From: Gooch McCracken
Category: Amis
Date: 8/2/99
Time: 6:41:21 PM
Remote Name: 129.219.247.97
EXCERPT FROM *CHURCH GATHERING FOR ATHEIST AMIS* BY CAROLINE DAVIES. [FROM *THE DAILY TELEGRAPH*. OCTOBER 23, 1996.]
Given Sir Kingsley Amis's professed "hatred" of God, it was, perhaps, unusual that his family and friends chose to congregate in a church to celebrate his life. But yesterday, more than 200 admirers of the novelist, who died a year ago, gathered at St Martin-in-the-Fields, in central London, to pay tribute to him. It was a secular service: no hymns or prayers, just a lot of laughter. It began with Martin Amis, son and author, recalling a conversation his father had with Yevgeni Yevtushenko, the poet, who asked Kingsley if he was an atheist. "Well, yes", said Kingsley, "But it's more than that. I hate him."
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GEORGE CARLIN SEZ: "I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that. But I gotta tell you---the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize: something is fucked up. Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would've been out on His All-Powerful Ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say *this guy* because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man. No woman could or would ever fuck things up like this. So, if there is a God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a shit. Doesn't give a shit---which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad results."