is trained to be docile. If you are a Muslim girl, you disappear, until there is almost no you inside you. In Islam, becoming an individual is not a necessary development; many people, especially women, never develop a clear individual will. You submit: that is the literal meaning of the word Islam: submission. The goal is to become quiet inside, so that you never raise your eyes, not even inside your mind. (Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
The dawn of a Muslim Reformation is the right moment to remind ourselves that the right to think, to speak, and to write in freedom and without fear is ultimately a more sacred thing than any religion. (Heretic - Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
Preface by Michael Ford - Adolph Hitler-Mein Kampf
(1) Unfortunately, many people are afraid that if they do not violently reject anything connected to Mein Kampf, and reject it in a showy way so that everyone sees their public display of rejection, then it somehow means they approve of the Holocaust. Of course, that is not logical reasoning and it seems silly when it is spelled out, but people often live by their gut reaction and do not think about why they dislike Mein Kampf—they just know they “do” or that they “should”. They are driven by fear, which leads to a hatred of Mein Kampf without a rational basis and without the need to read it in order to understand what it says. They want to live in a simple world where they can conveniently dismiss Hitler as a raving lunatic along with anyone else who does not immediately jump up at the mention of his name to join in the shouting match."
(2) Reading is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. In the first place, it should help to fulfill an individual’s personal framework and give each person the tools and materials a man needs in his job or profession, whether it is for daily necessity, simple physical fulfillment, or higher destiny. In the second place, reading should give a man a general picture of the world. In either case, what is read shouldn’t simply be stored in the memory like a list of facts and figures. The facts, like bits of a mosaic tile, should come together as a general image of the world, helping to shape this world image in the reader’s head. Otherwise, there will be a confusion of information learned, and the worthless mix of facts gives the unhappy possessor an undeserved high opinion of himself. He seriously believes he is “cultured and learned” while thinking he has some understanding of life and is knowledgeable simply because he has a stack of books by his bed. Actually, every piece of new information takes him further away from the real world, until often he ends up either in a psychiatric hospital or as a “politician” in government.
(3) Never forget that the highest purpose of man's existence is the preservation of his own kind and not the maintenance of state or government. The question of legality is secondary if the survival of the race is at stake and they may be pushed aside or destroyed. Even though the methods used by the ruling power are a thousand times "legal", the self preservation of the oppressed is always the most noble justification for a struggle using any and every weapon. The truth of this statement can be seen by anyone, and the earth's history shows tremendous examples in the wars of independence against inward or outward enslavement of peoples.
(4) Readers can be divided into three groups: Those who believe everything they read; those who no longer believe anything they read; and those minds which critically examine what they read and then form their own judgments about the accuracy of the information. The first group who believes everything they read is the largest and strongest because they are composed of the broad masses of the population. These great masses of the people represent the most simple-minded part of the nation. It cannot, however, be divided by occupation, only by general degrees of intelligence. This group includes those who have not been born with the gift of, or trained for independent thinking and who believe anything which is printed in black and white. This is partly because of inability and partly through incompetence. This group also encompasses a class of lazy people who could think for themselves, but who gratefully accept anything someone else has already put any thinking-effort into on the humble assumption that he worked hard for his opinion so it must be right. All these groups represent the great mass of the people and the influence of the press on them will be enormous. Since they are unable or unwilling to weigh what is offered to them and evaluate it for themselves, their approach to every daily problem is totally determined by how they are influenced by others. This may be an advantage if their understanding is fed by serious and truth-loving persons, but it will be disastrous if they are led by scoundrels and liars. In number, the second group who does not believe anything they read is considerably smaller. It is partially made up of those who once belonged to the first group of total-believers. Then, after continued disappointments, they have switched to the opposite extreme and now believe nothing in print. They hate all newspapers and either do not read them at all, or fly into a rage over the contents which they believe to be nothing but lies and deceptions. These people are very hard to deal with because they will always be suspicious, even of the truth. They are useless when it comes to accomplishing any positive work. The third group who reads and evaluates for themselves is by far the smallest. It consists of those really fine minds, which have been educated and through training or maybe are naturally capable of independent thinking. They try to form their own judgments on everything and they subject everything they read to a repeated, thorough scrutiny and further develop the implications and meaning for themselves. They never look at a newspaper without mentally taking part in the writing and then Mr. Writer’s task is no easy one. Journalists have a reserved, perhaps limited appreciation for such readers. To the members of this third group, the nonsense which a newspaper may choose to scribble is not dangerous or even significant. They have usually become accustomed in the course of a lifetime to regard every journalist as a rogue who happens to sometimes tell the truth. Unfortunately, the importance of these splendid figures is only in their intelligence and not in their number. There are too few of them to have a significant impact. It is unfortunate that during this age wisdom means nothing and majority means everything! Today, when the voting ballots of the masses are final, the deciding factor is the highest number——that is the largest group and this is the first group I discussed. This is the crowd of the simple-minded or most gullible citizens. The State has a prime interest in preventing these people from falling into the hands of bad, ignorant, or evil-intentioned gurus. It is, therefore, the State’s duty to supervise their education and prevent any mischief from being performed. In doing so, the State must keep a particularly sharp eye on the press. The press’ influence on such people is by far the strongest and most penetrating because it is exerted continuously and not just momentarily. It is the continuous, consistent repetition of this educational instruction that makes it enormously important. The State must also remember that all means must point towards the same end. It must not be misled by chatter about so-called “freedom of the press” into neglecting its duty. The State must never deprive or allow others to deprive the nation of the nourishment it needs and can thrive on—the nourishment that is good and can accomplish good. The State must use ruthless determination to keep control of this instrument of popular education and make certain it is placed in the service of the State and the Nation. (Mein Kampf New Ford Translation)