Bill Maher on Religion

Maybe some of you have already seen this one but it's a classic. Bill Maher is one of my favorite comics and especially since he's a master at satire as I dabble in satire myself.

The religious test comment in the clip got me thinking. There will definitely be a female and African American president before anyone of any other faith then Christian let alone Atheist/Non-Theist. I doubt if there will ever be an Atheist president actually.

If fact I know this is so, at least for now (and most likely for a long, long time to come). Here is Richard Dawkins (author of the already classic book, "The God Delusion" talking about it:

It is universally accepted that an admission of Atheism would be instant political suicide for any presidential candidate.

He goes on to mention a 1999 Gallop poll about the probability of an Atheist becoming president in America, less then half would vote for an Atheist (49%) whereas 59% would vote for a homosexual. Imagine then how unpopular a gay Atheist candidate would be!!! They would probably be assassinated. I wouldn't put that past the fundy crowd here in America.

I also like his scale or spectrum of probabilities regarding the existence of God (1-7): One being a Strong Theist who "knows" 100% that there is a "God" and Seven being a Strong Atheist that they "know" 100% that a "God" doesn't exist.

I myself fall into category 6, which Dawkins defines as: "Very low probability, but short of zero. De Facto Atheist. "I cannot know for certain but I think that God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." Although, like Dawkins, I lean toward 7 but I doubt that I'll ever be a firm 7 because as a man of science I have to leave a small, very small crack in the door because I am open to new evidence. However, as of yet, the entire volume of current evidence from the dawn of civilization to present day is over-whelming that there is no personal God.

Here is another segment that I like in his book (which I am now reading for the second time). Here he addresses the theist argument against evolution which goes something like this, "What are the chances that life just "sprung up" on Earth by chance? It seems improbable." So lets take this at face value and assume it is the only way evolution could occur says Dawkins, "Suppose it was so improbable as to occur on only one in a billion planets. If the odds of life originating spontaneously on a planet were a billion to one against, nevertheless that stupefying improbable event would still happen on a billion planets.

He has written such an excellent book in "The God Delusion." It's a must read indeed.

---End of Transmission---