How Ricky Gervais became an atheist

Posted by Helen on: 04.22.2008 /

I thought this was interesting (h/t Hemant): My Argument with God by Ricky Gervais.

I liked his description of what he believed about Jesus, as a child

I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you. What a guy. I wanted to be just like Him.

I especially liked “He was my hero because He was kind.”

Then I like Ricky Gervais’ description of the gifts of his new-found atheism

The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. Not a world by design, but one by chance. I learned of evolution—a theory so simple and obvious that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals, and us—with imagination, free will, love, and humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer, and pizza are all good enough reasons for living.

I’m encouraged by atheists who say “Isn’t life wonderful?” rather than “Here are all the things wrong with religion”. That’s where I want to be. I’m not saying there’s never a place for discussing the latter but…it seems sad how many people seem to get stuck there. I’m hoping I won’t be one of them.

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9 Responses to "How Ricky Gervais became an atheist"

Comment by: Simon
1 04/22/08 11:50 AM | Comment Link |
I like to talk about how silly religion is because it’s one of those fun things to do in life, like eat pizzas.
Comment by: Helen
2 04/22/08 12:42 PM | Comment Link |
Thanks for your comment, Simon.

I like to laugh with people. I think it’s mean to laugh at them so I try not to do that.
Comment by: Amy Black
3 04/22/08 1:11 PM | Comment Link |
Great article! I go back and forth between running down religion and embracing life as an atheist.

I don’t want to end up totally negative though! We atheists have a bad rep for being meanies. I don’t want to be like that!
Comment by: karen
4 04/22/08 1:30 PM | Comment Link |
I recently discovered an excellent essay titled “Religion and Respect,” thanks to a poster over at Hemant’s site.

The whole thing is really good, but the last portion particularly talks about two different views of the world: The transcendent view (which is focused on the afterlife) and the immanent view (focused on the here and now). He has some great things to say about the validity of the immanent view, even though it has long been criticized by traditional religions as “worldly” “materialistic” or “shallow”:

But there is another option for meaning, and for our interpretation of religious art, which is to look only within life itself. This is the immanent option. It is content with the everyday. There is sufficient meaning for human beings in the human world – the world of familiar, and even humdrum doings and experiences. In the immanent option, the smile of the baby, the grace of the dancer, the sound of voices, the movement of a lover, give meaning to life. For some it is activity and achievement: gaining the summit of the mountain, crossing the finishing line first, finding the cure or writing the poem. These things last only their short time, but that does not deny them meaning. A smile does not need to go on forever in order to mean what it does. There is nothing beyond or apart from the processes of life. Furthermore, there is no one goal to which all these processes tend, but we can find something precious, value and meaning, in the processes themselves. There is no such thing as the meaning of life, but there can be many meanings within a life.

The immanent view is definitely my preferred way of looking at the world. I even suspect I leaned toward that viewpoint as a Christian, in fact, which is why I was always in a controversy for pushing for more poverty outreach and less emphasis on conversions!

I wonder if this viewpoint can and is embraced by some moderate and liberal Christians (who seem to de-emphasize the afterlife, at least as compared to my former fundamentalist churches)?
Comment by: Helen
5 04/22/08 1:45 PM | Comment Link |
Amy it sounds like we have the same goals :)
Comment by: Helen
6 04/22/08 4:07 PM | Comment Link |
Thanks for the link, Karen.

I think you’re right that moderate/liberal(/emerging) Christians want to make sure there’s enough focus on the here and now. When I was in Seattle Rob Bell talked about focusing on the journey rather than just the destination and I think I’ve read words to that effect from Todd Hunter also recently. And I think that came up in the NT Wright interview I linked to in recent weeks.

The Bible says plenty about the here and now so I’m not sure how (some peoples’) Christianity got so destination-focused to the exclusion of the here and now.
Comment by: karen
7 04/22/08 9:32 PM | Comment Link |
The Bible says plenty about the here and now so I’m not sure how (some peoples’) Christianity got so destination-focused to the exclusion of the here and now.

Well, Jesus was focused on both the way one lives this life as well as the ultimate afterlife. I’m not sure if there was one aspect he emphasized over another, though.

I used to think that previous generations emphasized the afterlife because their lives on this earth - for the majority of people - were full of sorrow, sickness, death and injustice. But that doesn’t really hold up today, especially in the U.S. where we have much more cushy, safe lives than ever before in the past - and yet there’s still a huge focus from many churches on the rapture, getting to heaven, etc. It’s a real puzzle.
Comment by: Jason Horton
8 04/23/08 3:13 AM | Comment Link |
Ricky Gervais has a way of understating things of great importance. It is only when you take a moment to follow the implications of what he’s said that you see that his humour is often very profound. I’m sure he’d deny that and just say that he’s laughing at the foolishness evident in society and our strange little constructs but it’s true.

When he says “He was my hero because He was kind.” it summarizes the entire point of the New Testament view. Kindness is the ultimate form of honour that we can bestow upon one another. In honouring others and treating them with the kindness that we hope to receive we serve the greater good. I don’t believe that this greater good is a god of any kind but that is sort of beside the point.

Plus he’s really funny.

He also said:

Oh…hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.

Sometimes I do the thing that I despise fundies for and secretly believe that everyone “knows” that there is no God but refuses to accept it. It’s a terrible failing of mine but I still suspect that it’s true.
Comment by: Helen
9 04/23/08 8:56 AM | Comment Link |
Karen wrote:

Well, Jesus was focused on both the way one lives this life as well as the ultimate afterlife. I’m not sure if there was one aspect he emphasized over another, though.

I’m not sure either. I expect there are some other people who are sure and I’m guessing they don’t all agree with each other :)

I used to think that previous generations emphasized the afterlife because their lives on this earth - for the majority of people - were full of sorrow, sickness, death and injustice. But that doesn’t really hold up today, especially in the U.S. where we have much more cushy, safe lives than ever before in the past - and yet there’s still a huge focus from many churches on the rapture, getting to heaven, etc. It’s a real puzzle.

I think even people whose lives are relatively comfortable often fear death and other things they can’t control. It’s reassuring to hear they can be certain about something (heaven). And if Christians are right, eternity is a lot longer than this life so I can see why they want people to make the ‘right choice’.

Jason, I agree about Ricky Gervais, I find him very funny and very profound too. I liked how he picked up on kindness because I also value that very highly. (Off The Map does in general)

Sometimes I do the thing that I despise fundies for and secretly believe that everyone “knows” that there is no God but refuses to accept it. It’s a terrible failing of mine but I still suspect that it’s true.

Maybe it’s easier for someone who’s changed beliefs significantly to accept that people can believe quite differently from one another. After all we believe quite differently from ourselves at another stage of life :). (Especially if we’ve felt that we’ve thought through two changes quite carefully - so it’s not even that one was thought out but the other was a ‘default’ position)