Julia Sweeney - Letting Go of God Part 11-13

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]

@ofreshartist2

Maybe mommy and daddy didnt tell you ... Jesus ( provied he has lived at all) is DEAD. Thats normal for people born 2000 years ago. They are all dead. Worm fodder. If he has existed, he now is part of the Carbon cycle. You want to find Jesus .. well ... eat your cornflakes. He may be in there.

[spectrumVerX]

@ofreshartist2 Well, see, my holy book says I don't need saving. I just found that praying to Harry Potter had about the same success ratio as my prayers to god, and made me feel less silly when I did it, so I stuck with it. What do I need saving from, again?

[Mark73]

Did half this section get lost? It doesn't match up with part 12

[rdvqc]

They say there are more molecules in a glass of water than there are glasses of water in the ocean - odd are good that they are at least drinking his blood.

[pyVlad]

@bowman2062 Heh, I guess they really are eating Jesus during the Eucharist. An atom or two, at least.

[Devoti]

funny how letting go of god gave her more compassion, responsibility and respect for life :) and a lot christians say you need god to be moral... :D

[Madz1987]

@Lisarata You don't believe in a theological God but you believe or are considering a creator? That would make you a deist not an agnostic.

Just for the record agnostics are atheists too. Agnostics say they don't know whether god/s exist or not but they don't actively believe in one. Well that makes them atheists too, Agnostic Atheism is the term.

Atheism isn't a claim about the existence of god/s it is the rejection of belief in god/s. Knowledge and belief are two seperate things.

[kookoo78]

@Lisarata I think it's just cool for us Atheist to hear someone else journey to compare and contrast

[farmandmao]

Hvat happened to to the other half of this 11/13?

Its shorter than the others and something misses with a conference or something?

[TomMSTie1138]

@bowman2062 I'd like to make some sort of toast/burning people at the stake joke but it seems in very poor taste...plus I can't think of one.

[bowman2062]

@TomMSTie1138

Jesus Flakes + Mary Milk and some St.Peter Rock Sugar above it. A real "heavenly" breakfast :)

[TomMSTie1138]

@bowman2062 Isn't that that Communion? Jesus flakes?