Julia Sweeney: Letting Go of God

The Atheist blogosphere tends to be a bit ... critical, maybe harsh, when talking about our religious brethren. We can forget just how comforting religion is, and how truly sad it is for a religious person who loses his or her faith. It really is like losing a loved one – maybe even worse. Because not only are they losing God, who most view like a father, they're also losing everyone they ever loved and lost, all over again. The solace of knowing that, in spite of death, you'll meet again some day, is very powerful.

Nobody says this better than Julia Sweeney. The former Saturday Night Live comedian, who has a wicked fun presence on stage, turned her journey from Catholicism to Atheism into one of the best stories ever told. Letting Go of God, her one-woman stage play, is funny, powerful, sad, poignant and yet uplifting and optimistic. It is the story of her attempt to rekindle her faith in God, which led her to really study the Bible, and for the first time in her life, to actually think about her faith.

If you've never heard Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God, you can catch the first hilarious minutes on Ted.com:

Julia Sweeney: Letting Go of God (an excerpt)

If you like this, and I know you will, you can get the full soundtrack on Apple's iTunes – search for "Julia Sweeney." But there's a great excerpt, the core 15 minutes, on "This American Life: Godless America," with Ira Glass. I HIGHLY recommend this CD – it has several other brilliant interviews about separation of church and state in America.

Tags: god religion sweeney catholic christian atheist atheism jesus