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Why I love Penn Jillette (api.ning.com)
submitted 1 month ago by XanCrews
[–]Gehalgod 7 points8 points9 points 1 month ago
I have mad respect for Penn Jillette, but I have to call "Bullshit!" on this (Ah! Ah! The irony! It burrrns!).
I don't think that it's right for people to say they derive all of their morality from God. I think it's foolish to say that every mundane detail of your life is predetermined and then look before you cross the street. Penn is usually pretty clever when it comes to pointing out hypocrisy with things like that. But not here. Sorry.... stopping at a red light does not make you an atheist. Penn's gotta do a lot of logical gymnastics to get to that conclusion, and the conclusion is diluted anyway by the fact that it applies to pretty much anything and everything. What I gather from this is:
Anytime you do anything yourself, it is you doing it instead of God doing it for you, right? Right. BAM! Atheist. I just think he's jumping to wild conclusions here. A person is an atheist as soon as they consciously realize they don't believe in God. It has nothing directly to do with stopping at red lights or treating injuries.
Penn Jillette is a smart man, but he takes his own opinion too far sometimes. You can say I don't believe in God, but you can't say I don't believe anyone else believes in God. That's false, and honestly quite hubristic.
[–]adamwho 1 point2 points3 points 1 month ago
Isn't the point that actions are based on the persons actual (rather than stated) beliefs?
[–]Gehalgod 0 points1 point2 points 29 days ago
That's true, but there's still a lot of grey area that Penn is ignoring here.
A person can stop at a red light for their own safety and still believe there is a God. One action does not make the other impossible, but Penn seems like he's trying to force that idea down our throats here.
It's like he's trying to say "[INSERT ANY ARBITRARY ACTION HERE] proves there is no God".
You can believe in God without believing that every action is predetermined. You can believe in God without believing that he will physically interfere with the world and cause you to avoid harm. Frankly, I'm offended by what he says here. I'm an atheist for my own logical reasons, not because I stop at traffic lights.
[–]adamwho 0 points1 point2 points 29 days ago
On the other hand, the bible says that believers will be able to do miraculous things, including moving literal mountains, drinking poison and handling snakes. It also says to have no care about this world, including selling all your possessions and leaving your family to prepare for Christ's return.
So the biblical literalist operating in the modern world with a job, family, going to the doctor, voting, and owning stuff, really is demonstrating a lack of belief in the literal words of the bible.
But there isn't a single place in this Penn Jillette quote where it says "Bible" or "Christianity". He's trying to say that taking caution in everyday life nullifies the idea of a God altogether, and I'm saying that it doesn't work that way. You don't have to be a Fundamentalist Christian to believe in God.
[–]adamwho 0 points1 point2 points 28 days ago
I don't think we can count on an internet quote to provide complete context. For all we know, he could be talking specifically about a very specific set of beliefs.
[–]Gehalgod 0 points1 point2 points 28 days ago
True. But if that's the case, the person who made this post should have given the context. Just throwing those words on a picture is disrespectful to atheism.
[–]SimilarImage 1 point2 points3 points 1 month ago
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[–]adamwho 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago
He is arguing that a persons actions imply their true beliefs regardless of their stated beliefs. And this is true to a point.
[–]feralmind 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago
You love a man you haven't met? Isn't that like religion?
[–]vandalklown 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago
Yeah, this is just a horrible assertion. He's being downright ridiculous trying to define atheism....I didn't have anything against Penn prior to reading this, but it is shit like this that gives atheists a bad name. NO MR JILLETTE IT, IF YOU STOP, YOU'RE JUST A REGULAR PERSON. Christians have common sense too, and it's dangerous and unnecessary to find little things to tease them about; aren't there enough examples you could use?
[–]daneelthesane 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago
Again? Really, people? I'm starting to think that the people who post this are closet theists trying to make us look stupid.
[–]DeadGuyKai -2 points-1 points0 points 1 month ago
Not this lame shit again. Bad logic & bad theology. It's exactly what you'd expect from a Koch-sucking Cato Institute hack like Jillette.
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[–]Gehalgod 7 points8 points9 points ago
[–]adamwho 1 point2 points3 points ago
[–]Gehalgod 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]adamwho 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]Gehalgod 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]adamwho 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]Gehalgod 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]SimilarImage 1 point2 points3 points ago
[–]adamwho 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]feralmind 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]vandalklown 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]daneelthesane 0 points1 point2 points ago
[–]DeadGuyKai -2 points-1 points0 points ago