"The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."
- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity."
- Thomas Paine

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."
- Thomas Jefferson

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world,
and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature.
They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology."
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Woods

"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion."
- John Adams

"Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense."
- Chapman Cohen

"Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen."
- Michel de Montaigne