Letting Go of God Airs on Showtime December 5, 2009

Letting Go of God Airs on Showtime

By Guest Contributor
December 5, 2009

Julia Sweeney‘s fantastic one-woman show Letting Go of God had its Showtime premiere earlier a few nights ago and will be airing on the premium channel several times over the next month! Specifically:

Picture 4

Showtime’s deal gives them dibs on the movie for a year. If the ratings are good and the audience likes what they see, they can pick it up for another year.

In the meantime, Julia and others are discussing the movie at two forums — one sponsored by FFRF and the other by The Skeptics Society.

It was an inspirational show when I first saw it a few years ago and I still listen to the audio often. I hope others have the same reaction if they haven’t seen it yet.

(Thanks to Deanna for the link!)

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  • Alan

    Any chance that the film makes its way to Hulu or somewhere online? Sadly, I don’t have Showtime.

  • Pete

    I saw this the other day on television and I had mixed feelings about it.

    On the one hand, she tells her story regarding her religious upbringing and her experience with atheism. It was thoughtful and honest.

    On the other hand, I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a comedy or some sort of stand-up. I tuned in expecting something along the lines of Bill Maher or George Carlin. If you expect it to be funny, you will be disappointed.

    It is worth watching, though a little slow, but it is a prime example of a genuinely friendly atheist speaking her mind 🙂

  • Chakolate

    I don’t have Showtime either. Is there any way to get just the audio from it?

    Come on, Hulu!

  • MaleficVTwin

    How long before Donohue gets his shorts wadded over this? He’s already pissed at Showtime over P&T. 🙂

  • Mark

    As soon as I saw this I went to see it with the on demand service. It isn’t there. Bastards, making me wait.

  • McBloggenstein

    I followed your link to her Amazon page. I enjoy checking out the reviews on items with controversial subjects. Here’s my fav:

    First off, I am not bashing the author or anything, I know that the author is just telling her story. But, her story makes me very sad, I am going to pray for her, that she will continue her search to find God, because he is there, she was just looking in all the wrong places. You can’t define God as just one thing, God is everything. He is the creator of everything. If you truly want to find God you need to read his word, pray, and have faith in your heart that he is real and that he hears you. When you can truly do this, you will find God. I am a Christian and I believe in God and I believe that Jesus is the saviour, and that he died for our sins. I believe this 100%. I feel his presence in my life everyday, so I know that he is real. I pray and I know he hears me. He has done too much for me in my life for me to ever doubt him. I love my God =)

    It’s so stereotypically bad it could be a poe. They did give 3 stars…

    I found what is supposed to be the first 15 minutes of her show on TED.

  • Colin

    I got an offer to add one of the premium networks to my cable package, maybe this will make me consider Showtime…

  • Cherie

    So sad…Her performance should be titled “Letting Go of Religion.” The problem is that she confuses religion with a relationship with God, which hinders her ability to know God’s truth. Religion is man trying to reach God, Christianity is God reaching us. Her ‘experience’ is only that…her experience. I’m wondering if she has read the bible despite her claims, as she consistently misquotes it or makes up her own interpretation of God’s word. Too bad her humor overshadows the nonsense with which she tries so wittily to make her points, because then you have viewers so readily sucked into the same paradigm of thinking. Some comments posted address the “indoctrination” of the church, and I do agree many churches do this, however how gullible are viewers as to find Sweeny’s performance to be enlightening or to have any truth to it? Are viewers really that easily swooned by her material, because it doesn’t fall far from her days on SNL. What I don’t understand is why people convert to atheism because ‘people’ act poorly as they claim to be Christians (no matter what domination). That has nothing to do with God’s word, truth, or God’s desire for us to act more “Christ-like.” For lack of a more sophisticated analogy, it’s like deciding you don’t like fruit because you bought and sampled a few bad apples. Forget that fruit is good for you and has nourishing qualities, or that there are different types of fruit, you had a bad experience with those apples, and therefore you will not eat fruit anymore. Sounds ridiculous?…now make the connection. We cannot make excuses for people who claim to be Christians and act poorly, or churches that make ridiculous rules or judgments that have nothing to do with God’s word, however you can educate yourself about God’s word to know the difference, and realize the most important thing is your RELATIONSHIP with God, not your religion.

  • Amy

    Cherie – You seem to have missed the whole point of the show. She wasn’t trying to tell you what to believe. She was simply relating her own experience of using logic to find out what’s true. If you are somehow offended by this, what are you doing on the “Friendly Atheist” website? I thought it was an amazing show that was very personal and heartfelt.

  • Deanna

    Ugh. It looks TPTB at Showtime are giving “equal time” to Ben Stein’s repellent movie, “Expelled.” I’m afraid to even view it, in case someone at Showtime/my local cable company has the ability to include me in the viewing numbers.

  • DeafAtheist

    Damn I have Showtime because I love to watch Dexter and Californication, but I didn’t see this post until today, the 11th. I did a title search on my DVR to see if there were anymore airings you didn’t list here but unfortunately there weren’t. Guess that should encourage me to read your blog more often.

  • Hey, DeafAtheist, you’re in luck. It looks like Showtime will be showing more of “Letting Go of God” in December.

    On Showtime
    12/16/09 at 10:15 AM

    On Showtime 2
    12/17/09 at 1:40 PM

    On Showtime
    12/21/09 at 5:45 PM

    On Showtime Showcase
    12/29/09 at 5:45 PM

    On Showtime 2
    12/30/09 at 4:35 PM

    Showtime Schedule for “Letting Go of God”

  • Franz Weber

    Thank You for the schedule

  • Dave

    Great show. This woman logically reasons why she believes that God is a myth. A myth started thousands of years ago by men who thought the earth was flat, by men who thought the moon and stars were just lights in the sky, not actual places. By men who thought that having slaves was OK. Its in the bible and god thinks its OK too. She points out how many people, including children have been killed by god (according to the OT of the bible). Pro lifers complain about embryos being killed: how about all the pregnant women carrying embryos that God killed in the flood. God wants to raise our kids the way he says to, God’s way to discipline his children was to drown them in The Flood. Keep god the hell away from me

  • I have seen Julias show and thought it was insightfull and considerate. Considerate is not always associated with the atheist perception. I am not sure it is the best way to get the point across but I did like it. There is something new coming into the picture called “Fantasy Life” and it is seeing some challanges getting made but it should be out in book form and in a new documentary. Please look for it in 2011. It will open many minds out there however remember, believers are a smart, tough and stubborn bunch. It is very difficult changing a perception that has lasted for over 5000 years. Through philosophy, science, and perceverence I see a much different future in store for mankind than most see. By the way Expelled wasn’t too bad, Darwin is having some true scientific problems today because of the great strides in science. Even if there is some intelligence guiding all matter, who knows what it is? It doesn’t have to have anything to do with the God we have grown up with and doesn’t have to have anything to do with religion. Science will eventually determine what is fact from fiction but we do need the freedom to establish what is the truth. I also realize that Intelligent Design has been accused of being the political tool for creationism as well, however we do need the freedom to discover the facts. I am not a believer in religion or the God that any of the 2000 religions believe in but I do believe we should have the freedom to discover the truth without fetter. Moreover there is hope without God in the equation and that lies within ourself and in mankind. If I believe anything it has to be that.