The Rise of Atheism, ABC News, 30 September 2007, 1 September 2015 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3671172,
Alternate version: Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer.
2007-11-01
Excerpt from The Portable Atheist
USA Today
0161-7389
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2007-11-01-portable-atheist_N.htm
Hitchens posed this challenge many times in debate or during lectures, variously phrased, claiming no one had ever been able to pass it, although everyone could easily answer the corollary question: "Could you name a wicked action or a vile statement made by someone, attributable only to their religious faith?"
Christopher Hitchens Moral Challenge to the god fearing religious folks, YouTube, 20 June 2009, 1 September 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqFwree7Kak,
2000s, 2007
“No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.”
48
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)
On handling challenges - "TB Joshua Lambasts Money-Hungry Pastors, Politicians" http://vibeghana.com/2015/01/20/t-b-joshua-lambasts-money-hungry-pastors-politicians/ Vibe Ghana (January 20 2015)
“I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by married men.”
Referring to Jim McLay's comments on the effect of the nuclear ships ban on the exchange of military intelligence with New Zealand's allies.
Source: Gliding on the Lino: The Wit of David Lange, compiled by David Barber, 1987.
The Natural State: In the Words of U.G. Krishnamurti http://the-natural-state.blogspot.com (2005) compiled by Peter Maverick, p. 141
Context: A guru is one who tells you to throw away all the crutches that we have been made to believe are essential for our survival. He would ask you to walk, and he would say that if you fall, you will arise and walk.
“Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.”
Letter to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch (1784)
Context: I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.
“I believe in my mask-- The man I made up is me
I believe in my dance-- And my destiny”
Source: In an interview to Saavy magazine. The Life And Times Of Jayalalitha Ajith Pillai, A.S. Panneerselvan http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205450, 04 May 1998.
