2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People With the Courage to Doubt
Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief
Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism
Joseph Lewis
Joseph Lewis Quotes
From
Wikipedia
Joseph Lewis (1889-1968) American philanthropist and publisher, an
author, teacher, and advocate of atheism and freethought. Although he
came from a Jewish background, he abandoned religion early in his life
and became largely self-educated. Founder of Freethought Press Association,
and known for giving away many thousands of copies of Thomas Paine's Age
of Reason to high-school students. Joseph Lewis was born in Montgomery,
Alabama, where he left school at age nine to find employment. Self-educated,
he read Robert G. Ingersoll and Thomas Paine his life-long "idol."
Moving to New York City in 1920, Lewis became president of Freethinkers
of America, a position he held his entire life. He started his own publishing
house, the Freethought Press Association.(more)
Joseph Lewis Bibliography
* Lincoln, the Freethinker (1925)
* Jefferson, the Freethinker (1925)
* The Bible Unmasked (1926)
* Franklin, the Freethinker (1926)
* Burbank, the Infidel (1929)
* Voltaire, the Incomparable Infidel (1929)
* Atheism, a collection of his public addresses (1930)
* The Bible and the Public Schools (1931)
* Should Children Receive Religious Instruction? (1933)
* The Ten Commandments (1946)
* Thomas Paine, Author of the Declaration of Independence (1947)
* In the Name of Humanity (1949)
* An Atheist Manifesto (1954)
Many ask what difference does it make whether man believes in a God or not. It makes a big difference. It makes all the difference in the world. It is the difference between being right and being wrong; it is the difference between truth and surmises -- facts or delusion. It is the difference between the earth being flat, and the earth being round. It is the difference between the earth being the center of the universe, or a tiny speck in this vast and uncharted sea of multitudinous suns and galaxies. It is the difference in the proper concept of life, or conclusions based upon illusion. It is the difference between verified knowledge and the faith of religion. It is a question of Progress or the Dark Ages. The history of man proves that religion perverts man's concept of life and the universe, and has made him a cringing coward before the blind forces of nature. If you believe that there is a God; that man was "created"; that he was forbidden to eat of the fruit of the "tree of knowledge"; that he disobeyed; that he is a "fallen angel"; that he is paying the penalty for his "sins," then you devote your time praying to appease an angry and jealous God. If, on the other hand, you believe that the universe is a great mystery; that man is the product of evolution; that he is born without knowledge; that intelligence comes from experience, then you devote your time and energies to improving his condition with the hope of securing a little happiness here for yourself and your fellow man. That is the difference. (more)
“Let me tell you that religion is the cruelest fraud ever perpetrated upon the human race. It is the last of the great scheme of thievery that man must legally prohibit so as to protect himself from the charlatans who prey upon the ignorance and fears of the people. The penalty for this type of extortion should be as severe as it is of other forms of dishonesty.”
Articles and Links on
Joseph Lewis
The
Ten Commandments
by Joseph Lewis
Were we not quoting the words of one who is supposed to be the God of
the universe, we would judge them to have been uttered by some braggadocio
leader who was trying to impress his followers with the great deed he
had performed.
If George Washington, the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army,
had made a similar statement at the conclusion of our War for Independence,
much of his value as a leader would have been lost.
Egotism and self-praise are not very commendable qualities. Accomplishments
should speak for themselves. It is rarely necessary to make worthy deeds
appreciated by boasting about them.
Does anyone really believe that if there is a God over this vast universe,
he would be so small and petty as to make the egotistical statement which
constitutes the first declaration of the Decalogue? Does anyone really
believe that this is the most important message such a God could impart
to the children of the earth to express his importance and as a manifestation
of his power? Is it possible that there are those who believe these are
the words of a God who is considered the Creator and Ruler of the universe,
the Almighty One who is responsible for all that is?
This Commandment [the second] reveals the brutality of the
Bible Deity and makes the Decalogue an instrument of intolerance, persecution,
fanaticism and oppression.
How can anyone worship a God who shamelessly expresses his malevolence
in these words: "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me"? What a monstrous God of the universe
it must be who would make a special Commandment to emphasize his jealous
and vindictive nature, and to stipulate the curse he would inflict upon
his poor, helpless creatures who fail to worship him!
Since religion fashions its code of conduct upon the morality of its gods,
are we to assume that the character of the Bible God is to be emulated?
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