"By positing God as unknowable, man excuses himself to what is still left of his religious conscience for his oblivion of God, his surrender to the world. He negates God in practice – his mind and his senses have been absorbed by the world – but he does not negate him in theory. He does not attack [God's] existence; he leaves it intact. But this existence neither affects nor incommodes him, for it is only a negative existence, an existence without existence; it is an existence that contradicts itself – a being that, in view of its effects, is indistinguishable from non-being. The negation of determinate, positive predicates of the Divine Being is nothing else than the negation of religion, but one which still has an appearance of religion, so that it is not recognized as a negation – it is nothing but a subtle, sly atheism. The alleged religious horror of limiting God by determinate predicates is only the irreligious wish to forget all about God, to banish him from the mind."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ludwig Feuerbach, Introduction to The Essence of Christianity (1843), Z. Hanfi, trans., in The Fiery Brook (1972), p. 112
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Atheism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Atheism
237 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Atheism →
Related Quotes
"Even atheists rebel and express, like Hardy and Housman, their rage against God although (or because) He does not, on…"
"All I say is that I think it is damned unlikely that anything like a central cosmic will, a spirit world, or an etern…"
"Für diejenigen, die schon in den Atheismus hineingeboren wurden, ist es ein Glaube wie jeder andere. Ein wirklicher A…"
"Were it possible to induce the masses to adopt atheism, this belief would exhibit all the intolerant ardor of a relig…"
"... und ich dank es dem lieben Gott tausendmal, daß er mich zum Atheisten hat werden lassen."
"Lastly, Those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the Being of a God. Promises, Covenants, and Oaths, which are t…"
"Having insured the moderation of a fanatical rabble, by giving out among them the savage war-whoop of atheism, he (Ed…"
"Atheist ist nur der, der sich auch aus dem Atheismus keinen Gott macht."
"As long as the prerequisite for that shining paradise is ignorance, bigotry and hate, I say to hell with it."
"Until someone claims to see Christopher Hitchens' face in a tree stump, idiots must stop claiming that atheism is a r…"