Monday, August 26, 2013

Atheism in popular culture #271: "I need it to be real"

In Season One Episode 12 (2013) of the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black", the character Piper Chapman is rebuffing another inmate who is pressuring her to concede to be baptized:
I believe in science. I believe in evolution. I believe in Nate Silver and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Christopher Hitchens. (Although I do admit he could be a kind of an asshole.) 
I cannot get behind some supreme being who weighs in on the Tony awards while a million people get whacked with machetes. 
I don't believe a billion Indians are going to hell. I don't think we get cancer to learn life lessons, and I don't believe that people die young because God needs another angel. 
I think it's just bullshit, and on some level, I think we all know that, I mean, don't you?... 
Look, I understand that religion makes it easier to deal with all of the random shitty things that happen to us. And I wish I could get on that ride, I'm sure I would be happier. But I can't. Feelings aren't enough. I need it to be real