Julia Sweeney, Letting Go of God Monologue: 1/7

Julia Sweeney -- Letting Go of God Monologue -- Part 1 of 7

Her journey from Catholic upbringing to atheism.

Review by NYTimes:

Can an atheist lift the spirit? In her searing and bracingly funny solo show Letting Go of God, Julia Sweeney traces her bumpy journey away from religious faith in an accessible, no-frills format that suggests the kind of inspirational self-help lecture you might see around PBS pledge time.


Richard Termine for The New York Times
Julia Sweeney reviews assorted belief systems in Letting Go of God.
Readers Opinions
Forum: Theater
But where Deepak Chopra or Wayne W. Dyer, say, come bearing warm broth, distilled from revered spiritual traditions, Ms. Sweeney arrives with a bucket of cold water for all supernatural belief systems, from her familys old-school Roman Catholicism to the New Age alternatives (including Mr. Chopra) embraced by many of her peers.

In her fluent, friendly and offhandedly riveting account, what started with a visit from two young Mormon missionaries soon became a fitful but unrelenting quest for an adult understanding of the deity she always sincerely sensed was at her side. Ms. Sweeney felt Gods presence, sure — but what did she really believe about him?

Shes almost sorry she asked: upon examination, the Bible horrifies her, and so, ultimately, does the implicit determinism of every spiritual approach she tries, from Buddhism to the Deist notion of God in nature. Once she loses the Christian plot shed never before questioned, the idea that everything happens for a reason in a universe where someone, or something, is minding the store increasingly rings hollow.

Ms. Sweeney, in other words, has come a long way from the snickering androgyny of the film Its Pat! and gone deeper than her previous solo show, God Said Ha!, about her brothers fatal lymphoma. Without breaking her affably conversational tone, in Letting Go of God she inhabits the emotional memory of each step on her path, from the cozy warmth of her erstwhile prayerful faith to the confusion and terror, and finally the hard-earned peace of mind, that attend her gradual un-conversion.

At a time when religious faith is either the subject of shrill controversy, with prejudice and misunderstanding on both sides (Mel Gibson, meet Christopher Hitchens), or of a lukewarm tolerance thats fundamentally uncurious about what people actually believe, Letting Go of God is refreshingly unrancorous, lucid and, yes, inspirational. Ms. Sweeney may not believe her audience has spirits to be moved, but thats certainly how it feels.

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[WordOfTheLivingLie]

Whether she'll be "forgotten" has nothing to do with the validity of what she says. Basing thought on popularity is how the religious think and how the absurdity of religion is perpetuated - a process of social pressure and brainwashing, in many cases both past and present under threat of violence for failure to proclaim acceptance of the fairy tale. Well, of course the whole linchpin for Xtian belief is you'll be eternally tortured if you don't get onboard.

[DEEJAYRIG]

her father was an idiot

[Atheistfor35yrs]

@SummerSunshine1988

Santa does exist. I have seen his power every Christmas morning with my own eyes. He loves you if you've been a good boy or girl. ;-)

[devlishanjel13]

@kidcalifornia009: u should read about pagan holidays and greek and roman mythology all of which came waaaaaaaaay before the bible. u'll see, what's in the bible was copied from everything that came before it!

[devlishanjel13]

@WordOfTheLivingLie : jews alienate u and call u a gentile...now u know where racism started. ;) (that's coming from someone with jewish parents btw so dear jews who read this don't get ur panties up in a bunch!)

christians say well it's either the jesus way or the hell way regardless of how much of a good person or bad person u r! Nice adverstisement, don't u think?! =)

muslims say it's either mohammed or i'm gonna stick a double edged sword into ur gut and twist it or blow u up!!!

[dkthg]

God is man-made. DEAL WITH IT.

[SummerSunshine1988]

@JeffreyRegistre : God does exist. I have seen His power at work with my own eyes. He loves you.

[MidgardEagle]

@kidcalifornia009 That was awfully constructive and kind of you. Thank you for sharing your deep wisdom.

[MidgardEagle]

@kidcalifornia009 Reality disagrees with you, unfortunately.

[kidcalifornia009]

When a man wants to beat a dog, they say he can always find a stick to do it with. And when a man wants to find excuses for not believing in Christ, he can always

discover one somewhere or other. Fools!!!

[JeffreyRegistre]

To the delusional people who are gonna come up with stupid comments about how god exists, ask your self this, does santa exist? Do Zeus, Poseidon, and Aphrodite exist?? nope. why? because they are made up supreme beings of which there are books and whatnot about them, but absolutely no evidence they exist. So is god; made up, has stories about him. But no kind of proof. wawa waaaaaah.. So god does not exist.