Steve Harvey has continued his assault on atheism while promoting his new book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. During his appearance on the Larry King show, he reiterated his claim that atheists have no moral barometer, but then went further, calling atheists “idiots”, and said if he finds out someone is an atheist, “I just walk away.”
Steve went on to ridicule non-theistic ideas about the origin of the universe, saying “you just can’t tell me this spun out of a gastreous[sic] ball.” He then offered this scathing indictment of the theory of evolution: “all of a sudden then we were evolved from monkeys – why we still got monkeys?”
If anyone has stumbled across Steve’s book, we’d be keen to follow up on the passages where he apparently recommends women stay away from atheists.
Transcript:
JB: … making people laugh is a great thing…
SH: It’s a… it’s an amazing blessing from God, it really is.
JB: … which reminds me, speaking of God. You say in the book that, uh, you wouldn’t go out with a woman… I guess a woman should not go out with a man who doesn’t believe in God.
SH: Nah, I mean why would you?
JB: Well… well, do you believe that only people who are religious are ethical and moral?
SH: No, I just believe that if you don’t believe in God, then where’s your moral barometer? That’s just me talking…
JB: … I understand you, yeah…
SH: … you can believe what you want to believe, but if you’re an atheist you’re basing your goodness and morality on what? I mean, but what is an atheist? I don’t… I don’t really get into that. You know why? I’ve talked to people all the time– “I’m an atheist!”—I just walk away. I don’t know what to say to you, you know?
JB: Well, an atheist is someone who doesn’t quite believe in… that there is somebody out there… some “God” out there.
SH: Well, then to me you’re an idiot…
JB: Okay, well…
SH: … so I’m cool with that—
JB: But—
SH: I’m, I’m just–
JB: –that’s fine–
SH: –probably not the right ‘politically correct’–
JB: –Nonono–
SH: –thing to say, but if you don’t believe in God, then really you’ve got to have an explanation for this, and you just can’t tell me this spun out of a gastreous ball–
JB: Yeah.
SH: –then all of a sudden then we were evolved from monkeys—why we still got monkeys? There’s too much open here. I just believe that, and if you don’t believe that, then I don’t like talking to you.
JB: I see, okay. Listen—listen—it’s fine with me—
SH: Can you say it on ol’ Larry King?
JB: You can say it on any show–
SH: Okay, okay, okay…
JB: ‘Cause it’s a free country, thank goodness.
SH: It is.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I don’t think he’s saying that atheists can’t accidentally stumble onto moral behaviours, but they don’t “do” moral behaviours for the sake of morality. Atheist use this or that behaviour because “It works in the moment, it feels good, it seems right for me at this time and in this instance.” Morality for an atheist is an opinion a desire. That means that we can do good without actually being good. We can use goodness as a means to an end > atheism.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
My moral barometer is telling me that y-o-u are an i-d-i-o-t.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
@makarios: What I think he’s saying is that atheists don’t have a reference book i.e. the Bible for their morals. What you’re suggesting is even worse.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Well Said. My moral barometer says that Steve Harvey is a bigot!
June 12th, 2009 at 1:34 am
What he is saying is that he has to be told right from wrong. Also that he took the easiest explanation offered for the world around him, god did it. It is wilful ignorance on his part to stop there and ignore all of the reality based wonder around him.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:48 am
what a clown, someone put him on fox news
June 12th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Why to we celebrate adults who have the intelligence of a 3 year old?
July 8th, 2009 at 2:36 am
instead you celebrate the greatness of one who take aways the virginity of a child Looks like steve is right
June 12th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Basing your morals on the Bible is a double edged sword.
You can say that your a good person with good morals because the bible has good morals but you can also say “Gays should all go to hell and Adulterers should be stoned, cos the bible says so”
As an Atheist I don´t have the luxury of hating on anybody because it´s written in some book. If I look down on someone for there sexual preference or the color of there skin or the way they behave I can only fall back on my self. I have no excuse for my bigotry.
Damn I want to shove that down Steve´s throat.
July 26th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
No, we don’t say that Gays SHOULD go to hell, but that we fear they will go there, if they are practising, because that’s what the Bible says. We don’t want them to go to hell but to turn to Jesus Christ.
Stoning? That’s Old Testament stuff and the church should be New Testament. Punishment is for God to decide and to apply, not us.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Ha…ha..hahahahaha…this shows just how much you know about your bibel! The passages most xtians use to justify their treatment of homosexuals are from the old testament, in particular, Genesis, (you know, that old Sodom and Gomorrah tale) when Lot encourages the mob to rape his young virgin daughters rather than give up his visitors. Or you could look at Leviticus, where adulterers and homosexuals are to be put to death. Looks like a few xtian-right politicians would suffer under that one.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Who the hell is Steve Harvey?
June 12th, 2009 at 7:52 am
s’true, athiests have no moral compasss. They like to philosiphize as if they are on par with the great minds of the last few centuries, just because the repeat a few lines from “The Prince” Athiests worthless idiots. They are full of themselves, they judge everybody and think everyone is beneath them for not believing what they believe.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:02 am
You are making a huge generalization. Saying that atheists are worthless idiots, is almost the same as saying that Christians are worthless idiots for believing what is written in a book that is millenniums old. It truly seems to me that you have formed opinions based upon what others have done or said. I really think that morals shouldn’t be based on what was true 2000 years ago or even 50 years ago. Just saying.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
“They are full of themselves, they judge everybody and think everyone is beneath them for not believing what they believe.”
You’re absolutely joking, right?
I think it’s HILARIOUS that you’d doing everything you’re claiming atheists do RIGHT IN YOUR COMMENT!
You’re discriminating and judging an entire and sizable group on the planet, which is no different than doing it against a race or, better yet, the throngs of people who have discriminated against Christians and Jews!
You’re going to Hell, my friend! You’re full of absolutely nothing but hate and judgment, all fueled by this ethics-providing tome, THE BIBLE.
You’re a complete joke and disgrace to your faith! Amazing!
June 12th, 2009 at 8:08 am
if anybody should believe we were descended from monkeys…..
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 am
way to be a racist, crizzo420.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:37 am
i really wonder if anyone who says the bible is a source of morality has actually read the bible. there are so many hundreds, thousands maybe of inexcusable killings in that book. it’s the most violent book I’ve ever read. ever have sex with a woman? according to the bible, she’s now your wife. forever. you can have many, many wives, that’s all cool, but to divorce is punishable by death. hah. have a daughter? according to the bible it’s peachy-keen if you sell her into slavery.
morals. bible has few. thinking men and women have more morals than anyone who bases their morals on the bible.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Well i see a lot of mention of bigotry, but what is your moral reference point for bigotry? What is your reference point for good? I am not saying an atheist cannot do good, or choose good, but what is good??? And what does any of it matter anyway?? if the end result is oblivion equaling nothing, then what is the big deal?
By the way, those of you who call themselves an Atheist, by what authority do you claim to know that there is no God? To make such a truth statement, you would have know all information. Do you claim to have all information? I get agnostic thought, but the truth claims of an atheist are quite grand.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:08 am
The claims are only as grand as the opposite claims. Either way, it is impossible to prove the existence of God. A man or woman can only choose what is right for them to believe.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Also, should be added that it is impossible to prove that God doesn’t exist either.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:45 am
As an atheist, i make my moral choices based upon the way in which i was raised, and by just observing how i would like to be treated by others. I don’t need a invisible sky daddy threatening eternal hellfire to know that killing people and stealing shit is just wrong.
As far as “if it is all for nothing, then what is the point?”, are you saying that if god didn’t exist, and everyone knew it, there would be anarchy? I think that is ridiculous.
Atheists, for all intents and purposes are actually “strong” agnostics, in that they are not 100% sure that god does not exist. But using reason and observable data, most of us can comfortably rest that percentage around 99.999999%. When we make a “truth claim” about god’s nonexistence, it is the same as a “truth claim” about the nonexistence of unicorns or centaurs.
I assume that you are a christian/jew/muslim. so that means that you are an atheist in regards to hera, thor, vishnu, wotan, zeus, and all the other pagan, polytheistic gods, right? Well, if you can understand why you believe that those gods are made up and silly, than you can understand why us atheists just add the judeo-christian god to that long list of silly, made up stories.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:44 am
frzz-that last paragraph about made up gods, is one of the best posts I have read about gods/god. I am sure that the people that lived at the time of those gods were just as sure that those were the TRUE gods, since they also tried to force others to worship them.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:22 am
All this shows is that Steve Harvey doesnt know and, more importantly, doesnt WANT to know/learn the answers to his questions. Science has provided them, but he has chosen to remain ignorant. A simple, 2 hr lecture about the very simplest nature of evolutionary biology will teach him why there are still monkeys.
Take an evolutionary psychology class or learn more about it, he will learn where humans get their morality. Even better, take an animal behavior class and learn that most animals (social ones) behave in exactly the same ways as humans… or alternatively, humans behave in ‘moral’ senses like most animals.
He can reference almost all of astrophysics to find answers to why there is a sun, a planet, a moon, a solar system and multiple galaxies.
His problem, I think, is that because he does not get his ‘first mover’ idea with atheism, he sees all subsequent important science as a moot point. Unfortunately,(and I’m paraphrasing Carl Sagan here) if he needs a ‘god’ to be the one to create the universe, then who created god? why start an infinite regress and just skip that useless philosophical point and say the universe, in whatever shape, has always been here.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:12 am
But that warrants the question of, ‘How did this just always be here?’
There must have been a beginning of some sort. But that brings the issue of, being a beginning means at some point there was nothing.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:47 am
why must there have been a beginning?
September 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I beleive scientists call it the big bang.
Christians call it Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God said…”
June 12th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Hahaha… Steve Harvey is an idiot. IMHO, most of the world’s problems are based on the moralities taught in religious texts that claim to come straight from god. Plus you can cherry pick the “good” things taught from the bible all day long while overlooking all of the “bad”.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I find it disturbing when people state that if it wasn’t for the Bible (or any other Judeo-Christian scripture) they wouldn’t have morals. This implies that unless they are threatened with an eternity in Hell, they will be going around raping and murdering without a care in the world.
Who is this guy, anyway? On his imdb page all I see are some third-rate comedy movies and some terrible sitcoms.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:31 am
I always thought christians had no morals since they copy/paste their morals from a book
(morals are NOT absolute
ie
I lied to a pedofile, I tricked him into thinking I was a 12y girl, made an appointment, and the police was waiting for him
Is lying wrong ?!?1
June 12th, 2009 at 11:30 am
What is a moral barometer? And what does atmospheric pressure have to do with morals or religion? Just because I am not religious does not mean I lack a moral compass. In fact, with the numbers of pedophiles, philanderers, thieves, etc. filling the pews of these churches, they are often the ones lacking a moral compass. Steve Harvey should educate himself better before h goes and makes a fool of himself on national tv again.
June 12th, 2009 at 11:52 am
It’s stuff like this that is pushing me, as an agnostic, towards athiesm. I can understand religion and how some people like it. But why all of the close mindedness and absolutism?
I just can’t bring myself to believe that there is some all-knowing, all-powerful individual that thinks this kind of crap is acceptable.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
you guys are using words that don’t mean anything, like “goodness”.
it’s hard to have a sincere conversation about something so goofy as “religion” or “steve harvey”. i have to assume you’re all just performing irony.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
What a bigoted hater. I wonder if he would say the same thing about slavery. “If I talk to someone that doesn’t believe that slavery should be legal, I just walk away… because he is an idiot.” Just replace the word religious with the word slave-owner.
Atheists get their morals from the Golden Rule, dumb @ss!
All the atheists that I know are 10 times more moral then any Christians I know. We are moral because we want to be. Whereas Christians are moral because they fear punishment. Which is the hypocritical statement? I can say this because my entire Mother’s side of the family are devout Christians. Good people, but Harvey really sums up their close-minded idiocy.
“You know your God is man made when he hates the same people you do.”
June 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Hey – I have a 3 year old who is smarter than that! Watch who you drag into this stupidity please!
June 12th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Well atheists are good people because they believe that they should be good people, not because they won’t get a heavenly reward if they aren’t good.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
“…use this or that behaviour because It works in the moment…” ?
NOT the mindset of an athiest, rather the mindset of an immature selfish person, and that my friend comes from personality not from a lack of religious upbringing.
Humans can grow to be compassionate w/out being told to. It’s called empathy, and ‘being humane’. People can only see through the lenses of their own esys, so if you would be lost w/out guidance you assume others do too. You are the person who would do what ever if you weren’t told
June 12th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Finally! A religious person who when they meet an atheist just walks away instead of trying to quote fairy tales in an attempt to win points with their imaginary friend. Count me approving of at least that much of his insanity.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Yeah, I for one am absolutely sick and tired of hearing that same – remarkably stupid – notion that atheists don’t have a moral compass, or aren’t motivated to be good people, or that they for some reason can’t distinguish between good and bad behaviour. I’ll say it once: if you need a book or a preacher to tell you what it is to be a good person, you’re the one missing a moral compass. It’s kind of disgusting.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Moral Barometer from the Good Book. Bah. I wonder how Steve feels relative to the Bible’s position on slavery?
June 12th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
@makarios:
It’s interesting you should describe atheistic morality in that way.
On the contrary, I argue theists don’t practice morality for the sake of morality – they are moral because they believe a being with the power to metaphysically torture them told them what is right and wrong. If they don’t do what it says via a book, they get punished for all eternity.
That’s not morality for the sake of morality; that’s egoism.
June 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The reason there are still monkeys can be solved with a simple analogy; Americans are mostly descendants of Europeans. Why are there still Europeans?
July 29th, 2009 at 3:19 am
That’s the most perfect Analogy I have ever heard in regards to evolution.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
steve m: He did not say “moral compass”, he said “moral barometer”. I agree with this statement. Atheists have no “moral tool to measure pressure” (I can only guess the reference to “atmospheric pressure” refers to God living on clouds) as there is no pressure on atheists to do or believe a certain thing, like e.g. the world was created in seven days and the reason why our lives suck so much now is because the first woman ate a fruit that told her being naked was sinful. Are you going to let FRUIT give you a moral barometer? Really?
Also, you seem to be describing religious fanatics (like Steve Harvey), not atheists
neilson: You obviously do not understand atheism. The typical atheist says “I do not believe in God”. This is also true of agnostics, and since it is not a positive claim requires no positive proof (show some negative proof and you might get some converts!). There is a variety of atheists that say “I believe there is no God”. This is a positive claim and is equally illogical to the statement “I believe there is a God”.
Also, “if the end result is oblivion” then why do anything ever in your life? The End does not justify the means in this case.
Steve Harvey: Remind me if I ever meet you in person to were a shirt that says “I do not believe in God”. I do not want to talk to someone so infantile.
June 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I see Mr. Harvey has an excellent grasp of the facts of Evolution:
“–then all of a sudden then we were evolved from monkeys—why we still got monkeys?”
What a moron.
June 14th, 2009 at 1:36 am
I applaud Steve Harvery for speaking the truth!
June 17th, 2009 at 11:18 am
This is pretty funny. Apparently, your morals do not tell you that you should not respond to being hit with hitting back (golden rule). Think about this- Saying Christians are bigots is no better than saying Atheists are morally lacking (if not worse). I think if we can see past all of his crass (illogical) comments I think he is trying to say something profound. He is trying to say that our morality in America is judged by our culture. Nothing is nailed down. Morality is constantly moving. Euthanasia, abortion, gay marriage (as well as homosexuality being accepted at all) were not accepted even 50 years ago.
Kevin: He is not really saying that, because I have studied the religion he comes from, he is saying that you need to have something to measure things according to. A born-again judeo-christian believes that the conscience (the thing that God placed in everybody) helps you make moral choices but if disobeyed regularly causes you to have a “seared-conscience” toward certain issues. So certain issues will appear moral because of your “seared conscience.”
John: That is not the religious organization SH comes from. That is mainly the Roman Catholic church (the pedophiles and other things you mentioned).
Chris: You are right. SH was not acting in accordance with what his religion actually believes. I may be wrong but he might be trying to get a rise out of people or he may just be immature.
Nugget: I think it is not that they think we need to be forced I think it is just they cannot see any other way. They see inconsistencies with atheism without other theories like evolution. I have seen many problems in a traditional view in evolutionism too by studying it on my own. Evolution does not produce morals. How do morals evolve? How can you make other things that are irreducibly complex like speech from evolution (have you ever tried to learn an asian language)? Morality without a god seems to make no sense. They are convinced that atheists pull their morality from Christianity or other religions. I cannot disprove this since it does seem to be what separates different cultures across the world. I think we need to at least acknowledge that if there is no god then it was by some freak circumstance that we evolved morals and judgement according to those morals.
Russ the Athiest: Good point about man made gods (but as you will read it is not necessarily what his religion believes).
Tane: I think you are making a pretty silly point because I know that what you said does reflect many religions but not that of which SH is speaking from. SH believes that man is naturally sinful and will constantly head further from the morality of the Bible unless they make a conscious effort because “immorality” looks more moral over time (equivalent to the 2nd law of thermodynamics e.g. a bedroom that you do not work hard to clean on a regular basis looks like a mess). Judeo-Christianity also believes that no matter what they do they are always sinners. Many of them equate it with paying a fine on a ticket. The fine has to be paid (their life resulting in eternal death). There doing good does not and will not save them from Hell since they already had sinned. They rest entirely on the fact that the “christ” took their punishment. The only way he could was because he did not sin (not required to pay his own fine). He also had to do this because his father hates sin and can have nothing to do with it. Standing before the judgement seat of “the father” he pleads to take the place of sinful men. He does this not because it makes men great but rather that God gets the glory for acting on behalf of men that could do nothing for themselves. So “God is glorified” by the redemption of man. The act of him taking the sinners place has two names often enough- Substitution: Paying a punishment the sinner deserves. Propitiation: Attributing the righteousness of Christ to man and the sinfulness of man to Christ (resulting in Christ being punished and the sinner being given glorification). SH’s religion says that men sin after this redemption but Christ took all sin past, present and future of those he redeemed (justifies). It is not “the good things” that these “born-again” christians do, it is what they received. They are moral because of the God they believe in and the fact that “god will complete the work he started.’ God slowly perfecting each redeemed person is called sanctification. They will never be perfect until they reach heaven.
Sorcerer: I think you proved steve m’s point. By the way barometer also means “something that reflects changes in circumstances or opinions” which I still think makes SH’s comment illogical. I think you are mistaken on a number of points but I think your ignorance should be proven in this alone: it is not the fruit that gave “us” a knowledge of morality. Adam and Eve were moral before the fall. The fruit gave them a knowledge of sin because they did what God expressly forbade, which is the definition of sin. The only reason there are choices between good and evil is because our “forefather” ate the fruit (which evil is an easier choice). Agnostic has a meaning equivalent to saying there are a lot of things out there that I do not know so I will plead the 5th. Agnosticism = a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God. Atheism = the theory or belief that God does not exist. Philosophy tells us that if you do not believe in “something” you need to believe in a non-”something.” What is this thing that negates the Judeo-Christian God? I am asking you because I have never found it.
I am reminded of somebody telling a friend “I do not believe in you” when they said they would keep their promise (equivalent to “I do not trust in you”). I think our disbelief comes down to being a lack of trusting. We are a very independent society. This comes through in our beliefs of who we trust and who we live with. I think sometimes we negate what we say by doing stuff like putting the government in charge of our lives and giving them more and more privileges (despite the obvious fact that what ever the government touches falls apart e.g. Social Security)
He is trying to say compass for morals not barometer lets not be critical because you are just proving that you are no more moral than he is (by essentially telling everybody he is an idiot by your “deductions”). if there is a barometer in our culture in relevance to the morality. I think that our morality is a barometer of our society and our ethics have become equated with morality.
I have seen more close-minded comments (from “christians” and “atheists” alike) in here than I seen in his transcript.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
@Moose. Hi, thanks for your comment. You make some good points and I appreciate the time and effort you put into it. The word bigot means “a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.” This is what Steve Harvey is, he’s a bigot. Imagine if he’d said the same thing, but instead of atheist he’d said, blacks, jews or mormons? Of course calling someone a bigot is emotive, but if we simply accept what he says and don’t call him out on it then we’re perpetuating acceptance of this attitude to atheists. We want this to change, so we will not remain quiet. I don’t think he’s trying to say something profound, I think he’s profoundly ignorant and uninterested in other creeds and cultures.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I may agree on some points but I think “a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion” is not what he is. He is a judeo-christian and that means he believes in a very specific god. He just cannot see why there are atheists and is none to gentle about it. In his religion two people should not be “unevenly yoked” this refers back to a farming culture in which you would not place a donkey and a ox under the same yoke. The reasoning for this is that Christians are supposed to be different from the rest of the world. I do not think that they are calling people names in the yoking thing, it is more that donkeys do different things and go different directions compared to oxen. He was talking from a Christian perspective and saying a Christian girl should not go out with a man that does not believe in God (this is a broader perspective than is accepted in a conservative Christian context since Christians push more for Christians to be dating, so he is actually more tolerant than others) This is in and of itself is not bigotry. They are trying to prevent people from having different pursuits being married (Solomon was lead astray by many different wives and concubines, Samson was led astray by a Delilah, etc.) and resulting in divorce and other “terrible things.” Technically, Zealot would be a better definition because of its focus on his own religion not on other religions.
Would a bigot say “you can believe what you want to believe?”
He sees atheism, through the lens of Christianity, as illogical so he does not know what to say when he meets one so he walks away… to be honest, meeting self proclaimed atheists is difficult since the unity does seem to end there since they can choose any morality they want (I know some that believe murder is acceptable and others that hold closely to SH’s type of morals [not his ethics]). I again think that if we do not think with our hearts in response to SH we will see that what he said is not bigotry.
All: if you actually listen to his response to “Well… well, do you believe that only people who are religious are ethical and moral?” is NO. He is confused where the morals come from and does not know what to talk about after they mention that. Who was the first to be moral? Why would we ever look out for others?
JB had an agenda in her comments. She knew that he would respond in such a ridiculous way as she led him that way. I know this blog is not called “is manipulative.”
Everybody seems to respond to being hurt by trying to hurt. Let’s put down the boxing gloves and actually act not react.
Isn’t acceptance of differing views the whole basis for the American “tolerance” movement? So if he has a different view than you (no matter how little you like it) are you trying to tolerate it? Or is tolerance only tolerance when others do not offend us? If tolerance is only tolerance when others do not offend us I guess there is no need to call it tolerance at all. Let’s just call it what it is “Bigotry of a different sort” or “tolerating people that we like” (which is what bigotry is right?).
Calling him ignorant is calling him “uneducated” which to me is similar to calling somebody a “stupid person or lacking common sense.” To me idiot is a better name than ignorant since ignorance implies no effort to figure anything out while idiot implies you are incapable of understanding. He may be educated but he as with everybody can only see clearly through the lens for their worldview.
June 17th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
It’s pretty clear he’s intolerant, he walks away if anyone says they’re an atheist, he calls them ‘idiots’. It’s also pretty clear he’s ignorant, he makes up words ‘gastreous’ and he has not even a rudimentary understanding of evolution as he wonders about the continued existence of monkeys. He’s entitled to his views, but I think he should be called out on them. The goal of this site is to try and get a reaction and stir up debate. Steve Harvey is saying these things to a very large audience and they’ve largely passed without scrutiny, like I said earlier if he’d say similar things about another race or religion there’d probably be a national outcry but because he’s saying it about atheists it passes without comment. It’s really this double standard that I’m trying to point out.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
A few questions for aetheists:
1. Aren’t you saying people who believe in a higher power are idiots because science can explain why we’re here? Hypocritic.
2. How do you know what’s right and what’s wrong? If there is a moral law, why is there not a moral law giver? Who determined morality, scientists?
3. Aren’t these scientists and evolutionary theorists dead?
4. How do you explain death?
5. There is archaeological proof that Jesus did indeed walk this earth some two thousand years ago. Is there any proof that we evolved from some intergalactic comet?
6. Wasn’t the constitution (which protects your rights) based on biblical principles?
7. Do atheists marry? I so, why?
8. If believers only “pick out” the good points in the bible, don’t atheists only “pick out” the bad? Who’s right?
9. Isn’t it easy to oversimplify or discount something when you already have a preconceived notion about it? Okay Steve Harvey called atheists “idiots,” that’s a bit heavy-handed; but Bill Maher said the same thing about believers. Who’s right? If you say atheists are, how do you know this?
10. We are not born understanding right from wrong. Inherently, like animals, we are more prone to do wrong (ex. breaking your mom’s favorite vase at aged-three, then denying it when she confronts you). How, then, do we learn that violating someone and lying about it is wrong? How did we become separated from animals? Who’s to say it isn’t right to get yourself out of a fix? We know murder, rape, theft, etc. are wrong, right? Well, who says?
Without morality, there would not be six billion people on this planet, because we’d all destroy each other. And, someone had to be the moral law giver as I said earlier. Oh, yeah, it was those evolutionist dudes, right? But wait, aren’t they dead? n Mensa members can’t even figure out how to stop death.
“God is like the sun; you can’t look directly at it, but without it you can’t look at anything else.”
October 13th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
@Nestefan
1: No… But if someone ran around today saying the earth was flat despite all the evidence to the contrary wouldn’t you question their intelligence. Believing in a God, fine. Believing everything written in documents written thousands of years ago, compiled by men with a very real agenda hundreds of years ago as written, even when things in said document are directly contravened by what we can see and prove today… Wise?
2: I think morality can be explained by evolution. Looking out for each other and not killing each other would have a creature an evolutionary advantage over those that didn’t – Weaker members of the species have a greater chance of survival if protected by the strong, and if said creatures have one less preditor to worry about (their fellow species) Surely this would work towards the long term survival of the species.
3: And Death proves a god….. How?
4: See point 3.
5: The existence of a man called “Jesus Christ” does not mean that he is the Son of God, or achieved miracles…. Perhaps it might suprise you to know that Muslims recognise the existence of Christ… But not as a messiah.
6: What does the American Consitition have to do with the existence of a god? Narnia was inspired by Biblical stories… Should I pray to Aslan?
7: Errr… Love? You know, the only reason anyone is supposed to get married? Love between two people.
8: Noone’s right, but if theists (as they do) claim that the bible is the rules for everything, then there should be no problem questioning them when said rules are contradictory, or just plain gross.
10: See 2 – Morality gives an evolutionary advantage (Which basically you say in this point by saying that we wouldnt have come this far without morals). Therefore, since Evoution is about survival of the fittest, any creature that developed a moral code would have an evolutionary advantage. Therefore, given this, how can we say for sure that Morals arent a product of evolution?
Death does not prove there is, or is not a god.
June 19th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
He may be intolerant. I am just tired of hearing people call others intolerant. I cannot tolerate that word nowadays because everybody seems to have redefined it as not accepting people’s views. What JB was doing is the American Tolerance. Tolerance is not just saying “okay.” Tolerance is not saying lets agree to disagree. Tolerance means not attacking when attacked. Tolerance means not getting angry. Tolerance means trying to talk to SH even though he tries to walk away to help him understand. Tolerance is being told you are an “idiot” and not just responding with shock but also responding with concern. Getting angry and and yelling at and calling that person names back just proves our intolerance not theirs. After all we cannot judge his motives for saying that, as we will see in my following point.
On another note, if I say “I am a Christian” to somebody, just out of the blue, what are you supposed to say to me? You would have the capability of saying more than If I say “I am an Atheist” but still very little, right? You already know where I stand on many different things if I say I am a Christian. Saying “I am a Christian” turns into much more than one thing (believing in God). Atheism can go any number of ways. You could be a nihilist; you could be moral; you could be immoral and call it morality; you could be a freaking psychopath for all I know. It does seem like saying I am an atheist is a way of shutting down communication. Who really says that just out of the blue? I have only met Christians that say I am a Christian when trying to convert me or if they try to avoid talking about certain things. When would you say you are an atheist? I certainly doubt he is saying that he walks around asking “do you believe in God?”
Also he sees God as a higher being. I think he is possibly unwilling to ask another person about their morals because that is essentially making that person “God.” His God hates sin so SH hates sin. He hates himself because he sins and hates people that try to lead “God’s children” into sin. He loves all the people because God loves the people and would like all to know God as God wants all to know Him. He may see this as idolatry which is considered a very terrible thing.
I would disagree on him saying stuff that gets “largely passing without scrutiny.” Look for things that he has said that are ignorant and bigoted on the web and this site is a dime a dozen.
Actually, I agree with you about the whole double-standard, though. But, I see double standards all over America.
The whole “not even [having] a rudimentary understanding of evolution” seems a little funny to me. How does evolution work? Have you ever seen it happen? There are base species that disappear… Horse and Zebra or Cat and Dog. Who truly has an understanding of evolution? I guess we could say “only God knows” (joking of course). Also as far as I know through studying evolution myself it does seem strange that there would not be a weaker of both homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes or any other monkeys. It could be that we weren’t on the earth long enough before we started trying to conserve species. Why do we do that? Isn’t that making evolution slow down if not stop? Talk about a double standard.
I know people that make up words when they know a lot about a subject to make points of how stupid they think a certain idea is (I am not saying that is what he is doing I am saying calling people ignorant because they do not focus on saying the right word is sort of stupid to me). The “gastreous ball” is only one theory of how evolution got started. There are theories about two moons running into each other to explain the molten core of the earth. The big-bang in my opinion has been completely eliminated other than the whole philosophy of a first cause.
June 20th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Wow. I’m an atheist and I’m fine being called an idiot but he also said “Why are there still monkeys?” I expect celebrities, especially comedians, to know more about evolution than the average anti-science religious fundamentalist.
June 20th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Good for Steve Harvey. Atheism is vacuous and vapid.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Hurray for Steve Harvey. He certainly got a reaction from the atheists. Why did you listen to the whole thing, and what are you afraid of?
July 1st, 2009 at 9:46 am
no he acctually said nothing about the bible, he said GOD! dummy, nothing to do with religion, I didnt like steve harvey until i read this, Atheists are dumb, they cling on one thing religion thats there only argument is organized religion Richard Dawkings is god if your an atiest or bill mahr i mean I dont even want to know you if you consider yourself an athiest…
its called intelligent design. google it you dumb athiest
July 1st, 2009 at 9:50 am
Nothing has proved why were here, they are called theorys Einstine, there is no proof…
so people who believe in a higher power are idiots…
What about all those scientists the guys you claim to have it all figured out, I mean there are alot of scientists who believe in God, what do you say to that?
October 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
So instead of believing in a theory that can be tested with practical examples (such as Einstien’s theory of relativity is proven in part every day by the everyday function of GPS satellites) I should instead believe in something else without any proof, or any way to test if the idea is true?
July 4th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Wait, when did Steve Harvey make people laugh? His show was always lame.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Being an atheist, I’m no stranger to this kind of hate.
While I don’t dislike Mr Harvey for his careless and ignorant remarks (after all, he doesn’t know better) I do feel a bit disgusted that atheism is so disdained in this day. It’s unimaginable that adults no longer believe in the tooth fairy, santa claus and sleeping beauty- and yet, they still believe in the god fairytale. Why? Because sleeping beauty and the tooth fairy don’t threaten your ‘personal eternity’ with a forever of pain and suffering. People are basically selfish, and they will say, believe and do anything to keep themselves on top. We’re all part of the food chain and we know it- what promises do we have of something good, wonderful and joyous outside of the bleak, painful fucking existence here?
Those who buy into the biggest scam of all time seek religion. Those who dare to question and educate themselves, lean to atheism.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Well spoken. However, in spite of being an atheist (or perhaps because of it?) I treasure my time here on earth and try to make as much out of every day as I can. What a beautiful world we live in.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
If Theists are so certain in their beliefs, why can’t they defend them without recourse to schoolyard rhetoric?
July 16th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Crikey, mates, you guys are so serious!
Steve Harvey’s livelihood is humour, and he bases it in quasi shocking, pseudo intellectual/moronic statements intended to provoke and titilate. And he has obviously achieved some success.
Do his jokes or rhetoric deserve to be elevated to lofty debate of the creation of the universe, life and its meaning? I suppose I have to concede the point – we do “enjoy” our rights to freedom of speech!
“Is (Steve Harvey) a bigot”?
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is yes, judging by the video and transcript – he looks and sounds serious.
And, Moose’s gallant defence of SH’s intollerance and freedoms don’t cut it for me. If SH chooses to make objectionable statements, call classes of people “idiots”, or deliberately make crack-pot illogical statements on national tv, then he deserves to take flak for it.
Mr admin, I agree with you.
July 18th, 2009 at 2:30 am
That atheists have no moral law or moral barometer is clearly propaganda, a way to undermine and say that atheists can’t be trusted.
Human beings are society animals; we are tribal, fundamentally speaking, and it is this which forms the basis of human morality. It also forms the idea of justice; through our empathy for other humans, we seek to mete out punishment to wrongdoers on the same level of seriousness as the crimes they have committed. Some morals are fundamental, others are society driven. Not that long ago people were strung up for stealing horses, now it is morally unacceptable in America.
@moose and the whole walking up and saying “I am an Atheist”: That must be an exaggeration. It is something you say to get, or end a conversation about religion or evolution. And christians do say “I am a Christian”, just not that directly. You use phrases like “thanks to the Lord”. And you might say it with jewelry, or a bumper sticker on the car.
I agree with you on the tolerance, if you throw a brick, expect to get one in return. Show respect for each others believes.
July 18th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Hey, Steve Harvey: go fuck yourself, you washed up hack.
July 25th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I put your article about Steve Harvey on Twitter about 10 times in 2 days. I sent the info to atheist groups and friends around the USA.
His ignorance, based on his Bible, is why gay marriage failed in California. We can’t let their ignorance rule OUR lives ! I don’t force them to follow my non-belief ways.
Here’s the address to write to Steve:
support@steveharvey.com
(Funny how it begins w. “support” as if he’s above criticism!)
====
Newbie here, just joined. I was once a born-again Christian, had an exorcism done to me to get the gay out. Am now queer atheist in San Francisco. Unfortunately, San Francisco doesn’t have much atheist activism. No billboards, not much is done here to gather new people. Sad.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Hi Tony, I am a recovered catholic xtian, sorry about the failed exorcism, those damn priests don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. There are alot of online and community groups for atheists and agnostics, even here in Montana. Try: http://atheists.meetup.com/561/ it’s a SF group.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Maybe he did it “4 teh lulz.”
Seriously, though, what the hell? This kind of behavior is shameful and embarrassing to see, regardless of where you stand in terms of religion. Making seriously presumptuous blanket statements when you don’t really know what it is you are talking about is kind of casting stones from a glass house.
If you’re going to come out argue against atheism (this applies to religion, as well) you really need to show tact, respect, and a mature solidarity of mind. Well-formed arguments and an openness to objection, not just “I know this is controversial and I don’t care” but “I accept that you disagree with me and I am willing to rationally and cordially listen to and interact with your side to understand why that is,” are kind of a plus as well. A hard-charger who is venomous, insulting, and judgmental in the wrong sort of way will have an easy time firing up the people who are already on his side, but is just going to piss everyone else off and do more harm than good.
This sort of behavior is needlessly divisive and immature, and a man of his age and background really ought to know better. It’s amazing that someone could be so bad at living up to a set of values that they are so thoroughly invested in.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Well said Joe.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Stupid nigger.
Oh wait, that’s offensive. But why should I restrain when that guy is also saying offensive stuff at atheists?
September 28th, 2009 at 1:05 am
@James right above me:
Just wondering … How do you explain that comment to a black atheist such as myself?
Don’t try to fight bigotry with bigotry, hon’. You lose all your credibility.