Atheist Mom

I heard an interview with Larry King yesterday on Q with Jian Ghomeshi. I used to really dislike King and was often annoyed at his willingness to give crackpots like Sylvia Browne a platform from which to spew their crazy. He enever really asks the hard questions when he has religious or spiritual leaders on his show and it has always left a bad taste in my mouth. The interview was a good one and it gave me a lot more insight into the man and where he is coming from. I also learned a few interesting things about him.

He claims to be an agnostic but what could easily be surmised by his other comments, is that he is an atheist. Here are some examples of supportive statements:

“I don’t believe in an afterlife”

“I don’t believe in God.”

Pretty clear to me. If you don’t believe in God (or an afterlife) wouldn’t that make you an ATHEIST!? What is it about that word that in America at least, is so scary? Why is it better to say agnostic and mean atheist? He also said he hopes he is wrong – that isn’t enough to make you an agnostic either Larry. I really wish people, particularly influential ones like Larry King, could be honest and authentic and just say it like it is. It would do atheists a world of good to hear that there are plenty of others out there who aren’t ashamed to say so.

I thought it was very interesting to hear why Larry King is “agnostic”. Apparently he didn’t start out that way. He said that after many, many years of interviewing religious leaders he started to notice a pattern. He wasn’t getting any good answers.

Also, he’s married to a Mormon. Which in itself isn’t too weird. Except that they met later in life and still married which is sort of a no-go in the church. I mean, it isn’t outright banned but it’s certainly discouraged. Apparently the rules change if the non-member you are marrying happens to host a nationally syndicated talk show from which you can spew your own particular brand of crazy. Ahhh…nothing like the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.