- William Lobdell answers questions from the audience
On Thursday, May 28th, Reed Secular Alliance President, Leslie Zukor, attended a provocative talk at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne. In Losing My Religion, author and former Los Angeles Times religion beat writer, William Lobdell, explains how he lost his faith while covering religion. His story? As a troubled young adult, he accepted Jesus into his life, after a moving retreat at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. However, the rock bands were too theologically light to sate his yearning for more doctrine.
Copies of Lobdell's Losing My Religion
As a result of his interest in deeper theology, Lobdell started attending Catholic Church functions. However, the sex scandals that rocked Churches in Boston and throughout the world made Lobdell keenly aware of the hypocrisy of religious believers. The same people who were preaching about God’s love were living their lives in a manner inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus. And equally troubling, church attendees who knew that their priests were guilty of molestation were eager to defend pedophiles for their service to the Church.
Lobdell talks of Evangelical Christianity
When Lobdell was having doubts about the morality of Christians, he did research on the internet, to see if atheists were more immoral than Christians. Also, he wondered if prayer indeed works. The answer, for him, was a resounding “no” on both counts. Armed with this understanding, the Los Angeles Times religion beat writer who was once enthusiastic to spread the Good News was now yearning for something more honest and less hypocritical. After a while of deep thought and reflection – and seeing Julia Sweeney’s “Letting Go of God” play – Lobdell became an atheist.
William Lobdell signs books
Although he was an atheist, Lobdell had a message for the 90% non-theist crowd of 40 that was critical of the atheist establishment. Instead of merely critiquing religion, freethinkers need to find something positive and constructive to put in its place. In other words, there needs to be an atheist alternative to the community and charity that are a foundation of organized religion. As an audience member, Leslie Zukor couldn’t agree more. “That’s why I love humanism,” Zukor explains. “It combines atheism with living an ethical lifestyle in this one chance we’ve got at life.”
Leslie Zukor and William Lobdell
And as secular humanists, we at the Reed Secular Alliance hope that William Lobdell can find the non-theist community he is looking for.
Don’t believe you need religion at all to be ethical and decent. I know this myself from being a non-believer since birth. There was no religion in my household growing up, and I simply discarded any religion presented to me as truth, both in religious education lessons, and at any prayer time given by the school. That is not to say I did not participate, but it had no value to me.
The lie that humans needs religion to be content is also disputed by the Piraha tribe of the Amazon. They live for the now. If you tell them something, and have not witnessed it yourself, they will not value that information.
Read the book “Don’t Sleep, there are snakes”. Very, very interesting.
I have loved this man ever since first seeing him in Lock, Stock and Twin Smoking Barrels!
New Atheism has been around for about a decade now, and the REM song came out in 1991; I’m surprised it took this long for someone to use the title “Losing My Religion” in a book!
Having just finished the book I, too, can identify with William Lobdell. I believe that “religion” has hijacked relationship with God, and comes up empty and void in fulfilling the longings that we hope it will fill. I also believe William Lobdell is actually closer to understanding God where he finds peace. The thing is, I don’t consider where I am to be atheism. I find myself learning toward Brother Lawrence’s philosophy of relationship and have found joy, peace, and happiness on a personal level.