"The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand of their actual happiness."

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469) It was on this date, May 3, 1469, that Niccolò Machiavelli was born Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli in Florence, in what is now Italy. Florence had been ruled by the powerful Medici family since 1434, and was constantly at war with its neighboring city-states when not fending off outside aggressors. But […]

Catharine said, "The people are not created for us, but we for the people" and "I am one of the imbeciles who believe in God."

Washington was never seen to accept communion, and indeed, his wife wrote that he left the church on the occasions when communion was offered.

Wollstonecraft argued that to obtain social equality society must rid itself of the monarchy as well as the church and military hierarchies.

“Leave the matter of religion to the family altar... KEEP CHURCH AND STATE FOREVER SEPARATE.”

Said Watson, "Occasionally, I meet them [strongly religious scientists] and I'm a bit embarrassed because I can't believe that anyone accepts truth by revelation."

Turner "did not profess to be a member of any visible Church," and he "had no religious hope to cheer him" when he died.

Although Douglas believed in God, his obituary noted that he "never identified himself with any Church."

What truly religious sentiments Shakespeare does exhibit in his plays, have no depth, as if he were either indifferent to, or ignorant of, the theology of the skeptical Elizabethan Age.