Internet memes have become a very popular method of sharing inspirational quotes, words of wisdom, and humor on social networking sites. A meme, as used in cyberspace, is an idea, a concept, or any information which is replicated or spread via the internet. Most memes are commonly made using symbolic images, pictures, or videos, and are effective ways of making strong statements with minimal words. For my final offering for 2012, I have decided to share some of my favorite quotations from my collection of memes, which I hope will both summarize and paraphrase my views on God and religion.
“Atheism isn’t a religion. It’s a personal relationship with reality.” Unknown
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” Stephen Roberts
“Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does.” Unknown
“Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.” George Carlin
“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing, all-powerful God, who creates faulty humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” Gene Roddenberry
“Science adjusts its views based on what’s observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved.” Tim Minchin
“Truth does not demand belief. Scientists do not join hands every Sunday, singing, “Yes, gravity is real! I will have faith! I will be strong! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down. Amen!” If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about it.” Dan Barker
“Evolution is just a theory? Well so is gravity and I don’t see you jumping out of buildings.” Unknown
“If our thoughts and actions can lessen or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent, God is the slave and victim of man.” Robert Ingersoll
“God doesn’t cause tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods. Tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods caused Gods.” Unknown
“If faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the entire staircase, then intelligence is never trying to climb stairs that aren’t really there in the first place.” Unknown
“If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the absence of prayers.” Steve Allen
“If you don’t understand something, and the community of physicists doesn’t understand something, does that mean that God did it? Is that how you want to play this
game . . .? So if that’s how you want to invoke your evidence for God, then God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that gets smaller and smaller and smaller as time goes on.” Neil deGrasse Tyson
“No. you can’t deny women their basic rights and pretend it’s about your ‘religious freedom’. If you don’t like birth control, don’t use it. Religious freedom doesn’t mean you can force others to live by your own beliefs.” Barack Obama
“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.” Emo Phillips
“If I were not an atheist, 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, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.” Isaac Asimov
“Dear Mary, Just admit that you slept with someone else. This is getting out of hand.
Sincerely, Joseph.”
