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The God Desire
David Baddiel sarebbe felicissimo se Dio esistesse, e ha passato un sacco di tempo a fantasticare su quanto sarebbe meglio sapere che in cielo c’è un papà supereroe in grado di scacciare la morte. Ma sfortunatamente non c’è: Dio non esiste. O almeno è la conclusione a cui è arrivato lui. Ed è proprio l’intensità con cui vogliamo credere che esista a provare la sua non è un desiderio così forte che non possiamo che trasformarlo in realtà.In questo breve saggio filosofico, Baddiel mette in mostra tutto il suo talento retorico e ironico e la sua capacità di mescolare aneddoti personali e ragionamenti. Dà da pensare in termini nuovi e straordinariamente brillanti sul più antico dei dibattiti.
98 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 2023
82 people are currently reading
2440 people want to read
About the author
David Baddiel
85 books446 followersDavid Lionel Baddiel is an English comedian, novelist and television presenter. Baddiel was born in New York, and moved to England when he was four months old. He grew up in grew up in Dollis Hill, Willesden, North London.
After studying at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, he read English at King's College, Cambridge and graduated with a double first. He began studies for a PhD in English at University College London, but did not complete it.
Baddiel became a cabaret stand-up comedian after leaving university and also wrote sketches and jokes for various radio series. His first television appearance came in a bit-part on one episode of the showbiz satire, Filthy, Rich and Catflap. In 1988, he was introduced to Rob Newman, a comic impressionist, and the two became a writing partnership. They were subsequently paired up with the partnership of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis for a new topical comedy show for BBC Radio 1 called The Mary Whitehouse Experience, and its success led to a transfer to television, shooting Baddiel to fame.
He has written four novels: Time for Bed, Whatever Love Means, The Secret Purposes and The Death of Eli Gold.
Baddiel has two children, both born in Westminster, London, with his girlfriend, Morwenna Banks.
After studying at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, he read English at King's College, Cambridge and graduated with a double first. He began studies for a PhD in English at University College London, but did not complete it.
Baddiel became a cabaret stand-up comedian after leaving university and also wrote sketches and jokes for various radio series. His first television appearance came in a bit-part on one episode of the showbiz satire, Filthy, Rich and Catflap. In 1988, he was introduced to Rob Newman, a comic impressionist, and the two became a writing partnership. They were subsequently paired up with the partnership of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis for a new topical comedy show for BBC Radio 1 called The Mary Whitehouse Experience, and its success led to a transfer to television, shooting Baddiel to fame.
He has written four novels: Time for Bed, Whatever Love Means, The Secret Purposes and The Death of Eli Gold.
Baddiel has two children, both born in Westminster, London, with his girlfriend, Morwenna Banks.
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August 24, 2023“I believe that God exist’s but would prefer Him not to.”
This is the obverse challenge of David Baddiel’s new book “The God Desire”. A wonderfully honest insight into Baddiel’s journey of psychology that attempts to rationalise the distinctly human need to make reality not entirely mute.
David Baddiel
I have just hit the milestone of forty years and I have been an ordained Christian Minister for nearly a decade. My new life with Jesus began in my mid-twenties from a place of atheist machoism that Baddiel is correct to critique in this book. I grew up in a secular home in North London where football was one of our many god’s. I remember fondly as a child being able to stay up late during a sleepover with my friends to watch our favourite programme “Fantasy Football League” staring David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and of course ….Statto!
At the tender age of thirteen the nation welcomed Euro ’96 and with it Baddiel and Skinner’s anthem “Three Lions on a Shirt.” I will never forget returning from a school trip to Alton Towers listening on the radio to England beating Spain 4:2 on penalties. We were parked outside the school gates, our parents waiting, but we refused to get off the coach until the game finished. At the moment of jubilation we sang the entire song, word for word in unison with my class, teachers, the bus driver and all waiting for us outside before departing. A pseudo religious experience, the hymn of our generation.
Growing up with typical football “fans” yet not having the sporting ability or the natural physique to truly fulfil either the position of “a player” or a “hooligan.” Baddiel was the example I could emulate. Funny, intelligent, confident and straight talking. I have admired his work ever since and in some weird way I have grown up with him. I last saw Baddiel at the Hay Festival being interviewed by Simon Schama on his book “Jews don’t count.” A masterful treatment on the antisemitism of the progressive left.
As a fan of Baddiel and a Pastor, I feel compelled to write this response to “the God desire” as someone who meets the challenge of this book.
The God versus no God cul-de-sac
There are a number of approaches I thought about taking, which is exactly why I love Baddiel’s writing. His style is naturally conversational and allows your mind to drift into wider concepts. But I did not want this review to be yet another Christian apology that goes over the tiresome evidences that seem to do nothing but harden pre-existing views.
David Baddiel is both respectful and honest in his approach and has read on the subject impressively referencing Augustine’s Confessions and TS Elliot as some of his sources as well as being versed in Hebrew literature and ritual through his own Jewish upbringing.
Baddiel’s argument against God (or the existence thereof) is a subtle one, hidden in the ambiguity of his own desire for a deity. A far more mature position than that of the New Atheists whose arguments are so easily refuted. Dawkins, Harris and Fry have been of great assistance to my own Christian growth and others.
Baddiel discusses the human phenomena that attempts to give meaning to reality and honestly acknowledges his own endeavours. In doing so he raises many of the same questions that I ask of the Church (especially in the west) that has simply misunderstood and misapplied Christianity in favour of an individually defined syncretistic world view, that as Baddiel concedes is clearly not irreligious.
Baddiel’s well reasoned argument is not against the God of the Bible, but a culturally misrepresented god. A god that has been designed to provide buffers from cold dark reality, a god of the gaps that can potentially explain the unexplainable, a god of comfort that promises jam tomorrow.
Tragically, this god that Baddiel challenges has been cultural created by the Church in a desperate bid for survival in an ageing theocracy that is trying to meet the requirements of post-enlightenment thought. It is a mere concept of god that Baddiel fell prey to at six years old and was unsurprisingly left void.
The common misconception of Christianity is lineal. That based on your belief today (or as many think a balance of your good deeds over bad) when you cease to be, you end up in either a place of eternal love and life, or its binary opposite. This false understanding has been manipulated and abused by many historic institutions as souls fearfully hedge their bets in the vain hope of a pleasant after-life. Baddiel correctly concludes that this manmade god can feed the needs of the self-indulgent moralistic TikTok generation and all that went before them, yet goes against everything Jesus taught.
Incarnation
Christianity rests in the claim of the incarnation. That the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the author of creation. Being God in flesh does not only go some way to explain the miraculous events that took place at His coming but also brings divine truth into reality and not the inverse. A claim that ends all superstation and emotivism. Christianity is a faith in the tangible facts as they are presented in this unique and historical person.
Jesus said the Kingdom of God has come and in this new reality the Christian is called to follow, putting ego to death for the purpose of serving others (even enemies). The consequence is to build this Kingdom (Church) so that the Jam of tomorrow can be tasted today – and on this evidence trust on having more jam tomorrow.
Christianity is the story of the divine entering into concrete truth that makes sense of the universe in the centrality of existence. Which is why the Church is so utterly wrong to present the Christian message in the irrational fringes of understanding, for the God of the Bible does not claim to be the god of the gaps but the God of reality – in Christ, He has flesh like ours.
The notion of seeking God as a comfort against the coldness of nothingness is a uniquely western concept, where Christians have been spoiled to complacency. In much of the world Christians are persecuted and tortured for their faith. The UK Parliament published a paper in 2022 stating that Christians are the most persecuted people group in the world with over 360 million suffering high levels (life threatening) cruelty. For them Christianity is far from the superficial preoccupied cry for comfort of the army of ageing middle England flower arrangers who have misunderstood Christianity to being good enough to pass through the pearly gates.
Christianity is simply not about anything Baddiel rightly criticises. Christianity is the essence of reality mediated through a historical person – Jesus. That when questioned what is good or bad, simply said “follow me.” A truth that lead to cruxifixction. Christianity is not about being good or bad, or about feeling better or worse, it is truth that overrides and nullifies all these uniquely human desires to trust in what is.
Christianity in principle undermines superstitious sacrifices and rituals that are ultimately of no benefit, and calls one to trust in the great I AM regardless of the inevitable suffering that comes with the demands of a conscious existence. Christianity uniquely grounds all human ideologies into the reality of a person who despite being God suffered and died.
Stories
Baddiel correctly acknowledge societal need for story. A phenomenon that CS Lewis faced before his conversion, famously stating that “the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God’s myth where the others are men’s myth.” The challenge of the Christian story is that it requires the ego to be Crucified for the good of others, a costly duty that today’s conspiracy theories and mythical ideologies simply do not call for. A belief in Aliens gives no premise to help the poor, fantasising over the inner workings of quantum physics does not call you to help victims of oppression. Wokism is not building orphanages or soup kitchens, these pseudo religious concepts are popular simply because they offer a self defined righteousness without demand or accountability. They allow the human being to hide from the truth.
Baddiel is correct in his conclusion that human beings invest in stories. But not in stories that cost them. Void of any persecution the Church in the west has tragically warped Christianity into something that appears no different (to Baddiel and millions of others) than any other story offered by purveyors of morality which is why it has lost its saltiness.
Conclusions
Baddiel’s book is a masterclass critique of today’s cultural Christianity that is both fictional, misunderstood and far removed from Jesus’ life and teaching. Baddiel asks questions of God that those who claim to be Christian should be asking themselves to purge the Church of any phantasm conjured up to combat our mutual fear of nothingness.
“I believe that God exist’s but would prefer Him not to.”
Because the call of a Christian is to put self to death for the good of others. In my natural state I would much prefer to follow my hearts desires, fill my boots and then pass into nothingness. But this atheist idealogy is not true and consequently dismal.
Christianity is not about good and bad, that is the consequence of the curse that generated the need of our salvation in the first place (Genesis 3:22). Christianity is a real person YHWH, the “I Am who I Am” who in reality calls you to account.
So in that sense I believe in God as I believe in Larry David. A real person. (a reference you will have to read the book to get).
This is the obverse challenge of David Baddiel’s new book “The God Desire”. A wonderfully honest insight into Baddiel’s journey of psychology that attempts to rationalise the distinctly human need to make reality not entirely mute.
David Baddiel
I have just hit the milestone of forty years and I have been an ordained Christian Minister for nearly a decade. My new life with Jesus began in my mid-twenties from a place of atheist machoism that Baddiel is correct to critique in this book. I grew up in a secular home in North London where football was one of our many god’s. I remember fondly as a child being able to stay up late during a sleepover with my friends to watch our favourite programme “Fantasy Football League” staring David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and of course ….Statto!
At the tender age of thirteen the nation welcomed Euro ’96 and with it Baddiel and Skinner’s anthem “Three Lions on a Shirt.” I will never forget returning from a school trip to Alton Towers listening on the radio to England beating Spain 4:2 on penalties. We were parked outside the school gates, our parents waiting, but we refused to get off the coach until the game finished. At the moment of jubilation we sang the entire song, word for word in unison with my class, teachers, the bus driver and all waiting for us outside before departing. A pseudo religious experience, the hymn of our generation.
Growing up with typical football “fans” yet not having the sporting ability or the natural physique to truly fulfil either the position of “a player” or a “hooligan.” Baddiel was the example I could emulate. Funny, intelligent, confident and straight talking. I have admired his work ever since and in some weird way I have grown up with him. I last saw Baddiel at the Hay Festival being interviewed by Simon Schama on his book “Jews don’t count.” A masterful treatment on the antisemitism of the progressive left.
As a fan of Baddiel and a Pastor, I feel compelled to write this response to “the God desire” as someone who meets the challenge of this book.
The God versus no God cul-de-sac
There are a number of approaches I thought about taking, which is exactly why I love Baddiel’s writing. His style is naturally conversational and allows your mind to drift into wider concepts. But I did not want this review to be yet another Christian apology that goes over the tiresome evidences that seem to do nothing but harden pre-existing views.
David Baddiel is both respectful and honest in his approach and has read on the subject impressively referencing Augustine’s Confessions and TS Elliot as some of his sources as well as being versed in Hebrew literature and ritual through his own Jewish upbringing.
Baddiel’s argument against God (or the existence thereof) is a subtle one, hidden in the ambiguity of his own desire for a deity. A far more mature position than that of the New Atheists whose arguments are so easily refuted. Dawkins, Harris and Fry have been of great assistance to my own Christian growth and others.
Baddiel discusses the human phenomena that attempts to give meaning to reality and honestly acknowledges his own endeavours. In doing so he raises many of the same questions that I ask of the Church (especially in the west) that has simply misunderstood and misapplied Christianity in favour of an individually defined syncretistic world view, that as Baddiel concedes is clearly not irreligious.
Baddiel’s well reasoned argument is not against the God of the Bible, but a culturally misrepresented god. A god that has been designed to provide buffers from cold dark reality, a god of the gaps that can potentially explain the unexplainable, a god of comfort that promises jam tomorrow.
Tragically, this god that Baddiel challenges has been cultural created by the Church in a desperate bid for survival in an ageing theocracy that is trying to meet the requirements of post-enlightenment thought. It is a mere concept of god that Baddiel fell prey to at six years old and was unsurprisingly left void.
The common misconception of Christianity is lineal. That based on your belief today (or as many think a balance of your good deeds over bad) when you cease to be, you end up in either a place of eternal love and life, or its binary opposite. This false understanding has been manipulated and abused by many historic institutions as souls fearfully hedge their bets in the vain hope of a pleasant after-life. Baddiel correctly concludes that this manmade god can feed the needs of the self-indulgent moralistic TikTok generation and all that went before them, yet goes against everything Jesus taught.
Incarnation
Christianity rests in the claim of the incarnation. That the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the author of creation. Being God in flesh does not only go some way to explain the miraculous events that took place at His coming but also brings divine truth into reality and not the inverse. A claim that ends all superstation and emotivism. Christianity is a faith in the tangible facts as they are presented in this unique and historical person.
Jesus said the Kingdom of God has come and in this new reality the Christian is called to follow, putting ego to death for the purpose of serving others (even enemies). The consequence is to build this Kingdom (Church) so that the Jam of tomorrow can be tasted today – and on this evidence trust on having more jam tomorrow.
Christianity is the story of the divine entering into concrete truth that makes sense of the universe in the centrality of existence. Which is why the Church is so utterly wrong to present the Christian message in the irrational fringes of understanding, for the God of the Bible does not claim to be the god of the gaps but the God of reality – in Christ, He has flesh like ours.
The notion of seeking God as a comfort against the coldness of nothingness is a uniquely western concept, where Christians have been spoiled to complacency. In much of the world Christians are persecuted and tortured for their faith. The UK Parliament published a paper in 2022 stating that Christians are the most persecuted people group in the world with over 360 million suffering high levels (life threatening) cruelty. For them Christianity is far from the superficial preoccupied cry for comfort of the army of ageing middle England flower arrangers who have misunderstood Christianity to being good enough to pass through the pearly gates.
Christianity is simply not about anything Baddiel rightly criticises. Christianity is the essence of reality mediated through a historical person – Jesus. That when questioned what is good or bad, simply said “follow me.” A truth that lead to cruxifixction. Christianity is not about being good or bad, or about feeling better or worse, it is truth that overrides and nullifies all these uniquely human desires to trust in what is.
Christianity in principle undermines superstitious sacrifices and rituals that are ultimately of no benefit, and calls one to trust in the great I AM regardless of the inevitable suffering that comes with the demands of a conscious existence. Christianity uniquely grounds all human ideologies into the reality of a person who despite being God suffered and died.
Stories
Baddiel correctly acknowledge societal need for story. A phenomenon that CS Lewis faced before his conversion, famously stating that “the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God’s myth where the others are men’s myth.” The challenge of the Christian story is that it requires the ego to be Crucified for the good of others, a costly duty that today’s conspiracy theories and mythical ideologies simply do not call for. A belief in Aliens gives no premise to help the poor, fantasising over the inner workings of quantum physics does not call you to help victims of oppression. Wokism is not building orphanages or soup kitchens, these pseudo religious concepts are popular simply because they offer a self defined righteousness without demand or accountability. They allow the human being to hide from the truth.
Baddiel is correct in his conclusion that human beings invest in stories. But not in stories that cost them. Void of any persecution the Church in the west has tragically warped Christianity into something that appears no different (to Baddiel and millions of others) than any other story offered by purveyors of morality which is why it has lost its saltiness.
Conclusions
Baddiel’s book is a masterclass critique of today’s cultural Christianity that is both fictional, misunderstood and far removed from Jesus’ life and teaching. Baddiel asks questions of God that those who claim to be Christian should be asking themselves to purge the Church of any phantasm conjured up to combat our mutual fear of nothingness.
“I believe that God exist’s but would prefer Him not to.”
Because the call of a Christian is to put self to death for the good of others. In my natural state I would much prefer to follow my hearts desires, fill my boots and then pass into nothingness. But this atheist idealogy is not true and consequently dismal.
Christianity is not about good and bad, that is the consequence of the curse that generated the need of our salvation in the first place (Genesis 3:22). Christianity is a real person YHWH, the “I Am who I Am” who in reality calls you to account.
So in that sense I believe in God as I believe in Larry David. A real person. (a reference you will have to read the book to get).
July 14, 2023
4.25/5
As soon as I heard what this book (or rather, long essay) was about, I was instantly interested in reading it. Baddiel writes intelligently and yet also humorously about the nuances of this topic. It was fascinating to explore his beliefs and to see how he broke them down.
This book captures a feeling I have had for a long time that I've not quite been able to put into words; the god desire, the difference between cultural and religious Judaism. All of these topics spoke to me personally and I loved how they were explored.
I really enjoyed how lyrically Baddiel spun together this human desire for our world to mean something more. I enjoyed the narrative framing he used as examples, how our stories shape and are shaped by religion. I found this to be such a great essay that I can't wait to discuss more with my family and friends.
As soon as I heard what this book (or rather, long essay) was about, I was instantly interested in reading it. Baddiel writes intelligently and yet also humorously about the nuances of this topic. It was fascinating to explore his beliefs and to see how he broke them down.
This book captures a feeling I have had for a long time that I've not quite been able to put into words; the god desire, the difference between cultural and religious Judaism. All of these topics spoke to me personally and I loved how they were explored.
I really enjoyed how lyrically Baddiel spun together this human desire for our world to mean something more. I enjoyed the narrative framing he used as examples, how our stories shape and are shaped by religion. I found this to be such a great essay that I can't wait to discuss more with my family and friends.
August 21, 2023
I like these long-essays/short-books of Baddiel’s quite a bit. In fact, I like David Baddiel, the man, quite a bit — although I will admit to finding him oddly short on jokes for a professional comic: I think the funniest comment he ever made was the following 2018 tweet which relates to Theresa May’s Brexit negotiations:
Take from that what you will. Instead of humour, therefore, I suspect the main appeal of these little books is that they’re just extra moreish owing to their concise punchiness. They also give you access to Baddiel’s clearly razor-sharp and rigorous mind, a mind which allows him to articulate everyday sentiments with uncommon clarity.
However, as with his previous, Jews Don’t Count, I worry my perspective is so similar to his on so many of the world’s issues that reading him isn’t so much an exercise in self-improvement or learning, but, instead, a borderline narcissistic examination of myself — as though I’m staring at my reflection in a mirror while endlessly twiddling a lock of my hair in the hope I can convince myself the way it hangs from my fringe is doing me favours. I don’t mean to say I feel Baddiel is my spirit animal or anything weird like that: It just seems that we grasp these issues in a similar light, and I find his thinking style leaves me almost entirely without challenge. This combination always makes his books breezily enjoyable, but I’m just not entirely convinced they’re doing me much good. Surely good reading is challenging reading, no?
Because I’ve been worrying about this echo chamber effect, I’ve been finding it hard to say anything worthwhile about this book, and whenever I’ve tried to sit down to write a quick review I kept producing paragraph after meandering paragraph detailing my own conflicted relationship with God, something nobody needs to hear about — not again. And so, I eventually figured I was simply incapable of reviewing Baddiel and decided to move on with my life — because who really cares anyway? — I gave it up as a bad job while begrudgingly accepting that Baddiel, unlike God and the baby Jesus, holds some innate quality which gifts him with the ability to elude my critical thinking abilities.
But then, last night, I rewatched Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, a strangely emotional film which is, in the end, all about “the God desire”: the human hunger for answers and cosmic justice, the consolation of knowing that something or someone is watching over the world and that you are part of the mechanisation of some great plan. Faith is something we crave like nothing else, and I think Baddiel is right to suspect that no matter how much machismo and swagger your atheistic thinkers like Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins express when they, through their body language, point out that their essentially nihilistic position requires a kind of defiance of base instinct necessitating a brutal strength of character, there is still some part of absolutely everybody (those men included) that aches for Godly transcendence. It doesn’t matter how much you might pretend you’re above it all.
Mild spoilers for The Master follow.
In The Master, set at the beginning of the 1950s, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix ) is a WWII veteran with PTSD. He is lost and inhibited, and very much the kind of person you might imagine would fall under the spell of a charismatic cult leader like Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, Jordan Peterson — Oops! Freudian slip, that should read “Lancaster Dodd”! The combination of Freddie’s vulnerability and Dodd’s use of others’ admiration for him as a way of filling the hole at the centre of his soul makes the two men perfect for one another. Dodd is using his newfound gig as a prophet to work through all kinds of his own internalised issues, and Freddie is easy prey for Dodd���s developing Christ complex. This sets up a fascinating (possibly romantic) dynamic.
Eventually, however, Freddie begins to realise he’s trapped in the throes of an illusion, and it is his quiet bid for escape — his act of defiance against his base “God-desire” instincts — that, I think, drives the film’s emotional, and slightly ambiguous finale. Having been seduced by Dodd, he finds himself clutching hold of nothingness, no closer to the answers than he was to begin with, he then finds the strength to accept this and relinquish his desperate supplicative grasp. There is a cleansing quality to letting go, I think. I certainly find the film oddly cleansing, at least.
Anyway, back to Baddiel, the part of The God Desire that struck me most was when Baddiel says the art he generally finds most moving is, as often as not, the stuff which promises him some of the consolations a religious person gains from their faith: eternal life, existential meaning, salvation, guidance... I’d never really thought of my own interest in the arts like this, but I imagine I could probably say something of the same. My favourite art often alludes to those transcendent, religious things, while at the same time exploring them subtly enough to not offend my tender atheistic sensibilities: My favourite art gently and momentarily fools me into an essentially religious submission, allowing the fantasy of Godly miracles to briefly flower between the bars of my otherwise resolutely materialist framework. It’s a seduction and a momentary lapse of reason, but one of magnetic force, and one which I spend a lot of my time chasing. However, as Freddie Quell discovers, tearing yourself away from the promise of God and accepting reality comes at an emotional cost; equally, letting go of something that you know, deep down, is a philosophical misdirection can also be liberating, because, regardless of how seductive that thing might be, it just isn’t true.
I feel I should take the job of Brexit Secretary now. If only so that when I resign, Theresa May can finally be proved right that No Deal is better than a Baddiel.
Take from that what you will. Instead of humour, therefore, I suspect the main appeal of these little books is that they’re just extra moreish owing to their concise punchiness. They also give you access to Baddiel’s clearly razor-sharp and rigorous mind, a mind which allows him to articulate everyday sentiments with uncommon clarity.
However, as with his previous, Jews Don’t Count, I worry my perspective is so similar to his on so many of the world’s issues that reading him isn’t so much an exercise in self-improvement or learning, but, instead, a borderline narcissistic examination of myself — as though I’m staring at my reflection in a mirror while endlessly twiddling a lock of my hair in the hope I can convince myself the way it hangs from my fringe is doing me favours. I don’t mean to say I feel Baddiel is my spirit animal or anything weird like that: It just seems that we grasp these issues in a similar light, and I find his thinking style leaves me almost entirely without challenge. This combination always makes his books breezily enjoyable, but I’m just not entirely convinced they’re doing me much good. Surely good reading is challenging reading, no?
Because I’ve been worrying about this echo chamber effect, I’ve been finding it hard to say anything worthwhile about this book, and whenever I’ve tried to sit down to write a quick review I kept producing paragraph after meandering paragraph detailing my own conflicted relationship with God, something nobody needs to hear about — not again. And so, I eventually figured I was simply incapable of reviewing Baddiel and decided to move on with my life — because who really cares anyway? — I gave it up as a bad job while begrudgingly accepting that Baddiel, unlike God and the baby Jesus, holds some innate quality which gifts him with the ability to elude my critical thinking abilities.
But then, last night, I rewatched Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, a strangely emotional film which is, in the end, all about “the God desire”: the human hunger for answers and cosmic justice, the consolation of knowing that something or someone is watching over the world and that you are part of the mechanisation of some great plan. Faith is something we crave like nothing else, and I think Baddiel is right to suspect that no matter how much machismo and swagger your atheistic thinkers like Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins express when they, through their body language, point out that their essentially nihilistic position requires a kind of defiance of base instinct necessitating a brutal strength of character, there is still some part of absolutely everybody (those men included) that aches for Godly transcendence. It doesn’t matter how much you might pretend you’re above it all.
Mild spoilers for The Master follow.
In The Master, set at the beginning of the 1950s, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix ) is a WWII veteran with PTSD. He is lost and inhibited, and very much the kind of person you might imagine would fall under the spell of a charismatic cult leader like Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, Jordan Peterson — Oops! Freudian slip, that should read “Lancaster Dodd”! The combination of Freddie’s vulnerability and Dodd’s use of others’ admiration for him as a way of filling the hole at the centre of his soul makes the two men perfect for one another. Dodd is using his newfound gig as a prophet to work through all kinds of his own internalised issues, and Freddie is easy prey for Dodd���s developing Christ complex. This sets up a fascinating (possibly romantic) dynamic.
Eventually, however, Freddie begins to realise he’s trapped in the throes of an illusion, and it is his quiet bid for escape — his act of defiance against his base “God-desire” instincts — that, I think, drives the film’s emotional, and slightly ambiguous finale. Having been seduced by Dodd, he finds himself clutching hold of nothingness, no closer to the answers than he was to begin with, he then finds the strength to accept this and relinquish his desperate supplicative grasp. There is a cleansing quality to letting go, I think. I certainly find the film oddly cleansing, at least.
Anyway, back to Baddiel, the part of The God Desire that struck me most was when Baddiel says the art he generally finds most moving is, as often as not, the stuff which promises him some of the consolations a religious person gains from their faith: eternal life, existential meaning, salvation, guidance... I’d never really thought of my own interest in the arts like this, but I imagine I could probably say something of the same. My favourite art often alludes to those transcendent, religious things, while at the same time exploring them subtly enough to not offend my tender atheistic sensibilities: My favourite art gently and momentarily fools me into an essentially religious submission, allowing the fantasy of Godly miracles to briefly flower between the bars of my otherwise resolutely materialist framework. It’s a seduction and a momentary lapse of reason, but one of magnetic force, and one which I spend a lot of my time chasing. However, as Freddie Quell discovers, tearing yourself away from the promise of God and accepting reality comes at an emotional cost; equally, letting go of something that you know, deep down, is a philosophical misdirection can also be liberating, because, regardless of how seductive that thing might be, it just isn’t true.
November 24, 2024
L'argomentazione attorno all'ateismo dell'autore non convince, a mio avviso, ma diverte.
Giacché, tuttavia, da atea, mai ho sentito il bisogno di giustificare o di cercare spiegazioni al mio credere nell'hic et nunc e non in una vita ultraterrena, né in un'entità creatrice trascendente, la lettura è risultata gradevole e veloce.
Giacché, tuttavia, da atea, mai ho sentito il bisogno di giustificare o di cercare spiegazioni al mio credere nell'hic et nunc e non in una vita ultraterrena, né in un'entità creatrice trascendente, la lettura è risultata gradevole e veloce.
March 4, 2025
This essay explains why humanity desires a god to function, from whose cold embrace we formulate desire and purpose. Everyone should give this essay a shot. "The God Desire" describes how atheists view life absent a deity. Ultimately, the author remarks that religion should be a choice.
3.5/5
3.5/5
August 3, 2025
interesting essay into GOD and the many issues of human need for and look for other meanings
May 26, 2023
David is clearly a very clever and thoughtful guy. He is also Jewish and an atheist who believes that the very intensity of desire for a God, (apparently the majority of the world's population still believes), is prove in itself that God doesn't exist. Philosophical, humorous and inventive, David challenges many of the often quoted 'proofs' of God. So clever were his thoughts that I had to read this book twice to fully understand them!
David and I are very alike in some ways. We both have beards and a shared fascination in quantum physics. He is much better read on the subject but thankfully admits that, like me, the more he reads the less he understands.
David and I are very alike in some ways. We both have beards and a shared fascination in quantum physics. He is much better read on the subject but thankfully admits that, like me, the more he reads the less he understands.
November 29, 2023
This book presents some valid arguments, but the author's approach is irritating and the attempt at humor in the writing style falls flat.
April 13, 2023
Reflections and lessons learned:
“…the God desire should not have to lead to the God delusion…
I’ve listened to this book so quickly as I’m on annual leave from work and it was the perfect opportunity to listen to an interesting voice on this topic. Did it concentrate too much on death though, rather than the guide of religion in life? I’m not religious (I even ummed and ahhed about capitalising the G’s in the above quote) but can see multiple elements that people could possibly follow things for. The juxtaposition of comic con and Santa resonated deeply on a philosophical level, as did the films and friendships of multi faiths. Cleverly argued and a book that I’d be keen to read again if ever conflicted. At the moment I know that it’s not for me but I kind of wish it was was, and perhaps never say never? Yet again, the wise Mulder and Scully can be quoted…
A friend mentioned the other week that his son had been asking about what the bible was and he’d struggled to even know what to say… we floundered for a second, nearing a possible debate, but instead ended up going to a classic comedy quote from our childhood:
“To my darling Candy. All characters portrayed within this book are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental."
“…the God desire should not have to lead to the God delusion…
I’ve listened to this book so quickly as I’m on annual leave from work and it was the perfect opportunity to listen to an interesting voice on this topic. Did it concentrate too much on death though, rather than the guide of religion in life? I’m not religious (I even ummed and ahhed about capitalising the G’s in the above quote) but can see multiple elements that people could possibly follow things for. The juxtaposition of comic con and Santa resonated deeply on a philosophical level, as did the films and friendships of multi faiths. Cleverly argued and a book that I’d be keen to read again if ever conflicted. At the moment I know that it’s not for me but I kind of wish it was was, and perhaps never say never? Yet again, the wise Mulder and Scully can be quoted…
A friend mentioned the other week that his son had been asking about what the bible was and he’d struggled to even know what to say… we floundered for a second, nearing a possible debate, but instead ended up going to a classic comedy quote from our childhood:
“To my darling Candy. All characters portrayed within this book are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental."
January 3, 2024
This book does a fine job arguing that God does not exist because belief in a deity is so clearly rooted in an innate human desire for divine comfort. However, while I can appreciate how, by virtue of his Jewish background, Baddiel makes an effort not to dismiss religion altogether, his writing here is not quite pithy or forceful enough to satisfy my snarky atheistic sensibilities.
July 23, 2023
2.75 - Snoooooooze fest 🥱 concept is so simple and book could be way shorter. But instead it’s dragged out and over explained. Really hard to follow and it’s all over the place. There are a couple quotes and witty moments that I like but overall I’m so bored.
December 20, 2023
Oh dear. This could be a transcript of Baddiel’s therapy session. Nothing of substance within. Also, he patronises his readers by explaining words he thinks we won’t understand. No thanks. Thankfully, this was essay sized.
December 23, 2025
Interesting take on humans and the need to have more meaning and value in their lives and deaths. How this desire for God effects how people live their lives and treat other people and animals in a good but usually bad way.
February 4, 2024
An intelligent, heartfelt and amusing book about why the author doesn’t believe in god.
January 24, 2024
Good but not as good as Jews don't count.
June 20, 2024
I’m even an atheist and I didn’t really get it
December 1, 2023
Mr. Baddiel has written another beautiful book on a terrible subject. As he grows older, he finds himself dwelling on his mortality. Most of us make peace with it, but he cannot. Rather, he wonders whether we need to believe in gods to cope with the darkness that waits for us all.
This might sound like a late entry into the canon of New Atheism. Richard Dawkins published 'The God Delusion' years ago, inspiring a movement that has since faded. For this reason, the reader might think that Mr Baddiel is joining the cause. Fortunately, this isn't so.
What saves 'The God Desire' from being redundant is its vulnerability. The author wants there to be a god, and knows that he isn't alone. Oblivion is impossible to imagine, because it requires a mind that has ceased to exist. Divine fiction, the author argues, plugs the gap.
So clever is Mr Baddiel that he finds the God Desire everywhere. He was rewriting the book when Elizabeth II died. As he watched the response, he wondered whether the veneration of her reign, and of her longevity, were attempts to make her immortal. A compelling hypothesis.
Everyone should read this book, especially atheists. Those who believe will not be offended, and those who don't will not be affirmed. Perhaps, 'The God Desire' would have had greater impact when New Atheism was at its peak, but it still serves a purpose. Highly recommended.
This might sound like a late entry into the canon of New Atheism. Richard Dawkins published 'The God Delusion' years ago, inspiring a movement that has since faded. For this reason, the reader might think that Mr Baddiel is joining the cause. Fortunately, this isn't so.
What saves 'The God Desire' from being redundant is its vulnerability. The author wants there to be a god, and knows that he isn't alone. Oblivion is impossible to imagine, because it requires a mind that has ceased to exist. Divine fiction, the author argues, plugs the gap.
So clever is Mr Baddiel that he finds the God Desire everywhere. He was rewriting the book when Elizabeth II died. As he watched the response, he wondered whether the veneration of her reign, and of her longevity, were attempts to make her immortal. A compelling hypothesis.
Everyone should read this book, especially atheists. Those who believe will not be offended, and those who don't will not be affirmed. Perhaps, 'The God Desire' would have had greater impact when New Atheism was at its peak, but it still serves a purpose. Highly recommended.
August 17, 2023
Following on from his brilliant and thought-provoking Jews Don't Count, his latest polemic concerns his atheism.
The God Desire is essentially the fact that while Baddiel is an atheist, he would like nothing more than for God to exist, who wouldn't want superhero dad who chased off death?. He just doesn't believe that he does.
Baddiel argues against all the ideas and notions of what God is but is never dismissive or disrespectful. Something I would find far more difficult.
I wouldn't describe myself as an atheist as such. I don't reject the idea of God, just the notion of a Christian God. Something that Baddiel addresses.
I was brought up, first of all as a catholic and then in the world of "charismatic" christianity and as I have grown up, the harder it has become to see any of this as rational or believable.
Much more fun is his take on Jesus as a more generic hero character like Superman.
I found this engaging, stimulating, and fun. All at the same time.
The God Desire is essentially the fact that while Baddiel is an atheist, he would like nothing more than for God to exist, who wouldn't want superhero dad who chased off death?. He just doesn't believe that he does.
Baddiel argues against all the ideas and notions of what God is but is never dismissive or disrespectful. Something I would find far more difficult.
I wouldn't describe myself as an atheist as such. I don't reject the idea of God, just the notion of a Christian God. Something that Baddiel addresses.
I was brought up, first of all as a catholic and then in the world of "charismatic" christianity and as I have grown up, the harder it has become to see any of this as rational or believable.
Much more fun is his take on Jesus as a more generic hero character like Superman.
I found this engaging, stimulating, and fun. All at the same time.
February 22, 2025
I’m not sure if I just didn’t get this book and thus I’m giving it a harsh review or if it’s just not a great short story (I’m starting to think I’m also not cut out for shorter books). I was expecting the book to be funnier but instead I found it rambling. The premise of the book is laid out in the first couple of chapters but until the last two chapters - I found it a murky read, it wasn’t committing to making any points.
This book could’ve have been a great longer read article but instead is a drawl over 90+ pages.
This book could’ve have been a great longer read article but instead is a drawl over 90+ pages.
August 26, 2024
2/5
This book takes a straightforward idea - that humanity's desire for meaning and moral shepherding will always lead to the creation of some type of god. Yet Baddiel overcomplicates it and tries to fluff up an argument that is just too simple to fill 110 pages.
This book takes a straightforward idea - that humanity's desire for meaning and moral shepherding will always lead to the creation of some type of god. Yet Baddiel overcomplicates it and tries to fluff up an argument that is just too simple to fill 110 pages.
November 2, 2023
This was a guilty pleasure. Reading (or listening to) a non-fiction book by Baddiel is like having a conversation with a very smart and articulate person, who happens to have exactly the same views on everything as you do. I agreed with pretty much everything he said in Jews Don't Count, and it's the same story with this book.
It is very short, but could've been even shorter, since there is basically one idea: humanity desires God, mainly as a cure for mortality, and for other reasons as well, and if something is desired, but there's no evidence of its existence, then it follows that that something doesn't exist. A refutation of God's non-existence, according to Baddiel, would be someone earnestly believing that there is God, but wishing that there wasn't one. That would be a belief freed from desire (mind and senses purified etc.), and it would've at least put a chink into an atheist's armor, if not destroyed it completely. I'm not so sure about the last argument, as I can imagine some people believing in God, and yet being angry at him (there are plenty of reasons) with enough ferocity to wish him into the non-existence. But other than that, yes, sure, God is the projection of our fear of death and chaos. And, on top of everything, it doesn't work! As Baddiel points out, even at the peak of religiosity (let's say Europe in middle ages), people, devout believers as they were, still didn't want to die and considered death, their own and their loved ones', to be the ultimate calamity.
Baddiel sidesteps the questions such as "what would happen to our morality without religion", since his point is that God doesn't exist, period. And even if everyone admitting this would lead to a global catastrophe, that wouldn't change that basic fact. Even if to avoid this hypothetical catastrophe we will all have to pretend that there is God, God would still continue not to exist.
There is an interesting, if somewhat questionable, point about Judaism and Christianity, which he illustrates with the following anecdotes. When Baddiel's local rabbi invited him to light the menorah in the local synagogue on Hanukkah, Baddiel tried to get out of this by saying "unfortunately, I'm an atheist", to which the Rabbi responded "not a problem, so am I". On the other hand, Baddiel's partner Skinner, who is apparently a catholic, was genuinely afraid that him living in sin with his girlfriend would lead to him not receiving the communion, which in turn would lead to him going to hell. This, in Baddiel view, shows that Judaism is mainly about ritual, and God is somewhere at the fringes, whereas in most branches of Christianity there is a strong presence of God and the necessity to deal with him directly and possibly suffer the consequences. There may be something there (there is a ton of ritual in Judaism, and Jews certainly don't anthropomorphize their God and don't encourage direct interactions with him in the way Christians do), but I think it mainly has to do with the Reform nature of the religious Jews Baddiel is used to. An orthodox rabbi would never admit atheism and would be much more Christian-like in his preoccupation with God.
It is very short, but could've been even shorter, since there is basically one idea: humanity desires God, mainly as a cure for mortality, and for other reasons as well, and if something is desired, but there's no evidence of its existence, then it follows that that something doesn't exist. A refutation of God's non-existence, according to Baddiel, would be someone earnestly believing that there is God, but wishing that there wasn't one. That would be a belief freed from desire (mind and senses purified etc.), and it would've at least put a chink into an atheist's armor, if not destroyed it completely. I'm not so sure about the last argument, as I can imagine some people believing in God, and yet being angry at him (there are plenty of reasons) with enough ferocity to wish him into the non-existence. But other than that, yes, sure, God is the projection of our fear of death and chaos. And, on top of everything, it doesn't work! As Baddiel points out, even at the peak of religiosity (let's say Europe in middle ages), people, devout believers as they were, still didn't want to die and considered death, their own and their loved ones', to be the ultimate calamity.
Baddiel sidesteps the questions such as "what would happen to our morality without religion", since his point is that God doesn't exist, period. And even if everyone admitting this would lead to a global catastrophe, that wouldn't change that basic fact. Even if to avoid this hypothetical catastrophe we will all have to pretend that there is God, God would still continue not to exist.
There is an interesting, if somewhat questionable, point about Judaism and Christianity, which he illustrates with the following anecdotes. When Baddiel's local rabbi invited him to light the menorah in the local synagogue on Hanukkah, Baddiel tried to get out of this by saying "unfortunately, I'm an atheist", to which the Rabbi responded "not a problem, so am I". On the other hand, Baddiel's partner Skinner, who is apparently a catholic, was genuinely afraid that him living in sin with his girlfriend would lead to him not receiving the communion, which in turn would lead to him going to hell. This, in Baddiel view, shows that Judaism is mainly about ritual, and God is somewhere at the fringes, whereas in most branches of Christianity there is a strong presence of God and the necessity to deal with him directly and possibly suffer the consequences. There may be something there (there is a ton of ritual in Judaism, and Jews certainly don't anthropomorphize their God and don't encourage direct interactions with him in the way Christians do), but I think it mainly has to do with the Reform nature of the religious Jews Baddiel is used to. An orthodox rabbi would never admit atheism and would be much more Christian-like in his preoccupation with God.
May 29, 2025
David Baddiel has a way of writing which allows the reader to reflect and challenge their own thoughts and beliefs.
The God desire is an exploration on how we as a species have created religion to comfort us and almost protect ourselves against the harsh reality of death. Which logically makes sense. We as humans often find ways to detach ourselves from reality- whether that be through reading, or through religion or through unhealthy coping strategies like abusing recreational substances. Humans cannot bear the harshness of reality. We cannot fully fathom the concept that once our mortal vessels are used up that we slip away into oblivion and not an idyllic afterlife.
I also enjoyed how Baddiel explores how religion is not only just a theological concept but how it is untwined with different cultures and different identities. He himself identifies as an athetise Jew. This is because he feels culturally he will always be Jewish despite not believing in a higher power.
Furthermore, I enjoyed how at the end of the novel he also explored how it’s not only God we create as a deity to worship and respect but it’s also famous figures that have had a cultural impact- Marilyn Monroe, Anne Frank, and Elvis Presley are all examples he gave of how they have been immortalised.
The God desire is an exploration on how we as a species have created religion to comfort us and almost protect ourselves against the harsh reality of death. Which logically makes sense. We as humans often find ways to detach ourselves from reality- whether that be through reading, or through religion or through unhealthy coping strategies like abusing recreational substances. Humans cannot bear the harshness of reality. We cannot fully fathom the concept that once our mortal vessels are used up that we slip away into oblivion and not an idyllic afterlife.
I also enjoyed how Baddiel explores how religion is not only just a theological concept but how it is untwined with different cultures and different identities. He himself identifies as an athetise Jew. This is because he feels culturally he will always be Jewish despite not believing in a higher power.
Furthermore, I enjoyed how at the end of the novel he also explored how it’s not only God we create as a deity to worship and respect but it’s also famous figures that have had a cultural impact- Marilyn Monroe, Anne Frank, and Elvis Presley are all examples he gave of how they have been immortalised.
December 13, 2023
I may have to buy a physical copy of this book. I highlighted so many passages in Libby the whole book might be read in yellow. It's not surprising that I relate to a view of God that matches that of a British Jewish atheist comedian, as I am a fan of those four identities in particular, but it is always a little astonishing when you come across arguments set out in a book that you yourself have formulated in the long dark hours of the night. Perhaps it's just an emergent property of Judaism, which for the world's oldest monotheism isn't all that concerned with God, actually. The book is thoughtful, funny, not drowning in what Baddiel observantly calls "macho atheism" (a phenomenon I have like him observed in some Famous Atheists), and ranges from quantum physics to Jesus Christ Superstar all in 100 pages or so.
"The majority is felt as a vast sea, whereas minorities are a series of islands, on which all members of each minority are felt to live, and each individual’s behaviour threatens the possibility of judgement, a judgement that will be cast on the entire island."
"What follows from the truth is not the responsibility of the truth. There is no compunction on the part of a fact to mitigate the consequences of the fact. A stone is thrown into a river. It creates ripples. Those ripples may be smooth and beautiful to look at, or they may lead to a boat upending and people drowning. The fact of the stone being thrown remains the same."
"Humanity keeps finding those somethings, keeps investing in them, keeps the myriad worship flames burning. As I get older, I notice more and more of these gods all around me, infinite salves for the same desire, and it hardens my sure and certain sense of the oblivion that getting older portends. The more, that is, it is clear to me how fervent and desperate the God Desire is – how it will, if it needs to, for the reassurance of constancy, inspire hundreds of thousands of people to wait in line for days and nights to bow to a dead body – the more I know, in my reluctant atheist heart, that there is nothing there."
"The majority is felt as a vast sea, whereas minorities are a series of islands, on which all members of each minority are felt to live, and each individual’s behaviour threatens the possibility of judgement, a judgement that will be cast on the entire island."
"What follows from the truth is not the responsibility of the truth. There is no compunction on the part of a fact to mitigate the consequences of the fact. A stone is thrown into a river. It creates ripples. Those ripples may be smooth and beautiful to look at, or they may lead to a boat upending and people drowning. The fact of the stone being thrown remains the same."
"Humanity keeps finding those somethings, keeps investing in them, keeps the myriad worship flames burning. As I get older, I notice more and more of these gods all around me, infinite salves for the same desire, and it hardens my sure and certain sense of the oblivion that getting older portends. The more, that is, it is clear to me how fervent and desperate the God Desire is – how it will, if it needs to, for the reassurance of constancy, inspire hundreds of thousands of people to wait in line for days and nights to bow to a dead body – the more I know, in my reluctant atheist heart, that there is nothing there."
December 7, 2023
Great, quick, light read on atheism, lol. Recommended for all. Spoiler alert, the author doesn't believe in "God," and his view likely won't change yours, but an interesting, thought-provoking read nonetheless. Don't be afraid to look at your own beliefs and sacred cows. Something about the unexamined life is not worth...... Enjoy. I will probably read this again in a few months. It's sort of a one sitting book, or at most two. Best to move swiftly through.
September 8, 2023
An interesting long essay where the author explores why people choose to believe in a higher power. I liked that the book is not a condemnation of religion and the author points out the sides of atheism that he finds disagreeable (macho atheism). The book has encouraged me to examine my beliefs, my attitudes and perspectives towards faith and life.
September 23, 2023
‘I want to believe in God & that’s why I know he doesn’t exist’ this book was like picking at my brains inability to articulate the desire for meaning in life & how I feel that goes against finding that meaning at times. so good
April 10, 2023
Complex theory simplified and also very amusing.
May 14, 2023
David Baddiel is such an articulate and intelligent man. I hope he continues to write about the 21st century Jewish experience.
August 23, 2024
yeah he ate a little with this one. but let’s be honest, im going to devour any form of media about someone’s complicated relationship with the divine
January 27, 2025
This was good and funny! I thought it was a really good point he made that Love seems to have replaced God in our culture, and I loved his ending that all we've got is laughter.
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