Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Atheism often stems from strict intellectual honesty rather than from malice or hardness of heart.
In plain terms
People become atheists because they are intellectually honest, not because they are evil.
What can you take from it?
Respect atheism as a result of integrity.

Where it applies

  • debate
  • personal conviction

Putting it to work

  • attribute beliefs to integrity

Questions to consider

  • What drives your beliefs?
  • Is honesty more important than tradition?

Another view

Some atheists may also have emotional motivations.

More from Steve Allen

  1. Sports fans, I have the final score for you on the big game between Harvard and William & Mary. It is: Harvard 14, William 12, Mary 6.

    Permalink to quote #3
  2. One social evil for which the New Testament is clearly in part responsible is anti-Semitism.

    Permalink to quote #5
  3. Get this to Grand Central Station as quick as you can!

    Permalink to quote #2

Related quotes

  1. 'If we are honest-and scientists have to be-we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a pr…

    Paul DiracPaul Dirac quote #5
  2. Nevertheless I know that I am, in spite of myself, exactly what the Christian would call, and, so far as I can see, is justified in calling, atheist and infide…

    Thomas Henry HuxleyThomas Henry Huxley quote #44
  3. Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

    Georg Christoph LichtenbergGeorg Christoph Lichtenberg quote #89