"I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith David Lavery

1. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith David Lavery

2. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “After Life” (BtVS 6.3)

3. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Theology in Popular Culture

4. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Thomas J. J. Altizer

5. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “So our coming of age forces us to a true recognition of our situation vis-à-vis God. God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get along very well without him. The God who is with us is the God who forsakes us (Mark 15:34). The God who makes us live in this world without using him as a working hypothesis is the God before whom we are ever standing. Before God and with him we live without God. God allows himself to be edged out of the world and onto the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us.”--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letter of July 16, 1944

6. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “God is absent in the towns, in the fields, in the mountains and in the plains. He is absent in law, in science, in education and in morals. He is even absent in the lives of the religious for they, who still want to be his friends, have no need for His presence. God is absent as never before. . . . To be absent has become one of the qualities of God.” Leon Bloy (1846-1917)

7. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith ”Dead-beat Dad” (Supernatural, “The Dark Side of the Moon”)  Dean and Sam Winchester with Joshua, god’s BFF.

8. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith  God and the 20th Century (Supernatural, “Free to Be You and Me”)

9. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith  Chuck

10. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Theology in Popular Culture

11. Death: You have an inflated sense of your importance. To a thing like me, a thing like you. . . . Think how you'd feel if a bacterium sat at your table and tried to get smart. This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm old, Dean, very old. So I invite you to contemplate what if any significance I find in you. Eat! Dean: I got to ask, how old are you? Death: As old as God--maybe older. Neither of us can remember any more. Life, death, chicken, egg, regardless, at the end I'll reap him too. Dean: God? You will reap God? Death: Oh yes. God will die too, Dean. Dean: This is way above my pay-grade. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Theology in Popular Culture

12. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Thomas Disch (1940-2008)

13. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith L. Ron Hubbard

14. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Philip K. Dick

15. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Joss Whedon (1964- ), in a cameo appearance on Veronica Mars

16. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

17. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

18. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

19. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

20. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

21. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

22. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

23. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

24. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

25. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Joss Whedon and His Mentor, Jeanine Basinger

26. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Joss and His Wife, Kai

27. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

28. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

29. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

30. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

31. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

32. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

33. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

34. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

35. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Jana Riess

36. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith WWBD?

37. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Tuna Erdem (with the flowers) Buffy Hereafter--Istanbul, Turkey, October 2007

38. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

39. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith

40. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “Can of kraut, pound of pastrami, bagels, bring home”--the sacred text in A Canticle for Leibowitz

41. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “It's about the show, and I feel the same way about it. I get the same way. It's not like being a rock star. It doesn't feel like they're reacting to me. It's really sweet when people react like that, and I love the praise, but to me, what they're getting emotional about is the show. And that's the best feeling in the world. There's nothing creepy about it. I feel like there's a religion in narrative, and I feel the same way they do. I feel like we're both paying homage to something else; they're not paying homage to me.”--Joss Whedon, Onion AV Club Interview (2001; my italics)

42. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Question: “Do you believe in God?” Joss: “Not a jot.” --“Joss Whedon answers 100 Questions”

43. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “I’m a very hard-line, angry atheist. . . . Yet I am fascinated by the concept of devotion.” --Joss Whedon (Felicity Nussbaum, “Must See Metaphysics”)

44. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “It's hard to believe. I've been avoiding this place for so many years, and it's nothing. It's nice! It's got the pretty windows, the pillars . . . lots of folks to eat. Where's the thing I was so afraid of? You know, the Lord? He was supposed to be here. He gave us this address.” “Who Are You?” (BtVS 4.16)

45. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “Conversations with Dead People,” BtVS 7.7

46. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith HOLDEN: Oh my god. BUFFY: Oh your god what? HOLDEN: Well, not MY god, 'cause I defy him and all his works -- does he exist, by the way? Is there word on that? BUFFY: Nothing solid. --from “Conversations with Dead People”

47. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Mal Reynolds (left) and Shepherd Book

48. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith Mal: Well, what about you, Shepherd? How come you're flyin' with us brigands? I mean, shouldn't you be off bringing religiosity to the fuzzy-wuzzies or some such? Book: Oh, I got heathens aplenty right here. Mal: If I'm your mission, Shepherd, best give it up. You're welcome on my boat—God ain't.

49. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith “After Life” (BtVS 6.3)

50. "I think I was in heaven": Joss Whedon's Atheist Faith SPIKE: Buffy, if you're in-- if you're in pain. Or if you need anything... If I can help you... BUFFY: You can't. SPIKE: Well, I haven't been to a Hell dimension just of late, but I know a thing or two about torment BUFFY: I was happy. SPIKE: I don't ... BUFFY: Wherever I ... was ... I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time didn't mean anything, nothing had form... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm and I wasloved... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about dimensions or theology or any of ... but I think I was in heaven.