Interesting "Is There a God?" Article from Comedian Ricky Gervais

[Sun Tzu]

A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I'm An Atheist - Speakeasy - WSJ

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.

[UPDATE: For more from Gervais, go to Does God Exist? Ricky Gervais Takes Your Questions]

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.

[JonInMiddleGA]

"Interesting"? Well perhaps in that it helps explain his overinflated sense of self importance. Just another self-centered little creature who has to deny the truth in order to avoid his own inability to deal with not being the center of the universe. Pathetic really.

[molson]

Weird for an comedic genius like Ricky Gervais to offer basically a 6th grade analysis of this issue.

I don't think we have the same energy and numbers around FOFC anymore for this to turn into one of "those" threads, but regardless, my only contribution here is the same as before - there's a hell of a lot of ground between "we've figured out everything there is to know about the human brain, physics, and everything else in the universe here in 2010" and "god is kind of like a santa clause in the sky, and everything in the bible is right". If you can't comprehend or acknowledge any of the possibilities of that middle ground - (no matter what side you're on), your view is inherently flawed, IMO. The debate is worthless, IMO, if you can't get past the talking points of heaven/hell, evolution, and human-created personifications of spirituality.

Sometimes I do feel like one of the only people in the world who hasn't figured out everything there is to know about physics, biology, the human brain, spirituality, humans' relationship with reality, and the laws of nature, etc. I'm glad for everyone else that they seem to have figured everything out one way or another, but for me, there's a lot out there I don't understand. For sure, I've known people smarter than Gervais (or at least, able to delve into this stuff with a little more that he brings to the table here), come up with all kinds of different conclusions/theories/observations about the universe. Those people (including ones that probably could be described as "atheist"), are so much more interesting than the ("Hey, I found an inconsistency in the bible!! I've cracked the code!! I've solved the universe! And anyone who hasn't is a RETARD!") crowd.

[MJ4H]

in before the lock

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

truth

As molson said, if we feel like going down this road, I'd like to hear your explanation for this word choice. And I'm a God-believer.

[Neon_Chaos]

Buddy Christ loves you.

[Toddzilla]

OMG! Someone doesn't believe in god! And they're making an argement about it! I'm scared!

[MikeVic]

Maybe the people that don't believe in the Christian God, Jesus, etc. should stand up for their beliefs and work on the days that celebrate those days?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Maybe the people that don't believe in the Christian God, Jesus, etc. should stand up for their beliefs and work on the days that celebrate those days?

Sure. Will my office be open?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Sure. Will my office be open?

Oh, and will I get an extra vacation day, or do I get my own holidays off with having to use vacation?

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Maybe the people that don't believe in the Christian God, Jesus, etc. should stand up for their beliefs and work on the days that celebrate those days?

When I was in high school i ALWAYS volunteered to work christmas or easter. Funnily enough nobody ever offered to take my shift on Passover and I had to demand it as a day off. Now my industry basically shuts down for two weeks around christmas so its a moot point.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

"Interesting"? Well perhaps in that it helps explain his overinflated sense of self importance. Just another self-centered little creature who has to deny the truth in order to avoid his own inability to deal with not being the center of the universe. Pathetic really.

LMAO

[DanGarion]

Great another one of these threads.

[RomaGoth]

Well, I am preparing to go through Confirmation in the Catholic faith, but after reading this little ditty from Gervais (in less than an hour, mind you), I think Atheism is really the way to go. I mean, there is no proof that God exists, so why believe in Him? It must have something to do with the small percentage of atheists in prison compared to believers. Yes, that must be it.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Maybe the people that don't believe in the Christian God, Jesus, etc. should stand up for their beliefs and work on the days that celebrate those days?

Not wanting to get sucked into things too far ... but I don't really think any of the 'holidays' are particularly religious for the majority of people these days - ultimately nearly all religions have 'camped' their holidays in specific parts of the year which coincide so I really don't see a big deal with anyone taking a holiday on those days regardless of their belief system.

For example - Halloween, what is it celebrating exactly, is it 'All Saints Day' or the pagan 'Festival of the Dead' .... to be frank the vast majority of people celebrating it don't know and don't care, its look and from a kids perspective they get candy

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Not wanting to get sucked into things too far ... but I don't really think any of the 'holidays' are particularly religious for the majority of people these days - ultimately nearly all religions have 'camped' their holidays in specific parts of the year which coincide so I really don't see a big deal with anyone taking a holiday on those days regardless of their belief system.

For example - Halloween, what is it celebrating exactly, is it 'All Saints Day' or the pagan 'Festival of the Dead' .... to be frank the vast majority of people celebrating it don't know and don't care, its look and from a kids perspective they get candy

Also, Jesus wasn't born on 12/25, 12/25 was picked later as a day that coincided with a lot of other religions holidays and around the Winter Solstice, as a way to appeal to non-Christians during Roman times and make it "easier" on them to switch religions.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

"Interesting"? Well perhaps in that it helps explain his overinflated sense of self importance. Just another self-centered little creature who has to deny the truth in order to avoid his own inability to deal with not being the center of the universe. Pathetic really.

Well I thought it was an interesting read - even if its just largely regurtitating other peoples ideas.

I don't see his espousing of his views as any different from a Christian explaining how and why they were saved tbh; its something which is important to them personally and has ultimately influenced their life choices - why mock it just because you disagree with it?

I'd argue that religious people believing that mankind is the center of the universe and made in Gods own image are surely more 'overinflated' with a sense of self-importance than an aetheist who believes that the cosmic signigficance of their existance is negligable - can you explain your stance perhaps or are you just angered by the fact that he disagrees with your viewpoint?

[jeff061]

I personally don't believe in god. This is a belief that only applies to me. No one else should care and it certainly shouldn't have any effect on what anyone else believes.

In short, I don't know why someone would put so much effort into explaining themselves. It's why I very rarely bother engaging in any religious discussion anymore. Don't see the point other than verbal masturbation.

[tarcone]

Weak and inflammatory.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[MikeVic]

My comment was to get some responses. I don't really believe it.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Weak and inflammatory.

How so, or should we just take you on your Word?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Weak and inflammatory.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Nah, if I had said "Ricky Gervais is love, tarcone is not" -- THAT would have been inflammatory!

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

How so, or should we just take you on your Word?

It looks to me that he is doing what he said "God-fearing" Christians do. It looked like to me he was trying to stir people up at Christmas.

Im not sure what "my Word" has to do with it. This was just my opinion.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Nah, if I had said "Ricky Gervais is love, tarcone is not" -- THAT would have been inflammatory!

Go Hawks!

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by tarcone

It looks to me that he is doing what he said "God-fearing" Christians do. It looked like to me he was trying to stir people up at Christmas.

Do you see it as more inflammatory than this?

I Have Been Saved - Front Office Football Central

[EagleFan]

Trying to stir the pot again? Why is this guy a mod? Seriously?

That is why athiests generally suck. They are just as "preachy" as uber-christians; they are just more annoying as they approach it with a false sense of self-importance. Christians stick to their guns because they believe in what they say and want others to discover their faith as well. Athiests do it because they feel they are superior and it's a sad attempt to stroke their ego.

Agnostic FTW... I don't know and neither do you (either side).

[Sun Tzu]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Trying to stir the pot again? Why is this guy a mod? Seriously?

I would love to hear an explanation as to how posting an article from an atheist perspective is "stirring the pot" in your eyes. I didn't say I agree one way or another. In fact, I bet you have no idea what my religious/spiritual beliefs are. You just know that I'm anti-militarism, so you assume that everything else I believe is shit.

Am I right? Your red herring is starting to rot.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

I would love to hear an explanation as to how posting an article from an atheist perspective is "stirring the pot" in your eyes. I didn't say I agree one way or another. In fact, I bet you have no idea what my religious/spiritual beliefs are. You just know that I'm anti-militarism, so you assume that everything else I believe is shit.

Am I right? Your red herring is starting to rot.

Whoa, I must be confusing you for someone else if you think no one knows that. I need to go back and look at some old threads brb.

Hmm, nope it was you. LOL at thinking you haven't made your beliefs perfectly obvious around here. Do you not remember this?

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...&postcount=236

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Whoa, I must be confusing you for someone else if you think no one knows that. I need to go back and look at some old threads brb.

Hmm, nope it was you. LOL at thinking you haven't made your beliefs perfectly obvious around here. Do you not remember this?

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Terrible but funny comics

Awesome.

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Christians stick to their guns because they believe in what they say and want others to discover their faith as well. Athiests do it because they feel they are superior and it's a sad attempt to stroke their ego.

In my experience these two arent really all that different. Maybe its because I was a jew at a christian school for 14 years but I know most of those christians were "sticking to their guns" because they felt superior.

[Neon_Chaos]

[Sun Tzu]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Whoa, I must be confusing you for someone else if you think no one knows that. I need to go back and look at some old threads brb.

Hmm, nope it was you. LOL at thinking you haven't made your beliefs perfectly obvious around here. Do you not remember this?

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Terrible but funny comics

So by that logic, anyone who's made a joke about Christianity, or laughed at a joke for that matter, thinks they are somehow superior to everyone in the religion? C'mon man, get real. If I had posted a joke about how lame white people can be, would you think that I'm some racist non-caucasian?

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Trying to stir the pot again? Why is this guy a mod? Seriously?

That is why athiests generally suck. They are just as "preachy" as uber-christians; they are just more annoying as they approach it with a false sense of self-importance. Christians stick to their guns because they believe in what they say and want others to discover their faith as well. Athiests do it because they feel they are superior and it's a sad attempt to stroke their ego.

Agnostic FTW... I don't know and neither do you (either side).

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

Do you see it as more inflammatory than this?

I Have Been Saved - Front Office Football Central

Yeah, those were my immature days. It was pretty inflammatory. I apologize for that.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

So by that logic, anyone who's made a joke about Christianity, or laughed at a joke for that matter, thinks they are somehow superior to everyone in the religion? C'mon man, get real. If I had posted a joke about how lame white people can be, would you think that I'm some racist non-caucasian?

Um, no, I just thought it was funny that you bet he didn't know your religious views after you have so clearly blasted it in everyone's face in the past. Don't read more into it than that.

edit to add: oh I hope you don't think I'm just guessing that you are an atheist based on that cartoon. You explicitly said as much in that thread.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

...would you think that I'm some racist non-caucasian?

Well........are you?

[Sun Tzu]

Blasted it in everyone's face? I'd love to hear you tell me what my views are then.

[lungs]

I'd just like to announce that my G_d is better than your G_d.

[MJ4H]

Um, I just did in that post. You are an atheist, as you clearly stated in that thread.

[Sun Tzu]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Um, I just did in that post. You are an atheist, as you clearly stated in that thread.

Strange, I don't remember posting anywhere that I was an atheist. I'd like to request a quote please.

[MJ4H]

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Terrible but funny comics

[Sun Tzu]

Hmm...I guess that could be taken as me saying I'm atheist.

For the record, I'm Jewish. Chew on that one.

[RedKingGold]

Funny. He doesn't look Druish.

[Greyroofoo]

[DeToxRox]

MJ4H is showing a beautiful display of memory and usage of the search button in this thread.

[DeToxRox]

I liked Gervais take a whole lot better when George Carlin did it.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

brian: you're all different
crowd: yes! we're all different!
lonely voice: i'm not
crowd: shhhhhhh

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Whoa, I must be confusing you for someone else if you think no one knows that. I need to go back and look at some old threads brb.

Hmm, nope it was you. LOL at thinking you haven't made your beliefs perfectly obvious around here. Do you not remember this?

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Terrible but funny comics

Posting funny stuff about religion does not make one atheist.

[Tigercat]

My problem with over the top atheists is that they often refuse to understand that true atheism (and not agnosticism or agnosticism under the false use of atheism) true atheism is a faith based belief. It is a belief that, "sure we don't know the real how-why of the big bang or what existed before the big bang, but we deem it to be completely random, isolated, and that all associations with it are absolutely without spiritual merit." Nothing wrong with believing that, but that belief is just as faith driven as the alternatives.

[DeToxRox]

I want to point out this article offends me because it was not funny. I realize Gervais was making his point here but he obviously was trying to get laughs and it just didn't work for me.