H. L. Mencken Quotes


The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him a ride.


Citations

H. L. Mencken, 1880-1956, Journalist and Columnist, Prejudices: Third Series, 1917

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Joseph Alois Ratzinger. His predecessor, John Paul II, had shown no antipathy and had seen no conflict between religion and the concept of evolution. Benedict, was more traditional and particularly sensitive to the randomness of mutations in the process. Other theologians see no contradiction in God having created the evolutionary system with random mutation as the most superior system for developing rational man to whom he gave free will. Others see no need for God in the entire process.


There are many scientists who disagree with Johnson’s very unusual logic. They point out that it is certainly possible that God initially did not have had humans in minds, and when they evolved, decided that they were worthy of salvation history and then interfered to the extent of a virgin birth. Others would point out that just because man cannot exactly foresee the exact future pattern of evolution, does not men that a Supreme Being could not have initiated the mechanism that he/she knew would result in salvation history. The Pope and the Catholic Church see no inconsistency between Darwinism and the salvation history. Then there are those non-Christians who do not believe that God ever did introduce salvation and there are many more of them than there are Christians. Then, it is possible that God just set things in motion and had more important things then micromanaging evolution on our one planet in a universe of billions of billions. Last there are those who do not believe that there is or has been a God. Of course there is the possibility that Johnson is right, and religiously he may be, but that is not subject to scientific analysis.


Elijah Ben Solomon -- Vilna Gaon. The Torah is the first 5 books of the Old Testament which the Jewish People regard as the basis of religion. For many, the interpretation is that of many Fundamentalist Christians and Jews that the Bible contains truth and all truth. However, there were those who have claimed that in addition to the words and their meaning, there is a code in the Bible that gives prophetic information, claiming that all major subsequent historical events were predicted in the Biblical code.


Amen ho tep IV. This Pharaoh adopted a monotheistic religion and imposed it upon Egypt where he could. However, as soon as he died, he was painted as a criminal for the heretical view of monotheism. It is not known whether he came upon the monotheistic concept independently or was influenced by the Jews who had first promulgated the idea. Some argue that Akhenaton was not a strict monotheist because for required the worship of the one God, Aten, but did not ban the worship of the other Egyptian gods though he personally, and his wife Nefertiti, were monotheistic.


H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
  • Born: September 12, 1880
  • Died: January 29, 1956
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Journalist, Essayist, Satirist, Social Critic

Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial," also gained him attention.