I heard Penn's 'This I Believe' essay on NPR this morning

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Oct 1, 2004
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

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.
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Content: Uhhh, I don't know. How do you feel about people who don't believe in God?
 
I have no problem with someone not beliving in God. I have a larger problem with people that can't accept people that don't believe in God.

I hate hypocritical christains like the lady from trading spouses. Ones that are horrible people and use their faith as validation for them being assholes.
 
b_sinning said:
I have no problem with someone not beliving in God. I have a larger problem with people that can't accept people that don't believe in God.

I hate hypocritical christains like the lady from trading spouses. Ones that are horrible people and use their faith as validation for them being assholes.
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Christ-stains?
 
Honestly I don't care what others believe, and I'm sick of people stating their non-belief for the official record as if it makes a difference to me. I don't care what Penn believes. I don't care what agnostics or atheists believe, or why they feel compelled to believe it. I simply don't give a shit. If people would stop offering their opinions and beliefs to anyone who will listen this world would be a much more tolerable place. And quiet.
 
Sarcasmo said:
Honestly I don't care what others believe, and I'm sick of people stating their non-belief for the official record as if it makes a difference to me. I don't care what Penn believes. I don't care what agnostics or atheists believe, or why they feel compelled to believe it. I simply don't give a shit. If people would stop offering their opinions and beliefs to anyone who will listen this world would be a much more tolerable place. And quiet.
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NPR's 'This I Believe' segment is really interesting tho. There are some really neat stories. :iono:
 
fly said:
NPR's 'This I Believe' segment is really interesting tho. There are some really neat stories. :iono:
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I've listened to it before. I enjoy hearing anecdotes and what not, I'm just tired of the same old stale "This is why I believe in God" vs. "This is why I don't believe in God" arguments, debates, or statements. For whatever reason people seem compelled to state their personal beliefs, religious or otherwise, as though society is a soapbox and everyone is interested. I think it's the compulsory sense of entitlement that so many people have nowadays.

If it were more analytical than that, such as an examination of the intricacies of the natural world and the association of a higher power with its design that would be fascinating. To hear intelligent people reasoning intelligently either way about how God must or must not have been involved in the creation of the universe would keep me hooked for hours. But editorials or statements of personal belief are a bit stale and boring. It's just an off-the-cuff opinion, so it really doesn't contribute anything new, if that makes sense.
 
Sarcasmo said:
I've listened to it before. I enjoy hearing anecdotes and what not, I'm just tired of the same old stale "This is why I believe in God" vs. "This is why I don't believe in God" arguments, debates, or statements. For whatever reason people seem compelled to state their personal beliefs, religious or otherwise, as though society is a soapbox and everyone is interested. I think it's the compulsory sense of entitlement that so many people have nowadays.

If it were more analytical than that, such as an examination of the intricacies of the natural world and the association of a higher power with its design that would be fascinating. To hear intelligent people reasoning intelligently either way about how God must or must not have been involved in the creation of the universe would keep me hooked for hours. But editorials or statements of personal belief are a bit stale and boring. It's just an off-the-cuff opinion, so it really doesn't contribute anything new, if that makes sense.
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My point, although hidden, was that none of the other segments I've heard have had anything to do with God.

And there are some people who ARE interested. I'm always interested to hear why someone believes what they do, as I'm very interested in religion.
 
fly said:
I'm always interested to hear why someone believes what they do, as I'm very interested in religion.
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Same here, I just crave new material. I love to delve deeper than the typical surface conversations.
 
SpangeMonkee said:
whatever floats your boat. I really don't care what other people do as long as it doesn't hurt me.
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or get shoved in your face at every opportunity.

i'll believe what i feel like believing, thanks.




LET ME DO WHAT I WANT, GOSH.
 
kiwi said:
HOW THE CRAP DO YOU GUYS TURN EVERY SINGLE THREAD INTO A GAY THREAD?
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It is up to you and the other women of UF to make the threads hetero again. The only way to do this is to post naked pics. I know it's hard, but I believe in you.
 
Nice article, agree with it.


Also agree with Sarcasmo on one part, people always throwing thier opinions around like they actually know whats up. In all actuality, not a damn soul on this earth actually knows what's up.
 
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