Julia Sweeney - Letting Go of God Part 13-13

Julia Sweeney - Letting Go of God

A journey from Catholic upbringing to atheism.

Julia Sweeney says she was a "happy Catholic girl" when, one day, she walked into church and signed up for a Bible-study course. "What an eye opener that was!" she says. "Next thing you know, I was on a quest for something I could really believe in. I traveled to places like Bhutan, Ecuador, and my local Starbucks looking for answers. Would I embrace Buddhism? New Age pseudo-science? Was I a freak for feeling the way I did, or were there other people out there just like me? I was grappling with serious questions. But, somehow, a lot of the things that were happening to me seemed, well, funny." Equally comedic and insightful, Letting Go of God is Sweeney's brilliant one-woman show about her struggle with her faith. Grappling with the seeming contradictions in Adam and Eve, Noah, the Ten Commandments, and even the teachings of Jesus - and trying to understand the Bible's messages about morality, family values, and human suffering while faced with door-knocking Mormons and wise-cracking priests - Sweeney takes listeners on her very personal journey from God to "not-God". This performance was recorded on November 19, 2005, at the Ars Nova Theatre in New York City.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Atheism
• Atheist
• Agnosticism
• Agnostic
• Belief
• Disbelief
• Religion
• God
• Faith
• Julia Sweeney
• Science
• Truth
• Knowledge
• Education
• reason
• truth
• Moral
• Ethics
• Catholic
• journey
• church
• Bible-study
• New Age
• pseudo-science
• Bible
• morality
• family values

[bowman2062]

@gurucarcar

Its better to be the minority. Its allways better to be the shepherd then the sheep.

[downturn66]

I am simply amazed at her delivery! How she is able to execute this entire monologue, seemingly from memory, without hesitation and with such insight and emotion. The logic and her thought processes throughout are pristine! I've been meaning to watch this whole thing for a long time and just finally found the time! Truly inspirational from top to bottom!

[MrDeaddwarf]

Great performance, great writing, impressive in it's honesty and integrity. This smart, funny woman inspires both understanding of what it means to lose your religion, as well as showing what a wonder the real world is.

[KDN888]

This was pore raising. Thank the God that I don't believe in for Julia Sweeney!

[LadyOfThinking]

Great series of videos.  Though I've always been Atheist, it is nice to see it from the point of view of someone leaving their faith to better understand what they have to go through to open their eyes to the reality around them.

[zelemont]

because of them I don't believe in god anymore hahaha

[AlanCFA]

Excellent!

[DomainRider]

@bowman2062 - Even better to be neither shepherd nor sheep. Just be yourself and think for yourself, the way Julia did.

[Mark73]

@gurucarcar

She might be using sarcasm and be mocking religious beliefs, but the best parts are when she's being serious and poetic and showing how beautiful the world is when seen through eyes that are not biased by religion.

[fretbuzz59]

@gurucarcar JS details her earnest journey, which she began to strengthen her faith, & u respond paradoxically that she "allowed herself to think herself out of faith", accusing her of mockery? THAT is sad, tho not surprising. Believers often respond indignantly when their beliefs are presented in all their nonsensical & archaic glory--no embellishment req'd. Connecting the dots of what we know in our vast universe only leads toward a rejection of fables & myths, which WILL ultimately prevail.

[overether]

@museofive her not believing in god isn't souly based on questioning and doubting, unless you really missed that whole part where she spoke about science.

[shirlyes]

Love having a spokesperson to relay my thoughts and feelings - I was raised Catholic, it was nice, but by age 13 I was ready to let it go. Sadly I let go, but never really looked back.