Ricky Gervais "Why I'm an Atheist"

Penn

Probably too long to post the whole article, but thought this was a pretty good read:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist/

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

Then taking some questions about religion from readers:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/22/does-god-exist-ricky-gervais-takes-your-questions/

MrJoeSoap

He's quite vocal about it, and that movie The Invention of Lying is a bit of a swipe at religion.

Penn

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

He's quite vocal about it, and that movie The Invention of Lying is a bit of a swipe at religion.

Yeah, almost all his stand-up shows feature taking the piss out of religion. From what I've seen from his shows, podcasts etc, he never comes across as someone who dislikes religion, but instead has a great love of science and nature

ShooterSF

I don't care what others think I like him and his laugh. I would have thought he'd spell humour with a "u" though.

UDP

A very well written piece.

UDP

ShooterSF wrote: »

I don't care what others think I like him and his laugh. I would have thought he'd spell humour with a "u" though.

I think the Wall Street Journal editors changed the spellings in to US English so that its US readers wouldn't get confused.

ShooterSF

UDP wrote: »

I think the Wall Street Journal editors changed the spellings in to US English so that its US readers wouldn't get confused.

That makes sense. I hope the smart arse that asked him about xmas felt a nice twinge reading that reply

antiskeptic

Rick wrote:

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

When I read this, the image of a hamster running around on his wheel came to mind.

FearDark

UDP wrote: »

A very well written piece.

I think its actually from a podcast or an Xfm show, its a few years old anyway.

Dades

antiskeptic wrote: »

When I read this, the image of a hamster running around on his wheel came to mind.

That's weird, because I immediately thought of a religious person running around on a hamster wheel.

Logical Fallacy

"I used to believe in Jesus until i realised i could make money by making fun of the mentally handicapped".

Penn

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

"I used to believe in Jesus until i realised i could make money by making fun of the mentally handicapped".

Nah, he does that in his spare time. Y'know, just for sh*ts and giggles. That's how he relaxes

smokingman

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

"I used to believe in Jesus until i realised i could make money by making fun of the mentally handicapped".

That's a terrible thing to call the religious!

BaZmO*

UDP wrote: »

A very well written piece.

Really? I like RG, but I thought it read like it was written by an 8 year Ricky rather than a man in his 40's.

bnt

BaZmO* wrote: »

Really? I like RG, but I thought it read like it was written by an 8 year Ricky rather than a man in his 40's.

I thought it read like someone writing for an audience of ordinary Americans. I don't mean that in a pejorative way, I mean that it takes some skill with words to get your point across, eloquently, without using jargon or $10 words if you don't need to. After reading bits of William Lane Craig stuff, trying to figure out what the hell he's on about, I can see the value in clear, unambiguous language. Gervais' piece, to me, follows Einstein's dictum admirably: it's as simple as it needs to be, and no simpler. :cool:

HUNK

I miss Extras

Galvasean

The Q&A section was pretty good - a bit familiar from reading this forum regularly, but a good read nonetheless.