God's Debris: A Thought Experiment from Dilbert creator Scott Adams. You can freely download this PDF file and view offline or in your browser:
http://images.ucomics.com/images/pdfs/sadams/godsdebris.pdf
Related links:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God's_Debris
- Scott Adams's sequel book, The Religion War, can be purchased as an ebook for about $5 (or more, depending on the location and format). This book is about a smart man stepping between Christian and Muslim leaders to avert a war (sometime in the near future): http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/18025?book=The_Religion_War
What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? movie:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0399877/
Penn Jillette's This I Believe segment for NPR, entitled There Is No God: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557
A must-see movie for Catholics and everyone with a sense of humor: Dogma by Kevin Smith. I lent this to Paul with a warning that there is some strong language throughout the movie and is not suitable for kids. I look forward to hearing Dogma impressions and thoughts from Paul and Gina.
Julia Sweeney produced two religion and faith pieces. The first, God Said "Ha!", was produced when she and her brother were fighting cancer. The second, Letting Go of God, was produced when she reconnected with the church as an adult. Here are some links for Julia's material and interviews:
- God Said 'Ha!' DVD: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119207/
- Letting Go of God sound clips: http://www.juliasweeney.com/audio.html
- Letting Go of God book excerpts: http://www.juliasweeney.com/book_1.html
- This American Life interview: http://wwww.thisamericanlife.org/pages/descriptions/96/9.html
- This American Life segment (part of Godless In America): http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/05/290.html
- TEDtalks monologue (excerpt from Letting Go of God) video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=371164303811205573
- Fresh Air interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6387729&ft=1&f=13
1 comment:
I looked at some of Julia Sweeney's material and listened to her interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.
On one hand, I was struck by sadness-to be honest-as I listened to her perspectives and thoughts on several stories in the Old and New the Testamensts. Sadness, because in regards to framework through which she has read and interpreted the stories of the Old Testament and the guidance provided to her by her priest(s), she has missed an opportunity to see the truths found in these scritures through a light other than that of rigid Roman and/or American Catholic doctrine. Sad, too, because she laments that her daughter won't have the experiene in the church community that she once had. She acknowledges that something unique existed in that environment. What was it about her community that carried so much value and even leads her to potentially bring her daughter into that same church environment based on a belief that she no longer holds to as an atheist?
On the other hand, I am happy that she has had the courage to question, probe, and call into question what in her mind are discrepancies between her idea of what God should be like and what she sees in the scriptures. Of course that statement lends itself to a wide and varied discussion.
From where I stand, it appeared that she left the faith for that simple reason. She didn't have the faith which holds that somehow these apparent discrepancies all work themselves out in the end. That although our understandings of God's workings at times just don't seem to jive they really do somehow. This is where the Bible at some levels can't be read in the same way that one reads "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Life of Pi" or "War and Peace". Faith is not required as one reads and scrutinizes these works because what they claim is not the same as what the Bible, Quran, and other religious scriptures claim.
So, yes, I believe the Bible can and should be read with a critical eye, but I also believe that without Faith that critical eye will often miss the point or take one down a road never intended. Is it possible that only in the presence of an infinitely small moment of inellectual suicide that faith manifests and truth appears. Like a 5D drawing that one stares at for hours seeing little but organized patterns of no meaning. In an instant though when one just lets go and relaxes the eyes the truth, the hidden image at once is clearl visible.
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