Piers Morgan debates Penn Jillette on atheism
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Saw this on Mystagogy.
Apparently Penn Jillette has written just what the public was clamoring for: Another cultural mandate for anti-religion. (Hooray! It had been WAY too long since Hitchens and Maher told everyone that civilization can’t move forward if people keep believing in God.) So Piers Morgan had him on his show and talked about it for a couple minutes. Well, they had some big topics like celebrity baby-naming queued up, so that’s all they could spare.
But I shouldn’t squawk. It’s more pushback than Jillette is likely to get anywhere else. And Morgan gets big points for asking the point-blank questions where atheists will always flounder unless they lie outright … “So where do you think we come from? … What do you think happens to us when we die?”
I know the Christian faith depends on a lot more than just these sorts of childish queries. But they’re a starting place, and given that so many atheists these days want to end all organized religion everywhere, I think there’s value to somebody asking the questions.
Related posts:
- Why I don’t believe what Penn believes
- The dishonesty of atheism
- What made me an agnostic, and why I’m not now
- English tacit atheism
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I think this generation needs a new GK Chesterton or CS Lewis. Someone with grace and humor to answer people like Penn. I think the guy is actually pretty reasonable and willing to engage an intelligent conversation if someone who is a Christian could give him one. Not impressed with Piers, although he did try.…
Lewis, Chesterton: I know. They’re greatly missed.
Piers should’ve done a little better, but I’m impressed that he admitted believing in God. He’s trying to be the new larry King, and in Big Entertainment circles, admissions like don’t exactly build up your cred.
By doing that, though, he threw down the gauntlet to Jillette in what I thought was a pretty significant way. When atheists talk about religious people, they indulge in a lot of big stereotyping and straw-man arguments. That’s a lot harder to do when someone makes it personal.