Penn Gillette Less Profane And Humbler Than Carlin

[keith crime 8]

Morning Edition, November 21, 2005 · 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.

[theresa113 0]

Another good article Keith. I hav always appreciated John Lennon's words as well: Imagine Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people living for today... Imagine there's no countries, It isnt hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too, Imagine all the people living life in peace... Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people Sharing all the world... You may say Im a dreamer, but Im not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one. I just want to say, I am not a religious person but I am a spiritual person. My view of God is probably much different than most, but for me its real and it is my truth. You won't see me say I don't believe in God nor will you see me saying I believe in God. To me, God just is. God is the force, the love, the light that binds us all together. God is the energy that allows truth in all religions. God is the energy that enables us to love. Man makes God complex. Man take the pureness of love and writes books and creates organizations and dicates rules and imposes dogma. God, in my oppinion, is way beyond that. God is the glue that evolves us from being mere living organism. God is that internal knowledge of right and wrong, the desire to connect with others and the open heart of love. Anyway, just my view, which my view embraces the fact that we all have our own truths no matter how varried they may be.

[darth__maul 0]

Penn Gillette is Less Profane??Not after this

[HangukMiguk 8]

I think this was actually posted in January.Yeah, I don't know who's more profane either. What was that Premium channel show he had? "Bullshit"?I wouldn't call him less profane than carlin, but i wouldn't call carlin less profane than gillette either.

[Guest Guest]

I just meant that Penn's essay was less profane than CarlinsPenn produced the Aristocrats elsewhere he is very profaneGodless heathen

[speedz99 145]

Penn Gillette is Less Profane??Not after this

Darth Maul, we hardly knew ye.