In a “holiday” message from “Office” creator Ricky Gervais, the world famous atheist spends about five paragraphs essentially ridiculing the inability of we Believers to articulate exactly why it is we believe in God. Then, laughably, he goes on to tell the story of his own deep, thoughtful, intellectual conversion from Christian to atheist:
One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible studies homework. I loved art too. And nature. I loved how God made all the animals. They were also perfect. Unconditionally beautiful. It was an amazing world. …I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. He was 11 years older than me, so he would have been 19. He was as smart as anyone I knew, but he was too cheeky. He would answer back and get into trouble. I was a good boy. I went to church and believed in God[.] …
But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, “Why do you believe in God?” Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. “Bob,” she said in a tone that I knew meant, “Shut up.” Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn’t matter what people 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.
Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism.
Oh. Well. Case closed then.
Most of my friends and family are agnostics or atheists, so this isn’t my mocking of those who aren’t sure or simply don’t believe (and isn’t the fact that they’re going to burn in the fires of Hell for all eternity punishment enough?). But for some smug celebrity to intentionally choose this time of year to write a smug column “having a laugh” at how supposedly ineffective we believers are at making our case — the same smug celebrity who wrote what’s quoted above… Well, that’s yet another uniquely beautiful display of the stunning lack of self-awareness among our celebrity class.
And I must add that the most pushy, obnoxious and intolerant evangelists I know today are those spreading the faith of atheism (or Global Cooling Global Warming Climate Change).
Keep your beliefs to yourself, Ricky.
Stop trying to convert me.
P.S. Be sure to read Vox Popoli’s in-depth response to Gervais:
He is the walking, talking evidence of the existence of the definitive Dawkinsian atheist, who does not believe in God because he is an asshole.
That just happens to be my favorite part of what really is a thoughtful and intelligent article.
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