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strangeness of the facts

"We are so far from knowing all the agents of nature and their diverse modes of action that it would not be philosophical to deny phenomena solely because they are inexplicable in the actual state of our knowledge. But we ought to examine them with an attention all the more scrupulous as it appears more difficult to admit them."

Principle of Laplace: "The weight of the evidence should be proportioned to the strangeness of the facts."


Theodore Flournoy
From India to the Planet Mars


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complete absence of any supporting data whatsoever

"I've sworn off agnosticism, which I now call cowardly atheism. I've come to the position that in the complete absence of any supporting data whatsoever for the persistence of the individual in some spiritual form, it is necessary to operate under the provisional conclusion that there is no afterlife and then be ready to amend that if I find out otherwise." James Francis Cameron , interview with the Hollywood Reporter (March 23, 2010) Cameron directed two of the highest grossing films of all time: "Titanic" (1997) and "Avatar" (2009). Cameron has also written and directed several other blockbuster movies, including "The Terminator" (1984), "Aliens" (1986), "The Abyss"(1989), "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991) and "True Lies" (1994). Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

impulse toward revolt

“Man enjoys the great advantage of having a God endorse the codes he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over woman, it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For the Jews, Mohammedans, and the Christians, among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God, therefore, will repress any impulse toward revolt in the downtrodden female.” Simone de Beauvoir, "Situation and Character," "The Second Sex" (1949, translated and edited by H.M. Parshley, 1953) Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering

don't care enough about religion to call themselves atheists

“As you learn more and more about the universe, you find you can understand more and more without any reference to supernatural intervention, so you lose interest in that possibility. Most scientists I know don't care enough about religion even to call themselves atheists. And that, I think, is one of the great things about science — that it has made it possible for people not to be religious”  Steven Weinberg (quoted in Natalie Angier, “Confessions of a Lonely Atheist," The New York Times, Jan. 14, 2001) Promoting Understanding of Religious Suffering