There is no God

Randalllord
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There is no God

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

There Is No God

by Penn Jillette

Penn Jillette is the taller, louder half of the magic and comedy act Penn and Teller. He is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and has lectured at Oxford and MIT. Penn has co-authored three best-selling books and is executive producer of the documentary film The Aristocrats.

“I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows, and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough… It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. ”

Morning Edition, November 21, 2005 · I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?

So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The atheism part is easy.

But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."

Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.

Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca


MattShizzle
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That's good. I agree

That's good. I agree definitely.


Randalllord
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If you've never seen the
If you've never seen the "Bullshit" series on Showtime you can get it on DVD. Well worth having. [mod edit to add Amazon links that support the Rational Response Squad... 2 birds with 1 stone people... :-)]

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca


trevorus
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If that works for him,

If that works for him, that's fantastic.


Randalllord
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trevorous,It could work for

trevorous,
It could work for you too. Rational thinking is knocking on your head, you have to let it in.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca


averyv
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its a belief. at this point,

its a belief. at this point, mr penn has got to look through all of reality, existence, perspective, and experience to prove to me that there is no god. black holes, worm holes, and the edges of actual exstant 'space' (even as they grow) must be combed at every dimensional level (however many that is). even at this, god's non-being would not be proved. he could have been hiding.

i, like trevorous, appreciate someone's right and ability to hold such a belief. it is reasonable given feeling and experience. mine is equally so. such is the nature of belief.

the picture is funny though.

"In depriving myself of the acorns... what have we learned? Nothing! Not one of us has learned!
"Which isn't my point, but very well could have been."
— Ashley Raymond, Olympia, 1989