A Holiday Message From Ricky Gervais: Why I'm An Atheist

Non-Phish General
#1

blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/…im-an-atheist/

Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.

Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -*- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

This, is of course a spirituality issue, religion is a different matter. As an atheist, I see nothing “wrong” in believing in a god. I don’t think there is a god, but belief in him does no harm. If it helps you in any way, then that’s fine with me. It’s when belief starts infringing on other people’s rights when it worries me. I would never deny your right to believe in a god. I would just rather you didn’t kill people who believe in a different god, say. Or stone someone to death because your rulebook says their sexuality is immoral. It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-powerful all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything that happens, would also want to judge and punish people for what they are. From what I can gather, pretty much the worst type of person you can be is an atheist. The first four commandments hammer this point home. There is a god, I’m him, no one else is, you’re not as good and don’t forget it. (Don’t murder anyone, doesn’t get a mention till number 6.)

When confronted with anyone who holds my lack of religious faith in such contempt, I say, “It’s the way God made me.”

But what are atheists really being accused of?

The dictionary definition of God is “a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe.” Included in this definition are all deities, goddesses and supernatural beings. Since the beginning of recorded history, which is defined by the invention of writing by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago, historians have cataloged over 3700 supernatural beings, of which 2870 can be considered deities.

So next time someone tells me they believe in God, I’ll say “Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?…” If they say “Just God. I only believe in the one God,” I’ll point out that they are nearly as atheistic as me. I don’t believe in 2,870 gods, and they don’t believe in 2,869.

I used to believe in God. The Christian one that is.

I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you. What a guy. I wanted to be just like Him.

One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible studies homework. I loved art too. And nature. I loved how God made all the animals. They were also perfect. Unconditionally beautiful. It was an amazing world.

I lived in a very poor, working-class estate in an urban sprawl called Reading, about 40 miles west of London. My father was a laborer and my mother was a housewife. I was never ashamed of poverty. It was almost noble. Also, everyone I knew was in the same situation, and I had everything I needed. School was free. My clothes were cheap and always clean and ironed. And mum was always cooking. She was cooking the day I was drawing on the cross.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. He was 11 years older than me, so he would have been 19. He was as smart as anyone I knew, but he was too cheeky. He would answer back and get into trouble. I was a good boy. I went to church and believed in God -– what a relief for a working-class mother. You see, growing up where I did, mums didn’t hope as high as their kids growing up to be doctors; they just hoped their kids didn’t go to jail. So bring them up believing in God and they’ll be good and law abiding. It’s a perfect system. Well, nearly. 75 percent of Americans are God-*‐fearing Christians; 75 percent of prisoners are God-*‐fearing Christians. 10 percent of Americans are atheists; 0.2 percent of prisoners are atheists.

But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, “Why do you believe in God?” Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. “Bob,” she said in a tone that I knew meant, “Shut up.” Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn’t matter what people said.

Oh…hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.

Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. I learned of evolution -– a theory so simple that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals and us –- with imagination, free will, love, humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living.

But living an honest life -– for that you need the truth. That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

So what does the question “Why don’t you believe in God?” really mean. I think when someone asks that they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking “what makes you so special? “How come you weren’t brainwashed with the rest of us?” “How dare you say I’m a fool and I’m not going to heaven, f— you!” Let’s be honest, if one person believed in God he would be considered pretty strange. But because it’s a very popular view it’s accepted. And why is it such a popular view? That’s obvious. It’s an attractive proposition. Believe in me and live forever. Again if it was just a case of spirituality this would be fine.

“Do unto others…” is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is -*‐ a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.”

You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.

#2

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

#3

Well written but fairly pointless. People far more decisions based on emotion than they do based on facts. That’s why religion occurs and why corrupt politicians keep getting elected. Emotion rules over all. Simple as that.

#4

I kinda think atheism is bunk. Claiming to know there isn’t a god, or dwelling on one definition of god when there are literally thousands, is just as narrow-minded as insisting on the existence of christ as the savior or hades as the ruler of the underworld.

In reality, Ricky Gervais likely doesn’t know if there is a god or not anymore than the pope does. And neither would define god in the same way that a native American would.

I am happily agnostic and 100% okay with the fact that I simply don’t know.

#5

Very true…I don’t exactly believe in one either but there’s no way we can say that some sort of higher being doesn’t exist. There’s just too much stuff in science that we DON’T understand so that still leads the door open for some sort of deity taking care of it. I do deny that whatever deity this is “watches over us” and listens to prayers and crap…the absolute randomness of who lives and who dies in this world is proof enough that if there is a God who created everything, he retired and stopped answering prayers long ago.

#6

I used to be a big fan of this guy but I’m starting to like him less and less. It really started getting on my nerves how at every annual emmy and academy awards shows, he and Steve Carell have to do that same lame bit about how there was actually a British version of The Office before the American version. I mean it’s like, we get it, there was a British one first starring Gervais and the bit at the awards shows was kinda funny the first time they did it but you don’t have to go to that year after year after I mean c’mon already.

And what is the point of his post exactly? I mean, it’s not his opinion that bothers me as much as the timing of it. Why post that now during the holiday season? To rain on everyone’s parade? To piss in everyone’s cheerios? Whatever man, you are in atheist great, you are also a funny and pretty cool guy, but the timing of this post is just dirty pool mister.

#7

^Heh…I watch the American Office and I don’t really think it’s that funny…it just makes me feel awkward and annoyed since it reminds me of real jobs more than anything. Then I tried the British office…yup…just as non-funny as the American one. Go figure. I kind of liked him on the Golden Globes as the host…he had quite a few nice rips on a number of celebrities…but that’s about it.

#8

for the record, I consider myself to be agnostic as opposed to atheist, but atheism does makes more sense to me than believing in a defined god…

#9

I love the american office but have never seen the British but I’ve always heard it’s better. One of these years I’m gonna have to start with the first season and check it out. And yeah, he was funny as host. I saw that show too. Would much rather have him do the Oscars instead of Franco and Anne Hathaway? wtf? Steve Martin & Baldwin did good tag teaming it, but Franco & Hathaway? Both past SNL hosts, so we’ll see I guess.

#10

An agnostic is just an atheist who needs to grow a pair. :wave:

#11

:yawn:

#12

Funny, I always thought it was just an atheist without the arrogance. :wave:

Growing a pair usually leads to war. :wink:

#13

answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 148AAJcd1q

#14

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

This little post or whatever it is does come across as outrageously pompous. And I had no idea who Ricky Gervais was until you all started talking about the British Office, and then I realized who he was. Now I’m even less impressed with the post. I mean, how did the not-very-funny, always-smiling-smugly dude from the British Office get to write for the Wall Street Journal?

I consider myself agnostic too, if that’s what it means when you don’t have a clue whether or not there’s a god. Actually I would say I’m an apathetic agnostic: I don’t know if there’s a god, and I don’t fucking care either. :wave:

#15

I hate the “atheism is arrogant” argument. I’m an atheist. I don’t look down upon Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Shiites, Sunnis, Zoroastrians, Wiccans, Ancient Greeks or Rastafarians for believing what they believe. After lots of thought and reflection, the conclusion I’ve come to is that there is no god. Different people draw different conclusions about the world around them. Isn’t that part of what makes us essentially human?

#16

^yeah I just came to say that although I haven’t met many atheists, most of the ones I have met have had the philosophy that I’m happy with where I’m at spiritually and I don’t really care what you think…I don’t think that’s pompous when most people have been cramming religion down our throats since we were kids, but the strongest atheist I know was my junior English teacher, he was not ashamed to say he did not believe in god but he knew more about religion than just about anybody I know…I think completely understands the reason for it, but he just doesn’t believe in any of it

but I did have one ‘friend’ in high school who was atheist and he was kind of an ass about it, but he was more of an ass about other things than his atheism, he had that attitude that I’m right and therefor no one else can be but that was more true for things outside of his spiritual beliefs or lack thereof

#17

i’m not an athesit, i just don’t care if there is or isn’t a god. if there is, it’s beyond anything that we can comprehend and it’s just a waste of time to even bother.

to quote that corny poet from the string cheese cds, ‘learn and live. act out, reconsider, and give’.

#18

Yahoo Answers - “Nurturing agnostics’ fear of conviction since 1996.” :thumbup:

#19

It’s not the believing part that seems arrogant, it’s the insisting you’re right part. I’m cool with people believing anything they want. But to insist that they are right and everyone else is wrong is, imo, arrogant-- whether your are catholic, atheist, rastafarian or whatever. There’s nothing wrong with the possibility of being wrong.

And the thing is, atheists DO believe in something that isn’t tangible or proveable. They believe in the universe. Ask any scientist and they will tell you that, in order to accept the idea of the universe, you need to accept something that is infinite, has always existed and will always exist. It’s something we can’t comprehend, we just have to accept it. You know… kinda like the way christians explain god. :astonished:

#20

^ Not to be a douche but the universe is more likely finite. Otherwise the night sky would be filled with light from stars an infinite distance away, whose light has had an infinite number of years to reach us, so it is infinitely shining.

But still, you’re right, the size and age of the universe is difficult to comprehend. When I look at a star in the sky and I try to imagine an enormous burning ball of gas, millions of light years away…my mind fails. I can’t appreciate the distance or size. The biggest things on Earth are microscopic in comparison to the sun, and there are objects out there over 20 times as large as the sun. The way electrons orbit the nucleus, planets stars, stars a galactic center and sometimes other stars, and then galaxies orbiting other galaxies and the uniformity of things on the atomic scale all the way to the cosmic scale humbles and amazes me.