Life Driven Purpose Quotes

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“The preachers have got it completely backward. If life is eternal, then life is cheap. Value does not come from surplus; it comes from rarity. Prices rise as supply drops. The reality that our lives are brief is what makes them precious. The fact that they will end makes them more meaningful. “Ultimate purpose” is no purpose at all: it is the surrender of purpose. It is the pretense that faith equals meaning.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Solving a real problem was much more meaningful than saving fictional souls from a fictional hell.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“People should be judged by their actions, not their beliefs. Actions speak louder than faith.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“religion that cannot survive looking at itself through the eyes of others does not deserve to survive.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“It is true that “atheism” is a negative word, but so is “nonfiction.” They are double negatives. Both words tell you that what you are getting is real, not pretend. Those of”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Don’t blow your one and only shot at happiness by selling your birthright and squandering your meaning and purpose on someone else’s undeserved glory. Live your own life. If you are reasonable and kind, you will discover that meaning is not handed to you from on high; it emerges naturally from your own life-driven purpose.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“But purpose is personal. It can’t be right or wrong. It can’t be true or false. It can’t not be about you. It’s how you decide to live your own life. If someone else tells you how to live, you are not free. If you don’t choose your own purpose, you are a slave.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“The atheists I know, virtually all of whom are happy and mentally healthy, might more properly be called anti-nihilists. We are mainly optimists who love our lives and find them to be full of meaning and purpose.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Mere Morality can be summarized as: using instinct, law, and reason as guides, try to act with the intention of minimizing harm.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“Whatever country you live in, any law based on “glory” instead of real harm is dangerous. The glory of the nation, or the glory of the monarchy, or the glory of the superior race, or the glory of the church have been the cause of horrible wars and legally sanctioned discrimination. Any laws based solely on these glories should be morally denounced. They cause unnecessary harm.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“According to believers like Craig who are unhappy with blunt reality, life needs to be more than it is, otherwise it is absurd, and since we can’t possibly allow life to be absurd, then life must be more than it is! As an atheist, I think that is absurd.”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning

“We atheists do want justice. Why would you imagine we don’t? As with purpose, justice doesn’t have to be ultimate to be meaningful. We want justice in our world, not in a pretend supernatural realm. Since there is no ultimate cosmic justice, we have all the more reason not to put it off to an uncertain future. We had better do it now. We”
― Dan Barker, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning