Event 02.24.10 – Julia Sweeney’s Letting Go of God

In the face of an impending snow storm a few DFS members climbed the mountain of stairs to Curtis 455 and watched Julia Sweeney’s Letting Go of God on Wednesday, Feb. 24th. Thanks to our advisor, Prof. Ron Bishop, for recommending the movie and serving as our educational speaker.

Over the course of about two hours, Sweeney recounts her personal journey from believing in traditional Catholicism, to a more liberal, “mythish” interpretation of Christianity, to exploring Buddhism and New Age thought, to seeing nature as God, love as God, and then not seeing a god at all. Many of us connected with her progression, and though it’s a little long to listen to one person talking, she keeps the mood light with the sense of humor she was known for on Saturday Night Live.

Prof. Bishop described it as “a down home, folksy way of explaining to people” how one can come not to believe in god. Sweeney is much more approachable than atheist poster-boys Dawkins and Hitchens. She has no agenda to convert or attack — she’s simply telling her story.

If you missed the event, it’s definitely worth checking out. Here’s a 15-minute preview on TED, and check out some memorable quotes below the jump.

• “Jesus’ story made me want to go out and campaign for free speech, not sit in church and worship him.” “If this is all there is, everything means more, not less, right?”
• “[Those big maturing moments in life involved…] accepting what is true over what I wished was true.”
• “Truth is such a poor competitor in the market of ideas.”
• “When I think of myself as my inner most being, I don’t think of it as a body function. My brain creates this idea that myself is not itself. I think of myself as something separate looking out from my eyes, listening through my ears, pulling the strings that make my body move. That is because the brain cannot perceive its own functioning. … the mind is what the brain does, just like pumping blood is what the heart does.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•