[Mb-civic] There is no God by Penn Jillette

[Ian]

Two comments.

First, I am an evangelical Christian - and I feel exactly the same way he 
does about virtually everything he says about how to interact with people 
and how they should be treated.

Second, this is one of the most narrow, vapid and empty "anti-faith" 
comments I have ever read, and only shows how little he knows or understands 
about faith or people.  I feel very sorry for him, since beneath his 
happy-go-lucky veneer I sense a real "loneliness" underneath.

Peace.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jef Bek" <jefbek at mindspring.com>
To: "Civic List" <mb-civic at islandlists.com>
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 8:46 PM
Subject: [Mb-civic] There is no God by Penn Jillette


> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557
>
> There is No God
>
> by Penn Jillette
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mb-civic mailing list
> Mb-civic at islandlists.com
> http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-civic
>