Quotes from David Silverman

Giving in to terrorism will yield more terrorism, because it works.

The real reason people oppose marriage equality is religious in nature. Marriage equality is therefore not only a civil rights issue, but also a separation-of-church-and-state issue.

When fanatics say, "Obey our religious laws even if you're not a believer," the immediate response must be to break whatever religious laws they are talking about.

The worse thing that contemporary qualitative research can imply is that, in this post-modern age, anything goes. The trick is to produce intelligent, disciplined work on the very edge of the abyss.

Hating the scientific method is hating learning.

That's why anyone claiming morality is fixed is simply ignorant of world history, or even American history, not to mention the state of the world today.

Religionists have a perceived need, planted there as a part of the brainwashing they've received. They need no religion, but they think they do, because religion has convinced them of it.

Religion has no positive value.

Religion serves no purpose except to funnel money and power away from those who need it and leaves in its wake nothing but broken promises and damaged families.

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. —SUSAN B. ANTHONY

If the Bible and other holy books were at all reliable sources of morality, good and bad religious people wouldn't both be able to point to their holy books as guidance and inspiration to support their positions.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. —NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI

Nationwide, any child can pray to any god they wish at any time, so why do we need organized prayers in schools? To pressure those who don't want to pray into doing so, and for no other reason.

This is why the RFRA and laws like it are so dangerous—they allow people to break laws if they say they think their god (which always agrees with them) wants them to.

The true root of all evil is power, and both government and religion are effective tools for massing and maintaining power. When

Meanwhile, people relinquish their rights readily and eagerly in a quest for peace with religious fanatics that will never be realized.

Religion does not own activism.

Atheists seek truth; theists ignore it.

When religion demands you refrain from doing something otherwise benign, that's just a provocation to do it more.

Christianity spurs hate, division, and murder as it has throughout history.

Religionists want religion's placement on the pedestal of respect preserved by any means. But religion deserves no respect. Rather, it has earned scorn, ridicule, and in-your-face opposition, as have its trappings.

I find it disturbing that religious folk are always suggesting or even demanding we be respectful of religion. Even if we disagree, we are told we must be nice and respect religion's place as equal or superior to the secular, rational position. But giving reverence to religion gives it strength and protects it from the criticism it deserves.

Make no mistake, to a significant degree we are all victims of religion because we all have fewer rights because of it.

Every priest who hears confessions is, by definition, an accessory to ever crime he hears about and does not report to the authorities.