Paula Poundstone

In the May/June 1994 issue of Mother Jones, Poundstone wrote, “There is no God. At least, I’m practically certain there isn’t. I don’t believe there’s a heaven or a hell either.” In the Letters to Paula section of “Keeping My Mouth Shut” at the Mother Jones website (January/September 1994), a correspondent asked, “I assume you are a Jewish liberal, like myself. Do you have any opinions about why Jews tend to be more liberal as a whole?” Poundstone replied, “I am quite flattered that you view me as a liberal Jew like yourself. Although raised a conservative Methodist, I am, in fact, a liberal atheist. Many people mistake me for Irish.” In her 1996 HBO special, “Paula Poundstone Goes To Harvard,” the comedian says that she “didn’t believe in anything” about religion and makes a few religious jokes. Asked how long the Flood lasted in the biblical story of Noah’s Ark while appearing in a 1999 broadcast of “Hollywood Squares,” Poundstone quipped, “I don't know I am an atheist!” That same year (1999), during an E! Entertainment special on religion in Hollywood, Poundstone stood out from most of the unconventionally “spiritual” others by saying, “I’m an atheist, so I don’t really know where spirituality fits in for me . . . a devout atheist.”

Furthermore, in her 2006 book, There’s Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say, Poundstone writes, “I’m an atheist. The good news about atheists is that we have no mandate to convert anyone. So you’ll never find me on your doorstep on a Saturday morning with a big smile, saying, ‘Just stopped by to tell you there is no word. I brought along this little blank book I was hoping you could take a look at.’” And in an 11 February 2011 “Q&A with Paula Poundstone” by Heather Svokos, Paula Poundstone says,

My family, we are atheists, and many times people have had the nerve to say to us, because this is a terrible thing to say to anybody, but they say it to me: “Where will your children get their moral guidance without religion?” And I quickly assure them that we have three seasons of “Lost in Space” on DVD [which, she says, “we use for moral and spiritual guidance.”]. So I believe we’re covered in that area.