Atheist Comedian Bill Maher Excoriates the God of the Old Testament -- and Says Worshiping Him Is 'Insane'

It's no secret that comedian Bill Maher is an outspoken atheist who regularly lambastes both theology and people of faith and his latest remarks are no different: this time calling the God of the Old Testament a "psychopathic mass murderer."

When recently asked by The Atlantic's Scott Stossel if he ever thinks about "Pascal's wager" -- the notion that he could be wrong and dooming himself to hell by rejecting God -- Maher said, essentially, that that was the least of his worries.

"Of all the reasons to be religious, that is the one of the dumber ones. What if I'm wrong? If it is the God of the Old Testament, I am so f**ked already, and you and everybody else," Maher said.

Bill Maher performs at Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall on Dec. 31, 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Getty Images/L. Pemoni)

He continued, "A more psychopathic character you will not ever find in fiction. Just the idea that people worshiped the God of this Bible is insane. There is no more psychopathic mass murderer than God, so good luck with worrying that you picked the wrong religion, you're going to suffer for it."

Maher did acknowledge that it isn't possible to be entirely sure that God doesn't exist, but said religions just make up stories -- something he believes is entirely wrong.

"So you know we don't know the answers but the answer to that is not to make up stories. If you don't know something, just say, I don't know," he continued. "That's your gospel right there. The gospel of 'I don't know.' I combined apathy and atheist, and I came up with apatheist. I don't know what happens when I die, and I don't care."

Read the full Atlantic interview here.