gokubi.com

There’s a cool piece over at NPR written by the prestidigitator/comedian Penn Jillette outlining his non-religious philosophy. It’s a really interesting take on a suject that is pretty much taboo in our society–openly challenging the existence of God.

There’s a lot to be said for this outlook on life:

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.

I’ve often thought it’s an easy out to rely on uncoditional forgiveness after the game is over. We should be more concerned about our interactions with each other, and look carefully at how we affect the lives of other humans.

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.

Amen Brother! What a great example of a non-believer’s philosophy that is truly moral. Leave it to Penn to surprise us with that gem.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 at 9:19 am and is filed under Civics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.