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I’ve begun worshipping the sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the sun. It’s there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, and a lovely day. There’s no mystery, no-one asks for money, I don’t have to dress up, and there’s no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to ‘God’ are all answered at about the same 50% rate. George Carlin, Brain Droppings
I am one God and if you don’t worship me you will burn for ever. Gore Vidal
The Christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: both are derived from the worship of the Sun. The difference between their origin is, that the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun. Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell. C S Lewis
... a God who could make good children as easily a bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell – mouths mercy, and invented hell – mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him! Mark Twain, No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger
If I were to construct a God I would furnish Him with some way and qualities and characteristics which the Present lacks. He would not stoop to ask for any man’s compliments, praises, flatteries; and He would be far above exacting them. I would have Him as self-respecting as the better sort of man in these regards.
He would not be a merchant, a trader. He would not buy these things. He would not sell, or offer to sell, temporary benefits of the joys of eternity for the product called worship. I would have Him as dignified as the better sort of man in this regard.
He would value no love but the love born of kindnesses conferred; not that born of benevolences contracted for. Repentance in a man’s heart for a wrong done would cancel and annul that sin; and no verbal prayers for forgiveness be required or desired or expected of that man.
In His Bible there would be no Unforgiveable Sin. He would recognize in Himself the Author and Inventor of Sin and Author and Inventor of the Vehicle and Appliances for its commission; and would place the whole responsibility where it would of right belong: upon Himself, the only Sinner.
He would not be a jealous God – a trait so small that even men despise it in each other.
He would not boast.
He would keep private His admirations of Himself; He would regard self-praise as unbecoming the dignity of his position.
He would not have the spirit of vengeance in His heart. Then it would not issue from His lips.
There would not be any hell – except the one we live in from the cradle to the grave.
There would not be any heaven – the kind described in the world’s Bibles.
He would spend some of His eternities in trying to forgive Himself for making man unhappy when he could have made him happy with the same effort and he would spend the rest of them in studying astronomy. Mark Twain, notebook
As well as being man-made, it’s fear-made ... At its worse it’s the undeveloped part of the psyche that leads to totalitarianism that wants to worship, that wants a boss. That wants a celestial dictatorship. Christopher Hitchens v Rabbi David Wolpe, debate Boston 2010
Is it good for the world to appeal to our credulity and not to our scepticism? Is it good for the world to worship a deity that takes sides in wars and human affairs? Christopher Hitchens v Tony Blair: Is Religion a Force for Good in the World? 2010
Well there are people who think talking to a wall is actually a form of divine worship. Christopher Hitchens vs Tony Blair
Sigmund Freud was quite correct to describe the religious impulse, in The Future of an Illusion, as essentially ineradicable until or unless the human species can conquer its fear of death and its tendency to wish-thinking. Neither contingency seems very probable. All that the totalitarians have demonstrated is that the religious impulse – the need to worship – can take even more monstrous forms if it is repressed. This might not necessarily be a compliment to our worshipping society. Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great p247
The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. Edward Gibbon, 1737-94, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Perhaps we have to confront the fact that we’re hardwired for religion too. That no amount of rationality or science or modernity is ever going to relieve us of it. This is what we are – most of us ... The problem I think for atheists is that there are so many very clever sane responsible people like the Archbishop of Canterbury who believe in a sky-God. And who think that gathering in a large beautiful barn on a Sunday and sending up your thoughts is actually going to influence future events. It does seem a remarkable set of beliefs to me. Ian McEwan, interview Richard Dawkins
Why are we so afraid to let go of the antiquated belief systems by which we were raised? What if our great, great, great, great and then some grandparents were wrong? What if those who viewed lighting as God’s wrath were mistaken? What if their primitive interpretations were wrong? Moreover, what harm could come in at least exploring the tools of science as a means to fortify ourselves, as a means to minimize life’s pain and maximize our happiness?
So, which will it be? Are we to accept the underlying principles conceived in scientific method – reason – or are we to obstinately hold on to those antiquated belief systems that spring from our pre-scientific, ignorant past?
... Besides, if there truly is no spiritual reality, just think of all the energy we’ve wasted in practicing our illusionary beliefs. Think of all the useless rituals and ceremonies we’ve performed, all of the sacrifices we’ve made, the shrines we’re built, the purses we’ve filled, the gods to whom we’ve worshipped and prayed and, meanwhile all of it in vain. Matthew Alper, The God Part of the Brain
When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet III ii @21
The adoration of the sun was one of the earliest and most natural forms of religious expression ... From a deep philosophic consideration of the powers and principles of the sun has come the concept of the Trinity as it is understood in the world today ... This orb, being the symbol of all Light, has three distinct phases: rising, midday and setting. The coming of the sun was hailed with joy; the time of its departure was viewed as a period to be set aside for sorrow and unhappiness. Manly Palmer Hall, The Secret Teaching of All Ages
Is this Tree of Life a God one could worship? Pray to? Fear? Probably not. But it did make the ivy twine and the sky so blue, so perhaps the song I love tells a truth after all. The Tree of Life is neither perfect nor infinite in space or time, but it is actual, and if it is not Anselm’s ‘Being greater than which nothing can be conceived’, it is surely a being that is greater than anything any of us will ever conceive of in detail worthy of its detail. Is something sacred? Yes, say I with Nietzsche. I could not pray to it, but I can stand in affirmation of its magnificence. This world is sacred. Daniel C Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolutions and the Meaning of Life
How could they worship a golden calf after all they had come to know about God? Mysteries of the Bible s4e11: Ten Commandments, A&E 1994
Why be a god if there’s no-one to worship you? Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s7e6: Treachery, Faith & the Great River, Weyoun to Odo
And, Melchie, still worshipping God? Last thing I heard he started worshipping me. Blackadder II: Bells, Lord Flashheart to Melchett, BBC 1986