Carlin, George Denis

From Philosopedia

Carlin, George Denis (1937— ) A comedian who has appeared on numerous major television shows, Carlin has also been in many movies. In 1972 he received a Grammy award for best FM/AM comedy recording. The author of Sometimes A Little Brain Damage Can Help, he is often critical of the devoutly religious in his humor. “Religion is just mind control,” he has stated. In a 1995 appearance on Tom Snyder’s CBS talk program, Carlin defended his non-belief in a “man in the sky” who tells you “where you shouldn’t put your hands.” To The New York Times, he confirmed that although he attended Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, “They gave me the tools to reject my faith. They taught me to question and think for myself and to believe in my instincts to such an extent that I just said, ‘This is a wonderful fairy tale they have going here, but it’s not for me.’ ” In one of his acts, Carlin said

One of the things humans did wrong was to believe in this guy God, to believe that there’s really a man in the sky who cares about any of this, and who directs our feelings or thoughts or has a report card or a scorecard on our behavior. This is really a crippling belief. And what religions do is to use it to control people and scare them.

In Brain Droppings he further develops his freethinking:

I’ve begun worshiping the sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the sun. It’s there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There’s no mystery, no one asks for money, I don’t have to dress up, and there’s no boring pageantry. And interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered “God” are all answered at about the same 50-percent rate.

During a 1999 HBO special, “You Are All Diseased,” Carlin in a live recording said,

In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can’t hold a candle to a clergyman. ’Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.

In a 1999 interview with James A. Haught, Carlin told of his positive views about feeling connected with the universe, said of the Vatican that it “is up to its ass in political troublemaking and deal-making,” called Opus Dei “another semisecret organization,” and compared the Bible to “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Humpty-Dumpty”: “There is no Humpty-Dumpty and there is no God. None. Not one. No God. Never was.” Carlin became the first recipient of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “The Emperor Has No Clothes Award.” (See entry for Emperor Has No Clothes Award.) {CA}