* "Faith in Reason" ~ Andy Rooney

On this day in 1919 a writer, columnist, television commentator, and Emmy winner was born. After a series of other books, Andy Rooney wrote, Sincerely, Andy Rooney (1999), in the last chapter of which, “Faith in Reason,” he published a letter to his children and explains that he is an agnostic.

Philosopedia:

"In some respects he comes across as everyone’s uncle or grandfather, and in others he comes across as a logical curmudgeon. To almost everyone he comes across as someone who can make anyone laugh:

* My wife’s from the Midwest. Very nice people there. Very wholesome. They use words like “Cripes.” For Cripes sake! Who would that be—Jesus Cripes? Son of Gosh? Of the church of the Holy Moly? I’m not making fun of it—you think I want to burn in Heck?

* We all ought to understand we're on our own. Believing in Santa Claus doesn't do kids any harm for a few years but it isn't smart for them to continue waiting all their lives for him to come down the chimney with something wonderful. Santa Claus and God are cousins.

* Christians talk as though goodness was their idea but good behavior doesn't have any religious origin. Our prisons are filled with the devout.

* I'd be more willing to accept religion, even if I didn't believe it, if I thought it made people nicer to each other but I don't think it does.”

Paul Rifkin’s, The God Letters (1986) tells of posing as a fifth grade student who asked noted individuals if they believed in God. Rooney responded,

* No, of course I don’t [believe in God] and anyone who tells you that there is a god who makes his or her presence known to him or her is hallucinating or not telling the truth.

"Rooney told Sam Donaldson on ABC’s “Prime Time Live” (May 1995) that he was critical of anyone who even claims to know whether or not a god exists.” And in a 1996 interview with Arthur Unger in TV Quarterly, he was asked if people really knew him. “The only thing I hide from people,” Rooney responded, “that I have never said so far as being blunt and honest goes, is that I am not a religious person. I’m not sure the American public would accept from me that fact. I don’t think that would please them or that it would attract a lot of people to me. And I take the position that it is sort of a personal matter, so I do not ever make an issue of it.” With all the problems throughout the world, he finds religion has not really done anything to help."

Some other resources:

Andy Rooney ~ Wikipedia

Celebrity Atheists