There Is No God

National Public Radio ^ | 11/21/05 | Penn Jillette

[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.

[ReignOfError]

Kick this bum off of the Government dole ...

This story is part of the "This I Believe" series on NPR. It's included essays from Newt Gingrich, Colin Powell and Bill Buckley, among others.

[Wormwood]

I guess the main problem is, if there is a God, who/what created him?

Fear.

[jrg]

I never understand why these people think if there's a god, he must be the one responsible for all the bad things happening in the world.......morons

Do you have children/pets? when they suffer, don't you try to allieviate their suffering?

[mad_as_he$$]

Sorry for your loss.

[Junior]

If you don't worship God, you worship something. Power, sex, buying stuff, intoxication, and of course your remarkable self. And all of these things will disappoint you.

How about freedom and love of life?

[nuconvert]

I don't know if you saw this article yesterday, but it might interest you.......(or not)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529049/posts

[stinkypew]

Or you could act as Stalin. Whatever floats your boat, man. Go for it.

There may be no God, but most atheists and fellow agnostics refuse to accept that it must mean nihilism. It's no damn fun being a doubter, at least for me.

Without God, all is lawful - Dostoyevsky.

[Wormwood]

How about freedom and love of life?

Compassion and empathy are nice too. I'd also throw in reason and logic as purely human concepts worthy of a little worship.

[Juan Medén]

Oh, there will be behavioral standards all right. But they will not be held to any scrutiny higher than what my group considers convenient versus what your group considers convenient. If a Hitler or a Stalin can convince enough people that their view of right is the correct one, then who is to say that it is wrong? You may have a different opinion, but why should your opinion be taken into account. There has to be some transcendent source of right and wrong. If not, then life is politics and coersion in the end is the highest virtue. That is a world I don't want to live in.

[Treeless Branch]

The response is not "because he loves you."

The response should be because evil is not real and the only power it has is the power you give it.

This is the only way a non-apologist can describe a truly loving God, and it is also the truth.

[Bommer]

For such an enlighten intellectual as well as a magician, I'd like to see him...

1) Walk on water
2) Feed the masses on a few fish and loaves of bread
3) Turn water into wine
4) Make the blind see
5) Raise himself from the dead after 3 days

before he can state he doesn't believe in God.

[jrg]

I like that he is able to profess his belief without calling anyone "chump" or "idiot".

I don't think that is allowed on this forum. You either belive in God, believe that the WOD is good, believe that President Bush is a great president, or you're flamed.
That's what I always liked about the "hard code" (either conservative or democrat), "agree with us or you are excommunicated"

[IronJack]

What planet do you live on? I see it all the time.

Really? Well, yours must be a pleasant world. I apparently live in the world where whiny, sniveling kvetchers puff themselves up with their "accomplishments," which, when they fall down, is always somebody else's fault.

[dawn53]

Sympathies on the loss of your wife.

Have you ever read the book, "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis? He wrote it after the death of his wife, and I found it an enlightening book as he dealt with his raw emotions and his dealings with God, "the great iconoclast."

[machman]

If there is not God, then man is the measure of right and wrong. When man becomes the measure, then one man's opinion is as good as another's. Where there is not transcendent source of law, law becomes the arbitrary imposition of the will of one group over another. That's a scary thought.

Exactly.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

You don't get your rights in this country becuase a bunch of old dead white guys sat around one day and thought it was a good idea to grant them to you.

[Juan Medén]

No, it is the invitation of a benevolent being, who created us and thus really knows what is best for our existence, to conduct ourselves in a way that is consistent with our design and our well-being.

[Kokojmudd]

Thanks Congress and President Bush for continuing to fund public broadcasting with our tax dollars. Better to build a million bridges to nowhere.

[macamadamia]

I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards

A telling admission given his own writing style...a little cutesy. The essay reads like a teenager's foray into philosophy. He should stick to magic.

[Rocko]

NPR gets most of its funding from private sources

I'd prefer it to be all.