"Only Atheists can be moral.  If you're doing it for reward or to avoid punishment, it's not morality." - Penn Jillette

Penn Jillette does some strange stuff.  I'm not talking about in his Vegas show with Teller.  He likes to make topiaries of himself nude, while in the nude, in his yard.  He likes listening to albums that are hours of just audio feedback.  He likes imagining Ernest Borgnine naked.  But these oddities simply reinforce his strongest conviction as an atheist and libertarian, and that is to let people live their lives.  If they aren't hurting anyone, what right do you have to dictate behaviour?

Although his book Every Day is an Atheist Holiday is mostly just interesting stories (like the time he spent on Celebrity Apprentice, or the time he pranked geniuses at Bell Labs, or the time he got bathtub syphilis), occasionally there is a message.  That message is to live every day to the fullest.  Celebrate each day you're alive.  Cherish your friends and loved ones.  Because for an atheist, this is all you have.  You can't make amends in the after life.  If you stonewall family for a slight, you'll never get that time back.

I think that's good advice even if you are religious.

One thing that shines through in this book is how much Penn Jillette just wants everyone to get along.  Religion is, by its nature, exclusionary.  You either believe in and worship my God in just the right way, or you're an infidel and will burn in hell.  That certainly gets in the way of friendly rapport.  Penn isn't arguing against religion though.  He whole heartedly supports people practicing whatever faith they follow.  He will enthusiastically listen to someone talk about their religion, and what it means to them.  The only thing he won't support, is the expectation that everyone follow religious doctrine.

Morality, he argues, sits above religion.  When you say "God is good", you invoke a separate concept.  You can't know that God is good without the concept of morality to compare Him against.  By definition then, morality is not exclusive to the church.  This is an essential lesson for anyone who equates "Atheist" with "Amoral".

For the most part though, the book is simply interesting anecdotes that feel to me like I was just sitting down with Penn and listening to him share tales from his life. He's an interesting character, and whether or not I agree with him on anything, he's cool with that so long as I respect him like a fellow human being.  I wish more people had the same philosophy.

The Good: Interesting stories told very casually.  "Can't we just get along?" philosophy.  Teller is brilliant.
The Bad: Penn's penchant for taking his clothes off.  Good for him, Bad for the imagination.
The Ugly: Clay Aiken telling Penn that he's condescending and should be treating Lou Ferrigno like a mentally disabled child

If you like their show "Bullsh!t" or enjoy their performances, I recommend reading this book.  Even if you ignore the little bits of Atheism, you still have a great collection of stories from Penn & Teller's past (mostly Penn's.  I would love to read a book from Teller!)

Hey I picture Ernest that way too.... it's my technique to last longer.

How well does it go over when you start laughing?  

Well, I didn't say it was a successful technique