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| Sweeney's seemingly spiritual journey eventually leads to atheism |
In her monologue,
Letting Go of God, comedienne Julia Sweeney recounts her journey from devout believer to staunch atheist. After some time exploring her own Christian faith, as well as other belief systems, Sweeney concludes that there is no God:
"Eventually I said goodbye to God, and I imagined him as this old man, this old broken-down man, more like an older version of the God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But if you looked closely, you could even recognize the Jesus from the poster in my high school bedroom...but older, much, much older, with long, gray and white hair, and lots of lines on his face. An old hippie who still smoked. And at one time he seemed so all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-protective. But now, he just seemed a little stinky.
And I could just see him sitting on the suitcases near the front door of my house, and I went to him and I said 'I'm sorry, God. It's not you. It's...it's me. It's just...I don't think you exist. I mean, God, look at it this way: It's really because I take you so seriously that I can't bring myself to believe in you. I mean, if it's any consolation, it's sort of a sign of respect. So...sit here for a while if you want to. You can stay a little while if you need to. There's no big hurry.' And slowly, over the course of several weeks, he just disappeared."
In a concise essay, identify three turning points in Sweeney's journey toward a belief in atheism. For instance, what were some keys events that pushed her further from her her long-held faith? Who were the people that influenced her budding beliefs and what was their impact? What were the defining moments in her path toward godlessness?
Requirements:
- MLA format, including parenthetical citation*
- 3-page minimum
- Include a works cited page
*Cite according to player timer (hour:minute:second); Example: (Sweeney 02:12:12)
The best papers will:
- Stay within the parameters of the prompt
- Have a concise thesis
- Clearly support their thesis with solid evidence and a logical structure
- Properly cite evidence using MLA's paranthetical citation method
- Conclude with a summation of your points
- Be in proper MLA Style
Due: Draft 1
—We 11.2
(Bring two copies); Final draft—Due at any point between this week and the final day of class, Mo 12.5
