What do you think of Penn Jillette's essay "There is no God"?

Question

Late last year, Penn Jillette (the magician/juggler) wrote an essay for NPR's "This I Believe" segment for Morning Edition. It's a compelling short piece, and in it he says:

"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."

The link is below, where you can read the essay or download the audio. I'm anxious to read your comments.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

Answer 1

I like his motives, but I don't find his reasoning particularly compelling.

He claims that believing in the nonexistence of God:
* removes greed.
* makes him more thoughtful of others because there's no guarantee of forgiveness for his wrongs.
* eliminates solipsism.
* places the responsibility for man's actions solely with mankind, enabling mankind to solve its own problems.
* allows more room to appreciate good things in his life.

The problem is that Jillette confuses a simple theological statement ("I believe in God") with the myriad of ways in which a person's beliefs can be demonstrated in their life. It is perfectly possible for a person to believe in God and achieve many of the same goals that Jillette sets out, (his identification of faith with solipsism is borderline silly), and he provides no evidence that the very nature of belief in God, ipso facto, makes those goals more difficult. I'm as irritated as the next person by many of the things some religious people say and do, but the most we can state -- and even this is a stretch -- is that such a person's particular manifestation of his (or her) belief system is at fault.

In fact, it occurs to me that, if Jillette's personal values and goals are what he says they are, then he'd be the best kind of person to adopt a religion, wouldn't he? Unless he honestly believes that becoming Christian / Jewish / Muslim / whatever would cause him to lose those values... in which case, isn't he really just describing his own weakness?

Answer 2

Some people believe that God is a force that set things in motion but that doesn't have a hand on everything that happens as if our world was a checkerboard. Some people believe that because God is a force He has no hands or physical ability to fix some things. Some people believe God is love, and when there is hate there is no God present - only evil. Some people see that in Nature there are forces that are responsible for both the positive and the negative things.

Penn Jillette does have a point, but there's also a point in believing that there can both be God and the possibility of our being able to help others in the future, since maybe - because God has no human hands - we were created specifically for this job. Maybe God wouldn't have created us if there were no problems to be solved. At the same time, maybe there is conflict between the idea that a whole universe can be brilliantly defined to work with perfection on the large scale while we human creatures are but a tiny part of that large scale with specific requirements/needs that aren't necessarily matching those of the grander universe.

Answer 3

I read the title of your question, read your question details, and read the essay, and the first thing that came to mind for all three is that regardless of how well-put the question, comment, and essay are, there will be people who will respond to this question by not answering it... and instead cram their belief structure down any unsuspecting throat and break it off, effectively trying to choke a person who tries to think rationally.

Answering it for myself, what do I think of the essay? I think it's a very thoughtful, very hopeful piece. Doing good for one's self, family, loved ones, neighbors, and country should be from a basis of what actually is the best thing to do... not because someone 2000 years ago, who spent his time delirious from fasting or under threat of possible torture, wrote verses that were later deemed BY MEN to be the word of a god.

People have a choice. They can either do what someone else tells them to do all their lives, living in fear of going to hell, and hoping they go to heaven after they're dead... or they can live their lives, fully, right now, knowing each person creates heavens and hells for themselves and those they influence. (I prefer the company of people who create little heavens, and try to avoid people who create little hells.)

Answer 4

I think it is a well-written piece. I completely agree. Believing in God is blaming all the misfortunes on a higher beings will instead of believing that you could have done something different to change that outcome. Believing in God is accepting defeat by saying it wasn't my decision. By not believing in God we could all be better, more responsible people.

Answer 5

It's a very good essay - except for the bit about Jello which almost made me wish there was a God who punished all manufacturers of food that can change colors and tremble.

Answer 6

Agree

Answer 7

Wonderful. If only more people were able to examine their personal beliefs like that.

Answer 8

Excellent! He doesn't push it on anyone else, he just states what he personally believes.

Answer 9

I agree with him, and he is entitled to his opinion, so don't hate him for his views.

Answer 10

I agree with him wholeheartedly.