Friday, August 3, 2007

freethought of the day


“Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.”

--Philanthropist/Microsoft entrepreneur Bill Gates, TIME Magazine, Jan. 13, 1997

To check out other Freethought of the Day entries, including by name and by topic, scroll down to the calendar and other links at http://ffrf.org/day


Compiled by Annie Laurie Gaylor. Freedom From Religion Foundation 2004. All rights reserved.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooray for Bill Gates. At least for that comment.

Kai said...

I know the guy gives away tons of money, but shouldnt entrepeneur come before philanthropist when his name is mentioned?

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more. And for that matter his "philanthropy" is to make money. Profiteers often have to do PR to keep the money rolling in. He does it with money.

However, there is another side to the story.

"The Gates Foundation has poured $218 million into polio and measles immunization and research worldwide, including in the Niger Delta. At the same time that it is paying for inoculations to protect health, it has invested $423 million in Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Total of France — the companies responsible for most of the flares blanketing the delta with pollution, beyond anything permitted in the United States or Europe. A sampling of the Gates Foundation's largest investments between $100 million and $1 billion: Abbott Laboratories, Archer Daniels Midland, British Petroleum, Canadian National Railway, Exxon Mobil, Freddie Mac, French Government, Japanese Government, Merck, Schering Plough, Tyco International, Waste Management...Indeed, local leaders blame oil developments for fostering some of the very afflictions that the foundation combats." - Charles Piller, Edmund Sanders, Robyn Dixon, LA Times

There is no question there is three sides to the of Bill Gates