~ God? God? A Supreme Being, sitting on a throne and commending human individuals to eternal peace or condemning them to everlasting punishment for what they have achieved or failed to do upon this earth? The thought to me seems as abhorrent as fallacious.
From "Edison the Atheist," Frank Zindler, American Atheists
American Atheists
Editor’s Desk
by Frank R. Zindler
Winter 2000, 2001
"The role played by Atheists and Freethinkers in American history is a well-kept secret, thanks in part to the disinformation war waged relentlessly by the religious right in its effort to prove that America is - and always has been - a Christian nation. The fact that many of the most important of America’s Founding Fathers were Deists is smothered by the fictional melodrama of George Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge. The Atheist or Agnostic Abraham Lincoln has been recreated as a Christian (even the Mormons have claimed him) and Christians take credit for the abolition of slavery - the Bible-based institution they created and fought so hard to preserve.
"It is a delight, therefore, to be able to reprint in this issue of American Atheist two interviews on religion granted by Thomas Alva Edison [1847-1931] several decades before his death. This great man, whose inventions so quintessentially made the twentieth century what it was, is not generally known to have been an Atheist. Religious revisionists have erased his name from the monuments marking the contributions of Freethinkers to America’s history and heritage.
"Edison had no patience with the idea of a personal god ...
* From "Edison the Atheist" Edison the Atheist
* Interview 1: "No Immortality of the Soul"
* Interview 2: Thomas A. Edison on Immortality
Thomas Edison, the placard in all of Edison works, according to Joseph Lewis in "A Visit with Thomas Alva Edison"
~ I do not believe that any type of religion should ever be introduced into the public schools of the United States.
Thomas Edison, "Do We Live Again?" Positive Atheism
~ The great trouble is that the preachers get the children from six to seven years of age and then it is almost impossible to do anything with them.
Thomas Edison, quoted by Joseph Lewis from a personal conversation: "A Visit with Thomas Alva Edison"
~ Incurably religious, that is the best way to describe the mental condition of so many people.
Thomas Edison, quoted by Joseph Lewis from a personal conversation, in "A Visit with Thomas Alva Edison"
~ I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.
Thomas Edison, Frank Zindler, American Atheists
~ I do not believe in the God of the theologians; but that there is a Supreme Intelligence I do not doubt.
Thomas Edison, quoted from Thomas S Vernon, "Thomas Alva Edison", Positive Atheism
"Edison rejected three fundamental tenets of Christianity: the divinity of Christ, a personal God, and immortality."
See also ...
Freedom From Religion Foundation
About.com
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