Antireligion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antireligion is opposition to all religions. People who are antireligious may see religions as dangerous, destructive, divisive, foolish, or absurd. This opposition may be confined to just organized religions such as Christianity, Islam, or Scientology, or may be more general to include all forms of belief and superstition. For this reason people who are antireligious may not always be lacking in, or have absence of, spirituality.
Antireligion is often based on arguments against the validity, usefulness, or ethicality of religion.
An example of an antireligious organization is the Society of the Godless.
[edit] Notable antireligious people
- Douglas Adams, science fiction writer
- Brandon Boyd, Incubus frontman, who although anti-religious [1] remains spiritual[2]
- George Carlin, comedian and author
- Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist and evolutionary biologist.
- Harlan Ellison, science fiction writer, called religion "the last vestige of barbarism."
- Johann Hari - British atheist journalist and describes himself as "anti-theist"
- Christopher Hitchens, political writer
- Enver Hoxha, leader of Albania[3]
- David Hume - "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion"
- Elton John, singer [4]
- Vladimir Lenin - Shut down religious institutions in general in the early Soviet Union. [citation needed]
- Karl Marx - Called religion the opium of the people. To free man from illusory happiness is to get rid of religion.
- Friedrich Nietzsche - "The Antichrist", general antireligious statements in many other works.
- Bertrand Russell, Agnostic British philosopher[5]
- Joseph Stalin (partially) - Continued general persecution of religious institutions in the Soviet Union after Lenin died; however, revived fortunes of the Eastern Orthodox Church during World War II as a patriotic organization.
- Voltaire - opposed Christian beliefs fiercely but not consistently. On one hand, he claimed that the Gospels were fabricated and Jesus did not exist - that they were produced by those who wanted to create God in their own image and were full of discrepancies. However, he believed in God based on reason and not on any of the religious books of any of the various revealed religions
[edit] References
- ^ Brandon on his song meanings Favorite things is my personal beliefs about religion and how it oppresses the things I enjoy the most. Unfortunately, the simplest things, such as thinking for myself, creating my own reality and being whatever the hell I want to be each day of my life, are a sin. To be a good Christian basically means to give up the reigns of your life and let some unseen force do it for you.
- ^ Interview with Brandon Boyd of Incubus "The energy I have experienced has definitely been feminine at its core. At the same time though, I've come to the conclusion that by putting a type of sex on it, one way or the other, you limit the energy. At this point, it, stressing the word "it," is far beyond my capability."
- ^ Established the first instance of official state atheism where possession of religious objects such as a Qur'an or a Bible led to prison sentences.
- ^ Said he "would ban religion completely" because it "promotes the hatred and spite against gays" and "doesn't work."
- ^ "I think all the great religions of the world - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Communism - both untrue and harmful. It is evident as a matter of logic that, since they disagree, not more than one of them can be true. ... I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue." Bertrand Russell, 1957, from My Religious Reminiscences reprinted in The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell[1]
