Julia Sweeney



Julia Sweeney is an American author, comedienne and actress. She is a former performer on Saturday Night Live, on which she became best known for her recurring role as gender-inspecific "Pat", a role which she reprised in the movie It's Pat!.

Letting Go of God
After leaving SNL and a few minor appearances in movies and television shows, Sweeney began performing stage monologues which were filmed and/or recorded to CD, still available for sale. The monologues, which are all autobiographical, are both poignant and comedic. Her third monologue, Letting Go of God, details her conversion from Catholicism to atheism as a result of several life-changing events (including cancer) which led her to understand that the universe can exist without the presence of a deity.

Richard Dawkins references several quotes from Letting Go of God in his book The God Delusion.

Surprisingly, a Google search for criticism against her monologue finds no results from haters, and mostly simple praise for her honesty and storytelling abilities. This could be because she isn't vitriolic against theists in the manner of, for example, Christopher Hitchens.