Annie Besant 
Contra Christianity 

There is no doubt that the majority of people in most parts
of the world—save in those in which Buddhism is supreme—believe in the
existence of a God. The kind of God may vary indefinitely, but there is
generally “some God or other”. Now a growing minority in every civilised
country finds it intellectually impossible to make the affirmation which is
necessary for belief in God, and this growing minority includes many of the
most thoughtful and most competent minds. The refusal to believe is
unfortunately not always public, so cruel is the vengeance worked by society on
those who do not bow down to its fetishes; but as John Stuart Mill said: “The
world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest
ornaments—of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and
virtue—are complete sceptics in religion” (“Autobiography, ” p. 45).