A personal note: I hope you've seen my dearest friend Julia Sweeney's "God Said 'Ha!'" (Roger Ebert's review here), which is available on DVD. And I hope you've seen her stage monologues, "In the Family Way," about her decision to adopt her daughter, Tara Mulan Sweeney, from China (my photo account of the journey itself is here, with my text written in Borat-esque Engrish); and, especially, "Letting Go of God," about her messy breakup with the Almighty, which she has performed in LA and New York (she's about to do nine shows through October 29 at the Ars Nova Theatre -- right next to "The Colbert Report"!) -- and abridged one-night engagements in a few other cities, including Seattle and Austin, where she did Q&As afterwards with Ira Glass.
You may have heard a small excerpt from "Letting Go of God" on Glass's "This American Life" NPR show, the most popular episode in that broadcast's history. But now -- for the first time! -- you can obtain a double-CD of the whole show (which comes with a beautiful booklet transcription of the piece) -- as well as a separate, single-CD recording of "In the Family Way." I'm so proud of, and moved by, Julia's accomplishments that I could do a dance -- which I indeed do, but in private.
Some of the happiest moments of my life have been working and playing and collaborating and consulting with Julia in various respects over the last 30 years of our enduring friendship -- on various projects for stage, print, TV and movies -- and I'm delighted to be listed as an Extra Special Creative Consultant on "Letting Go of God." The CDs go on sale at her web site October 25 (my birthday). "Letting Go of God," like "God Said 'Ha!'," will become a film of some kind (Julia is still playing around with ideas for how to shoot it). Here's an excerpt -- two of my favorite passages (although others are considerably funnier) -- that just happen to address this blog's core subject. No, not movies -- critical thinking:
God requires faith. Faith does not require evidence, right? But the more I thought about it, my faith was based on evidence. The evidence of how I felt when I prayed. The evidence of everyone believing in God, almost everyone I had ever met from the time I was a kid. The evidence of what I had been taught by other people I trusted, admired, and who ultimately had authority over me.It's a funny, informative, enlightening and suspenseful struggle if, like Julia (and me), you're inclined to Question Authority and figure things out for yourself. (Which is not to say you'll necessarily share Julia's conclusions -- and she doesn't expect you to -- just that you'll appreciate the switches, setbacks, false peaks and hard-won lessons of the journey...)So, my faith in God was based on evidence. Well then, how could I not examine that evidence? But how did I examine anything? How did I know what I knew? I had to know! [...]
I thought of Pascal's Wager. Pascal argued that it's better to bet there is a God, because if you're wrong there's nothing to lose, but if there is, you win an eternity in heaven. But I can't force myself to believe, just in case it turns out to be true. The God I've been praying to knows what I think -- he doesn't just make sure I show up in church. How could I possibly pretend to believe? I might convince other people, but surely not God.
And plus, if I lead my life according to my own deeply held moral principles, what difference did it make if I believed in God? Why would God care if I "believed" in him?
8 Comments
Where did Julia learn that faith doesn't require evidence?
Faith is a belief in something you can't see or something that hasn't happened yet. We use faith ALL THE TIME.
We believe the sun will come up tomorrow, yet it hasn't happened yet. We believe in gravity, electricity, and magnetism...yet we've never seen them.
We believe these things because of knowledge and experience.
Faith is proven by actions.
Whether Julia wants the answers to her questions or not would be proven by her actions...
Does she want to resolve these contradictions or does she want to just pose questions?
Only she knows...
Thanks for this--I was hoping her show would come to New York. (I loved "God Said 'Ha!'", and we're about in the same place, religion-wise, so I'm really curious to hear what she has to say.)
Dear JG: Yes, that's one of the misconceptions Julia was talking about. She was raised to believe that God required no evidence, but then realized that HER faith "was based on evidence," including "The evidence of how I felt when I prayed...."
The great thing about this show is that it really takes you through a series of personal stages in the development of her beliefs, as she refines and casts off different systems that work for a while or don't work at all for her. (And that, as they say, is mankind's definition of religion: Whatever works.)
Jim, here's to coincidence. My wife and I were reminiscing just a few days ago about seeing Julia at the Coronet Theater when she performed God Said Ha! there, and we were wondering what she was up to lately. I had somehow missed hearing about In the Family Way and, most importantly, Letting Go of God-- for whatever reason, I have been far less attentive about seeing live theater since my daughters came along. But now that I know how to get hold of the CD of that performance, I do believe I will. This passage alone has insured that I'll be hearing it soon:
"Pascal argued that it's better to bet there is a God, because if you're wrong there's nothing to lose, but if there is, you win an eternity in heaven. But I can't force myself to believe, just in case it turns out to be true. The God I've been praying to knows what I think -- he doesn't just make sure I show up in church. How could I possibly pretend to believe? I might convince other people, but surely not God."
And just to cement the whole coincidence thing, I just received a little film called It's Pat: The Movie from Netflix yesterday! What's that old saying? The Lord works in mysterious ways...
Hi Dennis: Yes, Julia's been busy as ever. After consulting on the last couple seasons of "Sex in the City," she even worked in a similar capacity on "Desperate Housewives" last year!
Do let me know what you and the kids think of "Pat." Even though our director's main experience had been with music videos (and it shows), I still think it's funny in some very personal ways. Lots of movie gags, that's for sure. We found that Pat's primary fan base seemed to be kids (who were fascinated with the idea of someone of indeterminate gender and found it really funny), gay people (who loved the idea of somebody who was a strong -- even obnoxious -- individual, regardless of sex, perhaps especially because Pat always says Pat is straight), and "alternative" rock bands (hence the fortunate inclusion of Ween, through our director's previous connections). And, besides, what was the last ultra-low-budget (or even mega-budget) studio comedy that had a cameo by Camille Paglia?
In regard to JG:
We have seen gravity, electricity, and magnetism. Any time you drop your a pen onto the ground, you observe gravity, anytime you get zapped when you touch a metal doorknob, you observe electricity, and any time you turn on your computer or put coupons on the refrigerator, you observe magnetism.
That's evidence.
I saw this show earlier tonight after hearing about it during JS' PSA in support of the Freedom From Religion Association.
Since I just loved "God Said Ha!," I knew it was a must see. And, me and my sister LOVED it! Her wisdom, humor and basic humility/grace is a lovely mix. The fact it played in a theater right next to the CR was an added plus.
I purchased -- for the quite reasonable price of $10 -- a CD of her earlier show on adopting a child. And, what do you know, she came out with Mulan to greet some people who watched the show.
A charming night and Ars Nova only charged $20!
I'm curious to hear this. I'm always interested in an intelligent person's take on religion and God. But I question a conclusion against something when the deciding factors are based on how other people chose to believe. If you disagree with the way someone else drives a car, you don't stop driving cars, you learn to drive it better - and then if you don't like driving cars, you stop. The conclusions I've come to over the years is not that a person should let go of God, but to let go of the idea that God has become in popular religions. The idea of a personal God or Jesus, one that will fit nicely and neatly into a box of your chosing. Unfortunately that's how most people think, and to rely on just that when it comes to decision making, well, I've never felt basing my judgements on other peoples misunderstandings to be a solid base for thought and decision making.
But this is just the segment you've decided to share, perhaps she does come to a similar conclusion. I look forward to hearing the rest.
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