I recently listened to Julia Sweeney's monologue: Letting Go of God, and I loved it. She eloquently describes many of the same struggles that I have had and how she resolved them. She is both genuine and entertaining and at the same. She describes growing up in a Christian household and earnestly seeking God but in the end finding that the God of Christianity is not there. That summarizes my experience, and perhaps that is why I liked her monologue so much.
But I wonder, if I could go back 14 years and listen to that CD then, what would I have thought? At that time I was a strong evangelical believer. Would I have been critical or dismissive of her story? From my current vantage point I can't determine what my reaction would have been. So much has changed in my life.
Perhaps one way I could get insight into this question is to see the reaction of others who are evangelical believers. Anyone who has listened to her monologue, please feel free to tell me your reactions on the comments to this post.
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Regardless of whether I was a believer or non-believer at the time of listening to Julia Sweeney, I would have thought that her points were worthwhile. She doesn't try to ram doctrine down your throat; she just describes her own experience, and you can choose to relate or not to relate as it pertains to your own search for the truth. I like that she, unlike Richard Dawkins, does not resort to name-calling or ridiculing of religious people. That type of strategy usually backfires; it makes people defensive instead of listening to the good points someone has to make.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think her points would have a lasting effect on my own personal search. It's always nice to hear someone else's story, but in the end, you have to make your own journey of spirituality and truth.