Ricky Gervais is working on a new show,"Afterlife", about an atheist who died and went to heaven - the point being made that believers don't have the monopoly on morality.

"All too often religious people equate faith with moral behavior", says Pamela Taylor. "As a Muslim, I can attest to the fact that this is not always the case. As a former atheist, I can also attest to the fact that I was raised not only with a strong moral orientation, but also with the theoretical background, critical thinking and analytical skills needed to make sound moral choices."

She says that, when she was growing up, one of the things she found distasteful about believers was "how easily they seemed to go against their own moral code, ostensibly because God would forgive them."

Read Taylor's Column in the Washington Post

Pamela K. Taylor is a North American Muslim science fiction writer and poet. Taylor has been involved with Muslims for Progressive Values (co-founder), Islamic Writers Alliance (former director) and supporter of woman imam movement
Pamela K Taylor's website
Image: Islam and Science Fiction

"... what truly distinguishes atheists from religious people has to do with charitable work. Sure, plenty of atheists donate time and money to charities and there are probably many working at big charitable organizations. But atheists do not organize together to build hospitals and schools in the developing world. There is no atheist equivalent of Samaritan's Purse, Operation Blessing or Catholic Charities and we do not see atheist organizations providing relief when disaster strikes.

"Why are atheists not doing this work? It has nothing to do with a lack of available resources ... atheists do not have a God-given responsibility to help those in need. Religious people are required to do charity. The basic human rights that the free world has adopted as universal stem from Scripture.

"With people like Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens as two of the most well-known atheists in the Western world, it is easy to conclude that atheists have a serious disdain for all religious people (the majority of the world) rather than a mere difference in belief, think they are serious intellectuals and smarter than "childish" religious people because they reject a power higher than themselves, and spend an enormous amount of time researching, writing, and degrading a God they do not believe in. Looking in from the outside, it seems atheists are working overtime to justify their personal beliefs to a highly sceptical audience.

"This is not the best public relations campaign.

"Organized atheism only exists to promote a single belief. Religious organizations promote a single belief and an important worldview including the duty to help the poor and persecuted even if they do not share our religious belief or happen to be atheists themselves."

Full Article: The Washington Post - On Faith

Teaming up with "Dexter" producer Clyde Phillips, the English comedian and atheist, will start a show about an atheist who dies and goes to Heaven - with controversy sure to follow.

Though Gervais will not star in the show himself, he will appear in some cameos.

The pilot episode is currently being written, according to the magazine, and filming is set for 2012.

Not the first time Gervais has tackled the topic of faith. The 50-year-old actor, an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, previously wrote two pieces for The Wall Street Journal entitled, "A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I'm an Atheist" and "A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I'm A Good Christian".

In the articles, Gervais argues that being a Christian or an atheist doesn't necessarily make someone a good or bad person. He also outlines his previous belief in "the Christian God" which was now substituted by science and evolution, facts and truth.

"The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn't. It's not a matter of opinion.

"You can have your own opinions. But you can't have your own facts."

Spurring a slew of comments from Christians, several religious leaders also responded, most notably Christian author Lee Strobel, who was once an atheist himself.

Whereas Gervais looked at the evidence and found no reason to believe, Strobel found all the more reason to believe after studying the evidence.

"In the end, after I had thoroughly investigated the matter I reached an unexpected conclusion: it would actually take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus," he said.

"The evidence is what tipped the scales."

Full Story: Christian Today