Some interesting quotes:
“No, no, no! I’m probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic. I don’t think anyone really knows. You’ll either find out or not when you get there, until then there’s no point thinking about it.”–Brad Pitt
“Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.” –Bill Gates
“I’m an atheist. But I absolutely love religions and the rituals. Even though I don’t believe in God. We celebrate pretty much every religion in our family with the kids.” –Jodie Foster
“I don’t have anything against organized religion per se. We all need something in our lives. I personally just have not accepted that belief. But I’m one of the few.” –Lance Armstrong
“If only I wasn’t an atheist, I could get away with anything. You’d just ask for forgiveness and then you’d be forgiven. It sounds much better than having to live with guilt.” –Keira Knightley
“I’m basically a ‘do unto others’ type person. I don’t have any religious feelings because I’m an atheist, but I live my life like there’s a God. And if there was, he’d probably love me.” –Ricky Gervais
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These celebrities are so known for their deep thinking that we give them stage to express their beliefs and then give those beliefs credit. The first thing that bugs me is that each say they don’t believe in God (they are atheist) yet they acknowledge Him. I say I don’t believe in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny and when I speak of them it comes across as such. I don’t speak of those things as if they might be real to someone else because the very idea that they exist is comical. If you don’t believe something exist why do you leave the door open for its existence. The second thing is that while they don’t believe in the God I do, they certainly proclaim gods in their life. Each has established themselves to be worthy of worship i.e. gods. To say they don’t believe in the person of God is one thing, but they didn’t identify a particular view of God, just god in general. They most certainly believe in the concept of god and claim themselves to be worthy of being considered as such. You have nothing better to do on Sunday (as if Sunday is the only day you are allowed to acknowledge God) but others should have nothing better to do on any other day than to buy your software and sit in front of it (I use a Mac, but Steve Jobs is certainly no Spiritual giant either). I don’t like God but I sure do like His stuff – Jodie Foster. I would rather have guilt than forgiveness because I know that I am selfish enough to abuse that – Keira Knightly. I don’t believe in God, but live like He exist – Ricky Gervais. I need a hug – Lance Armstrong. I am either immortal or excessively charming – Brad Pitt.
I relinquish my soap box.
I agree with Bill Gates. Rather sadly.
As a person who lives in a community filled with celebrities, I’ve heard a lot! The rend is that they love ritual and they make up their own god belief, maybe a bit of Jesus, Karma, Buddha… I’ve even heard the “funnel of love that pours out”.
Essentially, they don’t want a god who asks them to change their lifestyle.
They want to feel good, be good, have peace and live the “good life” but they want to be in control, have stuff, party and not feel guilty.