There is No God

Penn Jillette had a nice little essay for NPR about believing There is No God. What I enjoyed about the essay is that it centered around a celebration of what results from giving up on the supernatural intervention. No god means no reason for blinding one's self to the reality we all share. More so, it takes away the safety net. I once told some students that a belief in god created a rental car universe. We treat each other, the world, ourselves and our lives as something temporary; something that we will return dented, unwashed and full of trash and then rightfully claim our polished, sanctified and true lives in a perfect world. It's true that what we have is temporary. But that's the only truth of which we can be certain. Living our lives as if existence will be repaid and redeemed in another world is only an excuse to not try harder in this world. It's an axiom that inevitably leads to very destructive behavior.

Here's a small selection from Jillette's essay. The full essay can be read via the link:

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.