Part 13

108. It is false that the idea of a future life is consoling

109. All religious principles are derived from the imagination. God is a chimera; and the qualities, attributed to him, reciprocally destroy one another

110. Religion is but a system imagined in order to reconcile contradictions by the aid of mysteries

111, 112, 113. Absurdity and inutility of all Mysteries, which were only invented for the interests of Priests

114. An universal God ought to have revealed an universal Religion

115. What proves, that Religion is unnecessary, is, that it is unintelligible

116. All Religions are rendered ridiculous by the multitude of creeds, all opposite to one another, and all equally foolish

117. Opinion of a famous Theologian

118. The God of the Deists is not less contradictory, nor less chimerical than the God of the Christians

119. It by no means proves the existence of God to say, that, in every age, all nations have acknowledged some Deity or other

120. All Gods are of a savage origin: all Religions are monuments of the ignorance, superstition, and ferocity of former times: modern Religions are but ancient follies, re-edited with additions and corrections

121. All religious usages bear marks of stupidity and barbarism

122. The more a religious opinion is ancient and general, the more it ought to be suspected

123. Mere scepticism in religious matters, can only be the effect of a very superficial examination

124. Revelations examined

125. Where is the proof that God ever shewed himself to Men, or ever spoke to them?

126. There is nothing that proves miracles to have been ever performed

127. If God has spoken, is it not strange that he should have spoken so differently to the different religious sects?

128. Obscurity and suspicious origin of oracles

129. Absurdity of all miracles

130. Refutation of the reasoning of Pascal concerning the manner in which we must judge of miracles

131. Every new revelation is necessarily false

132. The blood of martyrs testifies against the truth of miracles, and against the divine origin attributed to Christianity

133. The fanaticism of martyrs, and the interested zeal of missionaries, by no means prove the truth of Religion

134. Theology makes its God an enemy to Reason and Common Sense

135. Faith is irreconcilable with Reason; and Reason is preferable to Faith

136. To what absurd and ridiculous sophisms every one is reduced, who would substitute Faith for Reason!

137. Ought a man to believe, on the assurance of another man, what is of the greatest importance to himself