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Quotes from The Faith of a Heretic — Walter Kaufmann

1921–1980 Germany

← All quotes by Walter Kaufmann

12 quotes

The most obvious failure of organized religions is surely that almost all of them have made a mockery of what their founders taught.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Faith means intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Renouncing false beliefs will not usher in the millennium.

The Faith of a Heretic (1959)

For atheism and polytheism there is no special problem of suffering, nor need there be for every kind of monotheism.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

If it does not upset, it is not philosophy.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Much can be left unstated. But if nothing is discredited, it is not philosophy.

The Faith of a Heretic (1963)

The deepest difference between religions is not that between polytheism and monotheism.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Organized religion flourishes. And so do thoughtlessness, dishonesty, and hypocrisy.

The Faith of a Heretic (1963)

What makes the decisive difference is not whether religion is persecuted or not, but whether religion is a pious name for conformity or a fighting name for non-conformity.

The Faith of a Heretic (1963)

Heresy is a set of opinions "at variance with established or generally received principles." In this sense, heresy is the price of all originality and innovation.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

One’s strategy in trying to defend or to attack the claim that God exists obviously depends on what is meant by “God.” It may be objected that it is not so difficult to isolate what might be called the popular conception of God. The problem of suffering is of crucial importance because it shows that the God of popular theism does not exist.

The Faith of a Heretic (1963)

Of faith and morals, one cannot speak honestly for long without hurting feelings. Therefore, most people speak dishonestly of the most important subjects. Many recent philosophers prefer not to speak of them at all. But in some situations honesty is incompatible with silence.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Walter Kaufmann (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.