There is a series on NPR called “This I Believe” where people from different sides of life write down their ideas and thoughts, one I heard some time ago was from Pen Jilette, the magician-comedian, and i was surprised on how deep his train of thought was.
The essay (attached below from http://www.thisibelieve.or
I consider myself more of on the Agnostic Theism side of life (I have decided to believe there is a god although I cannot prove it), which pares really well with my firm belief in rational humanism.
I refuse to believe in “the God”, more than anything because I do not think an all powerful, omniscient and omnipresent entity actually can be defined in anthropological terms as many religions do. I rather call it “What Is”. It cannot have or express human emotions or needs, considering it is not human and has no needs (see the omni’s list). This puts me somewhere between Islam and Judaism.
I believe, if the omnipresent part is true, that then in reality we are all part of It, actually everything is a part of It. Now, in a Universe where everything has its counterpart, then the dark side, evil, the Devil etc is defined as “What is Not”. Hell is the absence of being.
This definition allows a couple of things like free will, you move between both sides, your choice where you go; also explains why the entity is not intervening directly in human affairs as a separate being (putting me close to Deism); It allows to explain the tenants of Christianity like the holy trinity, Jesus as the son of God, the need for him to die, etc., which puts me close to the Catholic Church.
I also like the part of no intervention because, as the essay points out, I am good to others because I truly believe it is the best (notice not the right) thing to do. I value Ethics over morality. Anyway I really liked the essay, I share many of its views and this puts back into Humanism.
So anyway, here is the essay:
There is No God
As heard on NPR’s 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.
Penn Jillette is the taller, louder half of the magic and comedy act Penn and Teller. He is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and has lectured at Oxford and MIT. Penn has co-authored three best-selling books and is executive producer of the documentary film, “The Aristocrats.”
Independently produced for NPR by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with Emily Botein and Viki Merrick. Photo by Nubar Alexanian.
