There’s a famous quotation about atheists linked to today’s date that is attributed to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:
“An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.”
The source that’s usually cited for this quote is the December 14, 1955 issue of Look magazine.
Many books and websites quote it in a way that seems to suggest Sheen coined the line.
But he didn’t.
The same line is in Harry Emerson Fosdick’s book On Being a Real Person, which was published in 1943.
Fosdick attributed the quote to British novelist and Governor-General of Canada, John Buchan, who died in 1940.
So, this famous atheist-dissing quotation predates Sheen’s use by at least 15 years.
defined “Prejudice” in his Devil’s Dictionary as: “A vagrant opinion without visible means of support.” Which comes pretty close to my definition of religion. As another great American writer and curmudgeon, Harlan Ellison
“I am an atheist. I’m not an agnostic — not one of those wusses who says, ‘Well, maybe.’” *
I believe the late Bishop Sheen was entitled to his opinion about us non-believers.
But as a quotation buff, I do wish that the Bishop would have cleared up the fact that he didn’t coin the famous line “An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support” before he went to that place where they serve pie in the sky.
It would have been the Christian thing to do.
.
* This is one of several comments Ellison makes about atheism and religion that are included in the 2007 documentary about him, Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth
.
