Sunday, December 02, 2007
Letting go of God with "Pat"
Last night I went to Julia Sweeney's (better known as Pat on SNL) amazing "Letting Go of God" with the other heretic in my book club, Spontaneous Expression. As you might imagine given my current journey into hell, the performance held me alternately between deep heartfelt laughs and poignant tears. It was particularly hilarious for all of us ex-mormons as Sweeney's spiritual journey toward atheism ironically began with the Mormon missionaries:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I'm glad you liked it. I'm thinking of ordering her CD.
You can get a longer version of her act at ted.com
Glad I took a peek at this--thanks for posting it. I liked the part where she noted that, depending on your context, pretty much all religious mythologies sound absurd--but it was pretty funny imagining those missionaries offering up that story. I may show this to running son--a cautionary tale!
Yes, she's funny. I wish I could have seen her. I want to listen to her CD. I'd love to hear the whole story. She has a blog too, btw. I looked at the other day. It was sort of weird. A good blog, but like reading the diary of a famous person. It was a bit too real, I think.
I saw that Sweeney was going to be in town. She's been the brunt of some rather unsavory doings by the religious nutzoid community. I feel badly for her.
I hadn't heard about these "unsavory doings"--will have to Google around. She's really a "cute" woman--full of energy and really not negative.
hey... CI, I've locked my blog today. Something odd happened that kinda freaked me out. I'll get over it eventually. I'll add you and anyone who wants access to it, just email me and I'll put you on the list.(hamula@comcast.net)
Thanks!
SE
C,
I am delighted to inform the group that J. Sweeney's play is being made into a movie. It has completed filming, and is awaiting release. Julia and I have become online pals. We discussed her talk at the Atheist Alliance International (AAI)awards. She introduced Danial Dennett as the recipient of the year. I have been, personally, inspired by her bravery at challenging her "Catholic" background. Her mother is very-much challenging of her life change. Her aisian adopted daughter keeps here on her toes. She recently became a part of the advisory board of the "secular coalition of america." She has written that she is very proud of her "descent into non-hell." Through her... I got my first contact with Richard Dawkins. I had a few questions about his conclusions regarding "memes" and religion as "disease." He was very polite, and insightful in his answers to my queries. Kind of nice to branch out a bit. =) O would recommend "the Devil's Chaplain" and "Unweaving the Rainbow" to anyone. He does NOT seem as literary as Stephen J. Gould, but he, is still, a fun read. Daniel Dennett has yet to respond to my e-mail. His analysis of "Skinner Skinned" has me a bit riled (thanks Shane). As a radical behaviorist, I have taken issue with some of his arguments. No response... Noam Chomsky, on the other hand, has replied. That is a topic for another BlogPost. Need to get writing...
HH =)
I don't know how anyone (particularly outside Utah) gets converted to Mormonism. I'm sorry, but regular Christianity is hard enough to believe, much less another complete book of BS with a whole additional set of unbelievable mythology to buy into. It's up there with Scientology in my book.
Convert to my religion! Become a Pastafarian. It's the best religion out there, and the only RIGHTEOUS one (all the others are going to hell). No really. Flying Spaghetti Monster be praised. http://www.venganza.org/
I don't really want to be a Mormon apologist or anything, but I would have to disagree with you, Webmaster w., though I can certainly understand where you a coming from. I'm not suggesting Mormonism isn't weird in many ways, but its narrative is very compelling, more compelling I think than most of mainstream Christianity.
And Sweeney's main use of Mormonism is not ultimately critical, certainly not any more critical than she is of other religions; instead she uses it to demonstrate that feeling smug about Mormons humbled her into seeing her own Catholic (maniacal obsession with virgin birth etc.) as similarly strange.
When I "converted" to Mormonism at 18 (I had been baptized but never attended church at all), I was attracted to a religion that would ask so much of me, dare to ask that a 19 year old boy leave his family and girlfriend for two years and learn a foreign language. As Joseph Smith said "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."
That's powerful (and dangerous) stuff as it creates meaning and purpose. Literary critic Harold Bloom calls Mormonism one of two true great American religions and he calls Joseph Smith an authentic religious genius. And even though I have no literal belief in Mormonism, I still love many of its traditions and rites. It's really both an amazing AND disturbing culture for me.
Hopefully it doesn't appear that I am singling out Mormonism to be particularly ridiculous, because I find each popular religion to have its own eccentricities. Also, my statements (which admittedly come off a bit harsh) weren't based on the video.
However, I am confused as to what part of my statement you are disagreeing with. Are you asserting that Mormonism isn't strange? That it's not BS? Or that it merely has some appealing aspects? I wouldn't be in disagreement with you in that department, as every religion is designed to appeal to a person's emotions. Having until recently experienced the LDS faith at a distance, I think we certainly have a basis for a difference in perspective.
That said, a religion that baptizes the dead, believes that people from Israel sailed to North America in a boat thousands of years ago (despite scientific studies that have shown Native American DNA to be similar to Asians, not people of Middle-Eastern descent), and that a man looked into a hat and translated golden plates inscribed with prophecies is certainly not plausible to me, regardless of whether its narratives are compelling or not. Don't take this to mean that I think that Catholicism is any better or more believable.
On an unrelated note, I need a better alias than "webmaster w". It's very lame.
I'm just saying that religion is about much more than the literal beliefs; for many it's about tapping into the best that they are, finding forgiveness, serving others. I know Mormons who are amazing people who really do get much out of the B of M. I can't go along with their belief, but I still love parts of the book of Mormon. In short, I think it's a mistake not to see and appreciate the religious genius in Mormonism and other religions.
You're no fun. I can't get a rise out of you for anything. :(
Post a Comment