Penn Jillette: The hope in atheism
Thinking person's clown Penn Jillette on why he finds hope in believing there is no God. He has an unusual approach that I respect: believing there is no God forces him to focus on now: on finding transcendence in the love of his family, on doing right because there is no alternative of forgiveness. But I would observe that while atheists and agnostics frequently, and rightly, reference fundamentalist-type believers as deterrents to faith, I can't think of one account from a nonbeliever who addresses the faith of openminded believing sorts, like Thomas Merton, Jillette's colleague Kathy Dahlen, or many of us. Jillette says "Believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something." Plenty of believers allow their God to challenge them, to prove them wrong, again and again. I wonder if Jillette knows any of these.
P.S. I'm extremely amused that the slug at the top of that page says "NPR : There is No God." Godless liberals broadcasting again!
posted by Theologienne @ 8:57 PM
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Philosopher Richard Rorty is another dedicated atheist that makes you stop and think. Rorty is profoundly, often gleefully anti-religious, but in doing so reminds us of what's at stake:
"[A secular culture] would drop, or drastically reinterpret, not only the idea of holiness but those of 'devotion to the truth' and of 'fulfillment of the deepest needs of the spirit.'"
"Only if we have...some picture of the universe as either itself a person or created by a person, can we make sense of the idea that the world has an "intrinsic nature."
Of course, Rorty isn't very funny, and can't do magic tricks or juggle. At least, not as far as I know. I saw him speak once and he didn't do a single magic trick; if he was a magician, it would have been a perfect opportunity to show off.
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