CNN's Piers Morgan Debates Atheist Ricky Gervais, Declares America a 'Very Christian Nation'
It's not often that a CNN anchor declares America a "very Christian nation," but that's what new host Piers Morgan did on Thursday while debating atheist comedian Ricky Gervais. Morgan chided the entertainer for a joke he made while hosting last Sunday's Golden Globes.
Morgan critiqued, "...I know American culture quite well now and they're a very Christian nation here in America." During the ceremony, Gervais sarcastically announced, "And thank you to God for making me an atheist." Morgan derided this as "poking fun," adding, "But you must be aware that a lot of people in America would potentially find that offensive."
Morgan later described himself as a Catholic and probed into Gervais' atheism: "The problem for atheists, it must be so doom and gloom. When you get to, like, 70, 80, to think, well, hang on, that's it. That's the end of everything."
[See video below. MP3 audio here.]
After Gervais retorted that such an argument isn't a reason to believe, Morgan replied, "That's not why I believe, but certainly it's a very comforting thought to think that I don't think it all ends in the box under the ground."
A transcript of the discussion, which aired at 9:19pm EST, follows:
PIERS 
MORGAN: But the joke I thought was nearest the knuckle, simply because I know American culture quite well now and they're a very Christian nation here in America, was what you said right at the end that almost got phased out. I just want to play this back to you.
[Clip]
GERVAIS: Thanks to everyone in the room for being a good sport. Thanks to NBC. Thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press. Um, thank you for watching at home. And thank you to God for making me an atheist. Thank you.
[Clip ends]
GERVAIS: What's up with that?
MORGAN: Well, if you are- if you're a believer in God, if you're a Christian, as many tens of millions in America are-
GERVAIS: Absolutely.
MORGAN: -you could see you as poking fun at their religion.
GERVAIS: Not at all. Loads- How many people thank God every time? They say, "Thank God." I don't- I don't- I don't get offended, do I?
MORGAN: All right. But you must be aware that a lot of people in America would potentially find that offensive.
GERVAIS: What, because I'm saying I don't believe in God?
MORGAN: Yeah, because you're kind of mocking them there.
GERVAIS: No I'm not. I'm not mocking them. People's beliefs aren't my concern at all. And I certainly don't differentiate between religions either. I look at all religions the same. Unlike religious people, I look at all religions equally.
MORGAN: You were religious until you were about eight years old. Is that right?
GERVAIS: Yes. I was brought up Christian, yeah.
MORGAN: And what happened to change your mind then?
GERVAIS: I used to go to Sunday school all the time, I believed in- well, you've got to realize that when you're a working class kid- I came from a very poor, working class background. My dad was a laborer and my mom was a housewife. I lived in a poorer state, like the projects. And so, a working class mum who- her hope isn't that you become a doctor or a lawyer or an international comedian, it's that you don't die in a bar room fight. And they think the best way to do that is to take on Christian values, which, you know, preach morality. And- but they haven't got the monopoly on good. This is my point. I'm not a Christian, but I live my life in a good way. And some people say, well, who says what good is? Well, you know what? I do. I'm good to people because it's the way I want to be treated. And I don't believe I'll be rewarded in Heaven, but I do-
MORGAN: What do you think will happen to you?
GERVAIS: I'll be rewarded now.
MORGAN: But when you die, what do you think happens?
GERVAIS: Um, people who liked me will remember me.
MORGAN: Are you a spiritual person, do you think?
GERVAIS: Well, not in that sense. I get- I get a funny feeling when I see a friend or a mountain or an animal. It fills me with joy. My first love is science and nature. But it's explainable. And just because I don't think that I'm going to go to Heaven, I don't think my life's worthless. I don't think-
MORGAN: It's not only that, I always think with atheists, because I do believe, because I grew up a Catholic and I remain so. But, you know, I think everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, whatever they may be.
GERVAIS: Absolutely.
MORGAN: The problem for atheists, it must be so doom and gloom. When you get to, like, 70, 80, to think, well, hang on, that's it. That's the end of everything.
GERVAIS: Oh, of course. That's right. Yes.
MORGAN: So, you must fear your death tens time more than Christians.
GERVAIS: I don't believe there's anything after.
MORGAN: Because it's the end.
GERVAIS: But you're saying you believe because the alternative is too terrible.
MORGAN: That's not why I believe, but certainly it's a very comforting thought to think that I don't think it all ends in the box under the ground.
GERVAIS: But I can't help what I believe any more than you can. And it's up to you what you believe in, you know? And this thing about not believing in God, there are 2,798 odd (ph) gods. And so, if you're a Christian, you believe in one of them and you don't believe in all the others.
— Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
I did like his last joke
Submitted by shawn. on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 4:05pm.
......but he was one of the best hosts I have ever seen at a Golden Globes. He was not scared to mock Hollywood.Isn't that funny.....
Submitted by Patriot II on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 12:01pm.
The only ones that thought he did a good job were you and his mother......get a brain dumbo! And by the way......they will have to write on that clowns headstone....."All dressed up and no place to go"!!!
Lots of people thought he did a good job
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 12:23pm.
It's just an opinion. No need to call people names that do not agree with you.shawn
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 3:40pm.
I guess according to Patriot II, the only thing funny about an atheist is their death.
(edit: typo)
The disingenuous stuff gets as old as the name-calling.
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 4:15pm.
While calling people names like "dumbo" and such adds nothing to the conversation, neither does blatantly misrepresenting what someone else says.
Did he say "the only thing funny about an atheist is their death"? Or anything like it?
Nope. What he said was this, quoting thusly and like so: "Isn't that funny... The only ones that thought he did a good job were you and his mother."
There's a difference.
--Mike
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 4:19pm.
I guess you missed the part where Patriot II wrote:
"And by the way......they will have to write on that clowns headstone....."All dressed up and no place to go"!!!"
Caught it, and didn't think much of it.
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 4:36pm.
But your misrepresentation still stands.
--Mike
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 5:05pm.
It's obvious that my post to Shawn was in reference to Patriot's comment about a "headstone" and yet you chose to analyze my comment in light of Patriot's "you and his mother" comment.
No, you didn't catch it and dismiss it. You simply didn't catch it.
In other words - you made a mistake.
In most cases, with most other posters, I'd say "no big deal - it happens".
But I know you and I know you are completely incapable of admitting when you are wrong or mistaken about anything - even something as trivial as this.
I challenge you could find a single person on this website who would be willing to buy your "Caught it, and didn't think much of it" bs explanation.
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:35am.
Yea.
That's what I thought.
Oh, that's always good for a laugh.
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:54am.
You said, "I guess according to Patriot II, the only thing funny about an atheist is their (sic) death." Called on it, you insist you didn't publish what's very simple to read.
And shawn's correct. There was no need for Patriot to get personal. Neither was there a need for you to misrepresent. Let's stick to issues in the future.
--Mike
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 2:47pm.
"Called on it, you insist you didn't publish what's very simple to read."
Are you saying that I've denied writing what I did to shawn? Really? Because in a previous post I seem to recall explaining to you which of Patriot's statements my remark was in response to. That doesn't sound like a denial to me.
It is truly bizarre watching the lengths to which you will go to avoid admitting that you made a mistake.
As for sticking to the issues, that's pretty funny coming from you. In this post (below) you go off on what appears to be a tangent about Thoreau and when asked to explain how it is relevant to the topic at hand, you can't or won't.
How about you stick to not being a hypocrite in the future.
Are you done?
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 3:23pm.
That would be great.
--Mike
Nope
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 3:53pm.
But it would appear you are.
Another classic from the...
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 4:11pm.
..."I Know You Are, But What Am I?" School of Argumentation and Debate.
Thanks. I've asked you to stick to issues, and you're not inclined to do so. We're concluded here.
--Mike
OK Mike
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 4:24pm.
From what I've seen over the last couple of months, more and more folks here are willing to say what is painfully obvious - that you are a person who adopts an arrogant, authoritative tone in a lame attempt to compensate for the weaknesses of your arguments.
You're not fooling anyone. And sadly, you've become something of a joke for many of us.
Pretty amazing conversation
Submitted by exLib on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 4:10pm.
Outside of Fox News or a Christian station, you usually don't see intense questions like this. Except for the Saddleback "Debate" I don't think anyone has ever asked Obama any questions like this.
Gervais "joke" was actually from All in The Family from around 1972 or something. Archie was chastising Meat-Head about not believing in God, and Michael says "I am an Atheist, thank God".
Which I think in some ways pokes more fun at these immoral, adulterous, lying, atheist Hollywood and Music Industry people who all go up on stage and "thank God" because it's in style now to say it, but their lives are no testimony to anything God other than they make allot of money.
But it's a good conversation to have in the public arena and on TV and should happen more often.
One of the errors he makes
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 4:46pm.
One of the errors he makes is that every religion has a different God. What different religions have as a difference is different interpretations of what God is and what constitutes religious behavior and ritual.
But all religions have as their basis that there is something that is a higher power than a human being. And that, is where I think atheism runs up against it's own brick wall. They think because they personally can't find a god therefore that means there is no god.
I personaly do not believe it rational (or even scientific) to expect that a human being is the highest form of creation and that absolutely no way can something be more evolved than a human brain. That would be just a little arrogant. But.... if humans are not the highest form of creation where does the levels of creation stop? When the highest form is reached what is just beyond that?
Atheism and Humanism are just relics from the rise of the industrial age when humans began to view the world like their machines. A world merely made of cogs and gears and nothing more.
'Behold, I have told you
Submitted by Slyrr on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 5:28pm.
'Behold, I have told you before.'
One of the Savior's spoken sentences from the New Testament.
And it does seem the more things change, the more they stay the same. The atheist argument hasn't changed from thousands of years ago. Musicians have changed, but the music is still the same.
'Every man in this life fares only according to the management of the creature. Therefore every man prospers according to his genius, and conquers according to his strength. And whatsoever a man does is no crime because when a man is dead, that is the end thereof.'
I've often wondered. If the atheist really believes that they have nothing to look forward to but rot, decay and oblivion in the grave, then what do they really have to look forward to? Death truly does represent oblivion to them, because the godless define existense only by their senses - feel, taste, touch, sight, hearing. And death represents the end of all those things in their minds. It may be the reason why they desperately cast about bizarre talismans in a mad quest for immortality. In old days it was elixers and potions. Today, it's 'embryonic stem cells'. Anything they can find to try and prolong this mortal life.
Small wonder the scriptures say of such people that their credo is 'eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die'. But why then do they feel the need to try and make other people as miserable as they are by railing against belief and faith?
'Why do you preach that there shall be no Christ to interrupt their rejoicings?'
Slyrr
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 6:36pm.
It's funny.
You criticize those who don't believe in God as "railing against belief and faith" and yet here you are dismissing atheists (and agnostics) as "desperate" and "miserable" individuals whose existence is defined only by what they can sense.
So I guess you don't like it when they insult you but it's OK for you to insult them?
I think there's a word for that.
So, Thoreau was horrible for daring to suggest...
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 12:34pm.
...that most men lead lives of quiet desperation?
Interesting.
--Mike
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 1:28pm.
Are you suggesting that when Thoreau wrote those words, he was asserting (as Slyrr does) that people who don't believe in an afterlife are driven by desperation to seek out artificial means (like alchemy or science) to extend their lives?
I'm no literary scholar, but I'm pretty sure my 10th Grade English teacher would disagree with you on that one.
I asked a simple question.
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 3:25pm.
I'd appreciate a direct answer.
And not from your tenth-grade English teacher, if it's all right.
Was Thoreau horrible for daring to suggest that most men lead lives of quiet desperation?
--Mike
Do you think he was right
Submitted by Boudin on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 3:31pm.
?
Who? Thoreau?
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 4:47pm.
Yes, "and (they) go to the grave with the song still in them."
The truth is the truth, regardless of who articulates it.
--Mike
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 3:48pm.
What relevance does your question have to my or Slyrr's post about atheists?
If you could clarify that for me, then I'll be more than happy to respond.
If, on the other hand, you decided to use the appearance of the word "desperation" in someone's post as an excuse to go off on a totally irrelevant tangent, then post your question to me in the "Off-Topic" section and I'll be more than happy to discuss whatever you like there.
Would you care to answer the question?
Submitted by Mike Bratton on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 4:48pm.
It's a pretty straightforward one.
--Mike
Mike Bratton
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 5:07pm.
Not here, since you have refused to explain what relevance it has to the topic of atheism (which, as far as I can tell, is the topic of discussion here).
But like I said, if you want to create a forum topic, I'd be more than happy to answer there.
Obviously neither one of
Submitted by killa37 on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 5:32pm.
Obviously neither one of these guys were paying attention when Boy Blunder stated that America wasn't a Christian nation, and, in fact, was one of the biggest Mooooooooooslem nations in the world................
I was just going to say...
Submitted by Kat Outta the Bag on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 5:58pm.
Perhaps Mr. Morgan could let our so-called leader in on this information of America being a Christian nation. Sure, not everyone here is a Christian, but we're certainly in the majority.
What is religion?
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 7:18pm.
What is religion? Why do we have it? Why did all previous groups have a religion? Is it possible for a human not to have a religion?
The existence of God is neither provable nor disprovable. The atheists would have us to believe that religion is just a primitive superstition that in their highly refined intellect is no longer necessary. But is this so? Perhaps religion is actually a condition of being human. It is built into our DNA. Not until the modern age was there enough food for humans to become obese. Is being obese a modern refinement of the human condition, moving beyond the primitive condition of a lean body?
The search for meaning begins when humans are very young such as when young children ask "Where did I come from?". Even children know that existence is a mystery. Most humans spend their lives trying to understand who are they and what do their lives mean. The quest all humans have: We are born and we have to find out why.
The atheists answer of 'Eat drink and make merry, for tommorrow we die" will not be sufficient for most people.
What strikes me ...
Submitted by KC Mulville on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 8:13pm.
According to what he says, he made this judgment about religion ... at the age of eight.
This is the downside of Santa Claus. You don't think that young children can grasp the complexity of religion, so instead, you present it as a wondrous mystery story, filled with miracles. In other words, magic. When you present religion as magic, and an eight-year old realizes that magic is a fantasy, then he naturally sees religion as so much fantasy. And once he reaches the age where he can reject fantasy, he rejects religion as well.
No one would teach Wittgenstein or differential calculus to a child. We wait until they're old enough to grasp it.
On the other hand
Submitted by truefix on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 1:36pm.
I have taught my children that Santa Claus did exist, and his name was Saint Nicholas. My children all grew up believing in Santa Claus, and when they were old enough, they were taught that Santa Claus, was actually Saint Nickolas, who did many great things for children. From a religious stand point, the Catholic church goes out of it's way, to make sure families teach their children about the true meaning of Christmas...and of course, that is the birth of Christ. I do agree that to much focus on the secondary traditions, of Christmas can cause confusion. Ricky Gervais is now old enough to understand such differences, so he is using other theories, to base his ideology on. My friend is an atheist because he had no father figure growing up. He won't admit it because it weakens his argument on the existence of God. Now that he's older, he to uses other theories to base his ideology. I know I'm correct on this issue regarding my friend, because he is a big fan of Catholic culture.
Agree
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 1:42pm.
Eight is too young to have a much of a capacity for abstract thought. My wife is a teacher and she said this is why elementary instruction must be about concrete things, but they start to give you more theories as you mature.
It just means that he accepted something at 8 that he later found perhaps compelling arguments for--or accepted on his previous conviction.
While.....
Submitted by almostacowboy on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 8:57pm.
While I appreaciate Mr. Morgan's pronouncement, why am I left feeling the statement was less than complementary? Just askin'.
And, for the record, I really enjoyed Ricky's hazing of all those self-important lib's. And, as a born-again in the blood of Christ, New Testament believing, fundamental independent Baptist, I was not at all offended by his statement, "Thank God for making me an atheist". That's funny! But then, humor is subjective.
Two Eurosocialists whining about the US?
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 9:19pm.
In other words, water is wet and it gets hot in Texas in August.