It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not be a proof that religion is true. That would be an extension of pragmatism beyond endurance. Santa Claus makes children good in precisely the same way, and yet no one would argue seriously that the fact proves his existence. The defense of religion is full of such logical imbecilities. The theologians, taking one with another, are adept logicians, but every now and then they have to resort to sophistries so obvious that their whole case takes on an air of the ridiculous. Even the most logical religion starts out with patently false assumptions. It is often argued in support of this or that one that men are so devoted to it that they are willing to die for it. That, of course, is as silly as the Santa Claus proof. Other men are just as devoted to manifestly false religions, and just as willing to die for them. Every theologian spends a large part of his time and energy trying to prove that religions for which multitudes of honest men have fought and died are false, wicked, and against God.
H.L. MenckenTag: humor truth honesty existence energy morality death atheism endurance martyr wicked logic santa-claus assumptions devotion argument sacrifice false value proof ridiculous support santa pragmatism imbecility sophistry logicians theologians
Anything that thinks logically can be fooled by something else that thinks at least as logically as it does.
Douglas AdamsTag: logic
Shepherd Book: What are we up to, sweetheart?
River: Fixing your Bible.
Book: I, um... What?
River: Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics - doesn't make sense.
Shepherd Book: No, no. You-you-you can't...
River: So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem.
Shepherd Book: Really?
River: We'll have to call it early quantum state phenomenon. Only way to fit 5000 species of mammal on the same boat.
Shepherd Book: River, you don't fix the Bible.
River: It's broken. It doesn't make sense.
Book: It's not about making sense. It's about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you.
I think about stories and their logic and wonder if there can be any such thing as simply "there is a book.
Scarlett ThomasCynicism, like gullibility, is a symptom of underdeveloped critical faculties.
Jamie WhyteTag: cynicism logic critical-thinking
There are no things man was not meant to know. There are, perhaps, things man is too dumb to figure out, but that's a different problem.
Michael KurlandTag: humor science logic forbidden-knowledge
Takes more than combat gear to make a man
Takes more than a license for a gun
Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can
A gentleman will walk but never run
Tag: logic
[She wasn't] a logically reasoning woman, but God is good, and hearts may count in heaven as high as heads.
Charles DickensTag: god heaven logic hearts heads
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.
Dale CarnegieTag: people relationships prejudice vanity logic pride
I have often had a retrospective vision where everything in my past life seems to fall with significance into logical sequence.
Ansel AdamsTag: life hindsight logic sequence
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