Penn Jillette: "I believe there is no god."

[sarahmichigan]

NPR is running a weekly series called "This I Believe." The current incarnation of This I Believe is based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, hosted by Edward R. Murrow. I was listening to NPR in the car this morning and caught this week's guest opinion from Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller). I LOVED how succinctly he summed up the atheist, rationalist viewpoint on belief and why life isn't hopeless and dreary if you don't believe in a higher power.

excerpt:

"Having taken that step [of rejecting a belief in god], 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."

Read the full text here:

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

Comments

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I knew you wouldn't like it, but I figured others on my FL would. I don't think he's confusing atheism with agnosticism. I think you can start with the proposition, "I believe there is no god," and still be open to proofs in the future that there is a god. That's pretty much what *I* think, too.

He's also trying to condense his position into 500 words, which is what all the believers have to do for this project, as well.

[bernmarx.livejournal.com]

That's not what I meant when I said he was confusing atheism with agnosticism. I meant at the beginning, when he's talking about how others take the "easy route" of atheism. The easy route that he's describing is, in my opinion, agnosticism (unless I'm misunderstanding his explanation). He then describes his own beliefs, which is atheism.

I think, as a description of atheism, it was fine. Slightly elitist, but compared to how he normally presents his ideas, it was downright humble. :)

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

Atheism / Weak Atheism / me: No belief, at least in the high-level "is there or isn't there" question

Strong atheism / the conclusion people jump to when they hear "atheism", and why I tend to say "atheist to agnostic": explicit disbelief

Agnostic: Belief that there is not enough evidence for anyone to be justified in having any belief whatsoever -- "I don't know, and neither do you."

[bernmarx.livejournal.com]

Your last definition conflates two positions: "I know that God exists" and "I believe God exists." An agnostic says that it's impossible to KNOW that God exists (or doesn't exist): http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861584207 -- an agnostic need not believe that religious beliefs (or lack thereof) are unjustified. Agnostics may well believe that God exists, or that God does not exist, or have no opinion on the matter, they just further feel that that's a belief, not strong knowledge.

All of these posts are entirely my own opinion except where citations are provided.

I think in the interest of not annoying Sarah more, I'm going to let what I've said so far stand without further comment.