Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

There Is No God
National Public Radio ^ | 11/21/05 | Penn Jillette

Posted on 11/27/2005 6:32:15 AM PST by machman

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.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Philosophy; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: atheism; atheist; athiesticmoron; boondoggle; crispykook; denial; devilsfood; evilbastrd; evilturd; foolsheart; god; hellbait; idiot; moonbats; moron; npr; pbs; pbsmustdie; religion; scumbag; tax; taxdollars; taxes; turd; waste; wasteoftime; whatever
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 541-554 next last
"Bad Luck"

Some people like to gamble,
But you, you always lose.
Some people like to rock 'n' roll,
you're always singin' the blues
You gotta nasty disposition,
No one really knows the reason why,
You gotta bad, bad reputation,
Gonna hang your head down and cry...
[Chorus:]
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
Thirteen's my lucky number,
To you it means stay inside.
Black cat done crossed my path,
No reason to run and hide.
You're looking through a cracked mirror,
No one really knows the reason why.
Your enemies are gettin' nearer,
Gonna hang down your head and cry...
[Chorus:]
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
Some people go to church on Sundays,
others they pray at home.
You tell them that there ain't no God,
that they're better off standin' alone.
You're always scratchin' at the eight ball,
No one really knows the reason why.
You get to the top and then you fall,
Gonna hang down your head and cry.
1 posted on 11/27/2005 6:32:15 AM PST by machman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: machman

Ah, but God believes in you.


2 posted on 11/27/2005 6:36:36 AM PST by big'ol_freeper ("Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." Pope JPII)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

I'm soooooo glad my tax money went to help this crap get aired.


3 posted on 11/27/2005 6:36:55 AM PST by digger48
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

Can you just imagine the improvement of their "act" if neither of them would talk?


4 posted on 11/27/2005 6:37:10 AM PST by Quilla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

Teller is much easier to listen to.


5 posted on 11/27/2005 6:37:16 AM PST by atomicpossum (Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

Liberals are, by far and wide; very unhappy and miserable people. They hate their lives, and everything American.

And they want to make you as miserable as they are.

Like the bumper sticker says:
P*ss off a Liberal.
Work hard, earn money and enjoy life.


6 posted on 11/27/2005 6:37:16 AM PST by Hodar (With Rights, come Responsibilities. Don't assume one, without assuming the other.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

Psalm 14, Verse 1 "The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God".


7 posted on 11/27/2005 6:38:46 AM PST by RoadTest (Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince. - Prov. 17:7)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman



And who cares what he don't believe in. The world is full of people who turn their backs on God, he's just one more.


8 posted on 11/27/2005 6:39:16 AM PST by SouthernFreebird
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

It almost sounds like she is trying to convince herself that she is happy. And, she isn't convinced yet.


9 posted on 11/27/2005 6:39:19 AM PST by WV Mountain Mama (I have a drink at night for my heart. Yeah, my heart, that's it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hodar
That's what I got from his drivel, a miserable person.

He doesn't seem to understand logic very well either, as his non-belief takes as much faith as belief.

And yeah, aren't you glad your tax dollars support this??
10 posted on 11/27/2005 6:39:55 AM PST by machman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: machman

Of course, without God, it is all the same whether I smash your face in or decide to sit nicely with you and discuss reality. Without God no one can tell me that your precious family should live, or not. Without God, if I am stronger than you, then my reality becomes your reality. Without God, your good genes will do you no good when it comes to imposing the will of a tyrant. Without God, there is no right and wrong -- only opinion. And who says yours is any better than mine?

If God did not exist, we would have to invent Him. -- Voltaire


11 posted on 11/27/2005 6:40:01 AM PST by Juan Medén
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman
What this smart alec doesn't understand is that the worst place to be is Sgt. Carter to St. Peter's Gomer.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

12 posted on 11/27/2005 6:40:14 AM PST by trek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman
The pillars of wisdom are two:

1. There is a God.

2. You aren't Him.

Fail at the first, and one by necessity fails at the second.

Poor Penn, the ultimate sophomore, whistling past the graveyard.

DanWhy I Am (Still) a Christian

13 posted on 11/27/2005 6:40:53 AM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

"This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith...."

So, he believes in faith, just not leaping?


14 posted on 11/27/2005 6:40:57 AM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: machman

I heard this on the radio a few mornings back. I was as surprised then as I am now.

I wasn't surprised that an entertainer would state such an unpopular opinion in a pubic forum, but rather by how much I agreed with him.

/this thread will not end well.


15 posted on 11/27/2005 6:41:33 AM PST by Wormwood (Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: digger48
I'm soooooo glad my tax money went to help this crap get aired.

It's just an opinion. Tax money goes to airing all sorts of opinions. Besides, NPR gets most of its funding from private sources.

16 posted on 11/27/2005 6:42:44 AM PST by Junior (From now on, I'll stick to science, and leave the hunting alien mutants to the experts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: machman
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."

He's not even bright enough to realize that he just said exactly the same thing.

17 posted on 11/27/2005 6:42:48 AM PST by mollynme (cogito, ergo freepum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: WV Mountain Mama

It's Penn Jillette, the magician. It's a he.


19 posted on 11/27/2005 6:43:21 AM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: digger48
I was thinking the same thing.

If it weren't for tax dollars this crap would not have an outlet to air itself.
20 posted on 11/27/2005 6:43:57 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people believe in Intelligent Design (God).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 541-554 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson