Letting Go Of God - Julie Sweeney

[Steely_Dan]

I just watched (for the second time) Julie Sweeney's performance of "Letting Go Of God."

(With apologies to my religious friends) - I cannot recommend this performance enough. It is funny, philosophical, scientific, sad, celebratory...It handles the issue of religion and the existence of God in a completely unique and thought provoking way.

Back in the day...many moons ago I received my graduate degree in Philosophy with a minor in Religious Studies. While there were many profound statements by Ms. Sweeney, her statement that it was the mere fact that she took the issue of God so seriously that led her to doubt his/her/its existence in the first place.

A wonderful and delightful romp through a single individual's cathartic realization of her place in the universe.

-P

[KansasVoter]

1. Any atheist on the DU needs to join the Freedom From Religion Foundation.....

ffrf.org


And I love that performance also!!!!

[Wilms]

4. Here's the trailer for it.

Letting Go of God - Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geRUTfgTQlo

[jonnyblitz]

6. I used to be a member and even went to one of their

gatherings on the 4th of July at some lake in Alabama back in the 90's. There was an unveiling of an "Atheists in Foxholes" tribute monument which I am one (an atheist vet, also gay). I met some great people!

[KansasVoter]

2. deleted - dup

And I love that performance also!!!!

[KansasVoter]

3. deleted - dup

ffrf.org


And I love that performance also!!!!

[Solly Mack]

5. I have found that otherwise intelligent family members can lose their fucking minds

when you tell them you're an atheist.

I haven't seen the DVD recording yet. (but I will)

I might need to send it to a few people as well.

[Warpy]

8. I never did tell my parents I was a stone cold atheist

although I'm sure my agnostic Irish Catholic mother who firmly believed in reincarnation suspected it. I did tell them I didn't believe a word of it and they deplored my dropping membership in the religious club for decades before they both died unbelievers.

Friends have run the entire gamut of belief and unbelief. It's not the reason they're friends. There is tremendous prejudice against atheists among the religious ones, propaganda from the pulpit taking its toll. Keeping my big mouth shut about it is politic although I have come out of the closet if they've laid it on thick, usually causing them to pick their lower jaws up off the floor. I haven't lost anybody because of it. Yet.

Belief seems to require consensus, the preposterous and unprovable seeming perfectly sane and logical if everybody agrees with it. I'm convinced that's why believers find the mere existence of atheists so threatening, something we inoffensive, quiet atheists are often astonished by.

So relax, guys, I honestly don't care what gets you through a dark and lonely night or how you spend your Sunday mornings. Just realize that my lack of belief is not about you, at all, and we'll all do just fine.

[Solly Mack]

9. I got - "I'll pray for you" and "Don't talk to me about it...but listen to me talk about Jesus"

and "I love you/stuff like that doesn't matter"

I know a few of them had a conference about it. lol

They are threatened by it...which I find amusing. Oh well...

And you're right...it isn't about them at all.

[Warpy]

10. I was very lucky, neither parent was a fundy

My right wing father had absolutely no use for the religious right and one of the funniest conversations we ever had was about what should happen to Jerry Falwell. We ended up having him get stuck in a glory hole at a gay peepshow with a pit bull on the other side of it (my dad's contribution) and having police, the fire department, the jaws of life, animal control, and live network feeds as part of the extraction process. It was quite a detailed conversation, down to the row of ruffles on his happy face shorts.

He didn't live long enough to see that mass of sanctimonious blubber drop dead, alas, so I can only imagine the eulogy he'd have presented me with.

Still, they considered the religious club membership to be of supreme importance, choosing friends by religious affiliation and even parish. They both shocked the shoes off me before they died, each announcing they no longer believed any of it. It had been a sore subject with them for a very long time, one that we'd simply avoided talking about.

[Solly Mack]

11. Never had to worry about what my parents thought on the subject.

...And would have thought my siblings knew already....me being me, it was kind of obvious. I could have gone the rest of my life not discussing it with them - it just isn't the end all and be all of who I am.....but then came this horribly ignorant email from an extended family member and I didn't want another one...so I put the quietus on it.

[Solomon]

7. One of the best shows I have ever seen!!!

Her thing is fantastic. Well worth seeing. And it's long too. (for those who enjoy savoring these points of view)

I keep saying I need to buy a copy of that one. I loved it. So many moments where it hits home.

I was amazed at her development at such a young age (relatively speaking).

Great show.

[cleanhippie]

12. Why do you feel the need to apologize?

(With apologies to my religious friends)


Why should you apologize? What did you do wrong?

[Axle_techie]

14. Some people are conscious of even the slight possibility

that they are being offensive in pushing their views while calling others "Mythology" or "superstition"... The OP was being courteous to people who do believe in a god or religion.

It is a good skill to learn, you know, the "getting along with others" one that so many seem to think ends when someone says they believe in a god.

[donheld]

13. Julia