I came across this article today:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

There Is No God
by Penn Jillette

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.

I obviously have several problems with this article since I do believe in God very strongly. Some of the views that he shares don't even seem to be valid to me and it makes me wonder if it's just because I'm a Christian or if it's because he uses deductive reasoning instead of inductive reasoning....

In the end, I always enjoy reading articles like this - if it's possible to enjoy something that also kind of irks you and causes you to be in complete disagreement - because I like to be able to understand the different views. To me, it seems like this man has seen hurt within his family in some way because of his references in the 2nd to last paragraph. It gives me insight to his life and makes me feel like he has no hope in this world.

In the end, I believe there are truths that are relative outside of religion and beliefs like:

• Reality. He said, "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 think that we can always agree on these things. I am a person that strives to communicate with everyone and tries to learn the ways that people comprehend the best so that the highest level of understanding can be met. I think that people of all religions try to communicate with their family, friends, and with each other, and that the things that are outside of religious beliefs and are considered facts are known and not questioned by everybody.
• The world is inherently evil. His point of "not believing in God brings the possiblity of less suffering in the future" is ridiculous. I know just the opposite is true and that him not believing in God is what is going to cause him to have more suffering than he can ever imagine in his future... and I would think that an atheist or someone "beyond atheism" would think that God or even the "idea of a God" (as he would put it) would be outside of the realm of pleasure and suffering.

There are many other things that I disagree with as well, but I just thought that I would share this because I found it very interesting and intriguing.

I have been discussing this with a friend of mine from work that considers himself "beyond atheism" as well and to my points above he said the following:

And I think what he meant by "we can agree on reality", is that because there are so many religions and ideas on what God is, that we can't agree on "one" reality, because what is reality to some, is not the reality to others...the most extreme and current example is the difference between the Muslim and Christian faiths...if you think that any two people, one from each of any one of those branches of religion can keep adjusting so they can communicate, you may be right. But you can't pick just any two....because the vast majority of difference between humans is in their religious beliefs and they tend to have very strong feelings regarding the validity of those beliefs. And, some of these people will resort to violence to prove their point. So I don't think it's objective, it's based on fact. These, in addition to other religions have been unable to co-exist peacefully since the beginning of time. So, without the idea of God, I believe the playing field is leveled, and we can start to understand things from a point of view that doesn't include that of those that believe that there is one supreme being, because that supreme being isn't the same to everyone.

As far as the "No god" comment goes, you're right. That is a statement that is just his opinion, so naturally the obvious could, and may, be true. But, like I stated prevoius, there seems to be a great deal of violence surrounding religion. There have been more people killed in the name of God then there has for any other reason...and that is a fact. I think that Jillette was taking this into consideration when making this statement.

I have to say that I agree with my friend. I know that he is right and that religion causes more diversity and wars than anything else. Yet, I also know the reasons for wars, and I know that it's the muslim faith states that if you kill someone that is outside of the muslim faith then you will be able to pass on to eternity. I can give all the other reasonings of why this truth exists and how it is inaccurately portrayed, but I know that all of you know these, so it doesn't seem necessary....

Anyway, fun thoughts for the day.....