12/04/2025
The first MAGA movement! 😂
Concerning FAITH: “All faiths do harm. We may define "faith" as a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith." We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. And the substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups substitute different emotions.”
— Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and Politics (1954), Ch. VIl: Can Religion Cure Our Troubles?, p. 213
Russell continues with humour — The Faithful
“I admire especially a certain prophetess who lived beside a lake in Northern New York State about the year 1820. She announced to her numerous followers that she possessed the power of walking on water, and that she proposed to do so at 11 o'clock on a certain morning. At the stated time, the faithful assembled in their thousands beside the lake. She spoke to them, saying:
‘Are you all entirely persuaded that I can walk on water?’ With one great voice they replied: ‘We are!’ ‘In that case’, she announced, ‘there is not need for me to do so.’
And they all went home much edified.“
— Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish: A Hilarious Catalogue of Organized and Individual Stupidity (1943)
Image: Bertrand Russell, 1954.