Ruth Hurmence Green

Ruth Hurmence Green (January 12, 1915, Sumner, Iowa—July 7, 1981, Florida) was a United States atheist and author. According to Freedom From Religion Foundation's official site, she "debunked the Bible as no one has done since Thomas Paine."

Green was born into a Methodist family in Iowa. In 1935 she graduated from Texas Tech University in journalism. She married, had three children, and settled in Missouri.

In the early 1960s she was diagnosed with cancer. During her recovery, she decided to read the Bible cover to cover, a project that took two years and made her a confirmed atheist. “I think the shock I suffered was worse than the trauma caused by my illness. ... [it] left me stunned.”

Her Bible reading led to the book "The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible", which the Freedom From Religion Foundation reports has been its best seller since its publication in 1979. It is currently in the fourth edition.

When she was again stricken with cancer, this time terminal, she committed suicide in 1981.

Quotes

*“Today evolution of human intelligence has advanced us to the stage where most of us are too smart to invent new gods but are reluctant to give up the old ones.”:—Ruth Hurmence Green, "What I Found When I 'Searched the Scriptures,'" from "The Book of Ruth" (1982)

*“I am now convinced that children should not be subjected to the frightfulness of the Christian religion. ... If the concept of a father who plots to have his own son put to death is presented to children as beautiful and as worthy of society's admiration, what types of human behavior can be presented to them as reprehensible?”:—Ruth Hurmence Green, Preface to the "Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible"

*“There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages.”:—Ruth Hurmence Green, quoted in Annie Laurie Gaylor, ed., "Women Without Superstition", p. 469

Bibliography

*"The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible". Madison, Wis.: Freedom From Religion Foundation, 4th ed., 1999. ISBN 1-877733-01-6

External links

* [http://ffrf.org/day/?sel=1&day=12&month=1 Brief biography]