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Lisbon, 1755: The beginning of the Enlightenment
It was the death of so many innocent people in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 that triggered the Enlightenment. People asked, sensibly, what sort of God would slaughter so many, and for what reason. The end result of this line of thought was the remark attributed to Mark Twain, who said:
If one truly believes in an all-powerful deity, and one looks around at the condition of the universe, one is drawn inescapably to the conclusion that God is a malign thug. or, in some versions,
If there is a god, then he is a malign thug There are arguments against this quote (1), but many of us find them unconvincing at best and sophistic at worst. (1) Which, incidentally, I'm having a devil of a time sourcing. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. It's not in Gutenberg, so if it is truly a Twain quote (it's not in Snopes, either, so I'm guessing it's real) it must be in some of the letters or in some of the posthumously published work which, I believe, is still under copyright.
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