[Vision2020] "Why I Do Not Believe in a God" (Ricky Gervais)

Tue Nov 27 19:00:14 PST 2012

Thank goodness.

On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 6:32 PM, Scott Dredge <scooterd408 at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  Even worse, scientists have blind faith in things like 'numbers' and
> 'time' which don't exist.
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:42:28 -0800
> From: godshatter at yahoo.com
> To: donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com; thansen at moscow.com;
> vision2020 at moscow.com
>
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] "Why I Do Not Believe in a God" (Ricky Gervais)
>
> These lazy, procrastinating scientists haven't proven there are no elves,
> pixies, invisible rabbits, unicorns, or huge squid-like beings slumbering
> deep under the sea either.  I demand they get off their butts and do
> something about it.  All they do is look abashed, mumble something about
> "burden of proof" and skulk off quietly, slowly, making no sudden moves,
> and not glancing in your direction if they can help it.
>
> Paul
>
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
> *To:* Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>; Moscow Vision 2020 <
> vision2020 at moscow.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 27, 2012 4:12 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] "Why I Do Not Believe in a God" (Ricky
> Gervais)
>
> Science hasn't proved there is no God. So to claim there is no God based
> on science is illogical thinking. It is pure faith and personal
> experience believing either way.
>
> Donovan J. Arnold
>
>   *From:* Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
> *To:* Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, November 26, 2012 8:06 PM
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] "Why I Do Not Believe in a God" (Ricky Gervais)
>
>    Courtesy of the December 22, 2010edition of the Wall Street Journal at:
>
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703886904576031640102154156.html
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> "Why I Do Not Believe in a God"
> By Ricky Gervais
>
> 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 tothe 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.
>
> 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 that 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 rule book says
> their sexuality is immoral. It's strange that anyone who believes that an
> all-powerful, all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything
> 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 until 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. Some 75% of Americans
> are God-fearing Christians; 75% of prisoners are God-fearing Christians.
> Some 10% of Americans are atheists; 0.2% 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 newfound 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.
> -------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares"
> http://www.moscowcares.com/
>
>  Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
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