LOL @Drich arguing Voltaire and getting it so very wrong. Must hurt his brain to have somebody believe in god but not Christianity.
"What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."
- Voltaire
"Man has always stood in need of a curb; and though it was certainly very ridiculous to sacrifice to fauns, satyrs, and naïads, yet it was more reasonable and advantageous to adore even those fantastic images of the deity than to be given up to atheism. An atheist of any capacity, and invested with power, would be as dreadful a scourge to the rest of mankind as the most bloody enthusiast."
- Voltaire
FYI: Those are primary sources.
And normally I wouldn't sully my screen with it, but even Conservapedia denied you three times:
"Voltaire was very critical of religion, and has been variously categorized as an atheist or an agnostic, though in reality he was a deist. A death-bed admonition to a priest attempting to convert him that "Now is no time to be making new enemies" has also been misconstrued as meaning he was a satanist, though evidence exists to show he was truly a deist. Although he was a deist, Voltaire actually described himself as a theist."
- Conservapedia entry for Voltaire
You're actually a less reliable authority on Voltaire than Conservapedia, which is a damned low bar to writhe your way under.
"What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."
- Voltaire
"Man has always stood in need of a curb; and though it was certainly very ridiculous to sacrifice to fauns, satyrs, and naïads, yet it was more reasonable and advantageous to adore even those fantastic images of the deity than to be given up to atheism. An atheist of any capacity, and invested with power, would be as dreadful a scourge to the rest of mankind as the most bloody enthusiast."
- Voltaire
FYI: Those are primary sources.
And normally I wouldn't sully my screen with it, but even Conservapedia denied you three times:
"Voltaire was very critical of religion, and has been variously categorized as an atheist or an agnostic, though in reality he was a deist. A death-bed admonition to a priest attempting to convert him that "Now is no time to be making new enemies" has also been misconstrued as meaning he was a satanist, though evidence exists to show he was truly a deist. Although he was a deist, Voltaire actually described himself as a theist."
- Conservapedia entry for Voltaire
You're actually a less reliable authority on Voltaire than Conservapedia, which is a damned low bar to writhe your way under.
