Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert Debate Atheism – Patheos (blog)

Stephen Colbert and Ricky Gervais discuss atheism, science, and the supposed existence of God.

In Wednesdays episode of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, host and devout Catholic Stephen Colbert asked his guest, comedian and atheist Ricky Gervais, about faith, be

Colbert began the conversation by asking:

I know that youre an atheist. Do you want to debate the existence of god?

After Gervais agreed, Colbert continued:

Why there is something instead of nothing?

Gervais replied:

Surely, the bigger question is not why but how. Why is irrelevant, isnt it?

Gervais went on to explain atheism to Colbert:

Atheism is only rejecting the claim that there is a god. Atheism isnt a belief system. This is atheism in a nutshell: You say theres a god. I say can you prove that? You say no. I say I dont believe you then.

After Colbert said he did believe in a God, Gervais continued:

Okay. But there are about 3,000 to choose from Basically, you deny one less God than I do. You dont believe in 2,999 gods. And I dont believe in just one more.

By way of explaining the intellectual superiority of atheism over theism, Gervais compared science to religion:

Science is constantly proved all the time. If we take something like any fiction, any holy book, and destroyed it, in a thousand years time that wouldnt come back just as it was.

Whereas if we took every science book and every fact and destroyed them all, in a thousand years theyd all be back, because all the same tests would be the same result.

So I dont need faith in science. I dont need faith to know that, probably, if I jump out of a window, every other time somebody jumps out of the window, they smash to the ground because of this thing called gravity.

Bottom line: Colbert and Gervais engaged in a frank and friendly discussion concerning the serious topics of atheism, faith, and belief in God. More important, Gervais did a nice job of clearly outlining important points about atheism in a friendly, light-hearted, and non-threatening manner.

Watch the exchange below:

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert (Image via Screen Grab)

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Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert Debate Atheism - Patheos (blog)