Joan Ganz Cooney | 06/02/2008 12:00 am

Joan Ganz Cooney on Being Catholic: I Woke Up One Day and Said to Myself, 'I Don't Believe Any of It'

I was brought up in the Catholic Church. In my thirties, I woke up one day and said to myself, "I don’t believe any of it," and never looked back and certainly did not join another church. I still like religious music of all kinds — the old Protesant’s hymns and particularly the spirituals that Mahalia Jackson sang. What I do believe is that it would be hard to improve on the teachings of Jesus. He told his followers to be peacemakers, to love one another and to take care of the poor. I consider myself a Jesusian. The word "Christian" is used to mean too many things that I dislike and also, quite often, nothing.

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I think perhaps “changed” is the incorrect word. Probably “lost” would be more appropriate. I was brought up as a Christian. But as far as I can see, religious differences have caused more wars and more deaths than any other reason in human history. Perhaps if people actually adhered to the principals of the world’s major religions, all this bloodshed would stop. But as the song says, “we have God [or god] on our side” so we must be in the right. Pity that all sides of a conflict think they have God on their side! If there is a God, it’s pretty clear that he’s not on any particular side; I would say that he couldn’t care less how many humans get slaughtered in his name. My “god” is Gaia, the earth, and the wondrous things in it, our galaxy and its breathtakingly beautiful stars, and the incredible, mysterious universe, with its secrets which we humans are gradually discovering. There is no God but what we invent to explain the randomness of the universe and to give us reason against blind fate for all those things over which we have no control in our lives.

By Emma Pathey on 06/02/2008 12:26 am

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I know that God Is. I know that my life has been moved and guided by a power greater than myself, sometimes when I asked for it, and sometimes when I didn’t. I know that my words or thoughts cannot express experiencing God in your life. It is like trying to tell someone what water tastes like.

By Frannie Em on 06/02/2008 12:51 am

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Ms Cooney—it happened to me too—one day I believed in the Church and God and the next all that was gone. The Christian religion states that we have free will, that “God: gave it to us—after that one day I no longer believed in a “God” who could give free will and yet let happen to the human race all the evil in this world. One day I believed and the next my life was changed forever. And nothing can ever be the same again. The only constant was Annie and I thank fate and damn good luck for that.

By Frank Peterson on 06/02/2008 12:55 am

Joan - Being a denomination of one I have never thought to give myself a name. Love yours (Jesusian) and promise not to steal it. I’ll have to work on that.

By Maggi D on 06/02/2008 2:18 am

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To me, there is something really detrimental to the spiritual development of people in believing that there are “saints” or that Jesus was the son of god and everyone else is a sinner. Nope. Not that way. It’s up to everyone to be the best person they can be and live in society the bet way they know how. Gandhi did that. Rosa Parks. Dorothea Day. Thich Nhat Hanh and his followers in Viet Nam saw that no one was burying the dead from the war, so they went and did it. That’s what we all need to do. Do what needs to be done. Not for green stamps for some other reality or future, but what needs doing here and now. Not passing out brochures about “religion” but feeding the hungry, comforting the sick. Whatever comes across your path, in your day, do that. Building up these institutions and all that, not so much.

By Mugsy Peabody on 06/02/2008 2:22 am

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Hi there Mugsy - I seem to respond to you a lot(?) In the Catholic & other traditions, all a Saint is - is a person who whole heartedly lived their lives doing good, helping others (Mother Theresa, et all), AND did it in God’s name! Thing about “saints” is, 1) all of us are called to be one, 2) those so named by the Church - are just to be as examples to the rest of us. SO many others are saints, like my Mom & Pop, but “not officially” named as such. I was brought up Catholic, parent’s were the Dorothy Day type (she “converted” to Catholicism). They met in a Catholic “activist” organization, the ACTU (American Catholic Trade Unionists), helping those in “the here & now” and they continued that activity all their lives. No brochures, speeches, knocks on doors, just helping others, esp. the less fortunate. Tolerance for all was another aspect, even for the non-believer, like my atheist uncle & aunt! That was my religion & still is. Fortunately, I was taught that anyone of any faith who lived the life of caring for others in God’s name were saints. That Jesus (as Son of God) came to be WITH sinners - not to condemn them. AND that in ANY organization, religious or otherwise, people don’t always do “God’s work” - which helped me retain my Catholic faith - in Jesus, human kind’s inherent goodness. My faith gives me hope that we will treat all persons as “children of God” - eventually.

By Kathleen E Lo Pinto VIgnolini on 06/11/2008 11:34 pm

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Mugsy - couldn’t have said it better. I always wonder at the money that goes into building some of these churches when there is so many in need in the same community.

By Maggi D on 06/02/2008 2:58 am

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as a child I grew up in a wonderful Community Church, Methodist/Presbyterian. I loved going to church and my pastor was a Reverend Moore. He taught us how to be better human beings and therefore better Christians. At about twelve I went to church one Sunday and there was a Reverend Nevin up there yelling at me, telling me I was going to hell if I didn’t submit. I wasn’t going to submit to anyone. I never felt the same way again. About ten years later I was sitting in a Baptist Church listening to the Pastor, the father of a friend. He condemned all Catholics, Black’s and Jew’s to hell. I was sitting there with my infant child in my arms. I could feel my ears get hot. I didn’t know what to do so I got up in the middle of his sermon and walked out. I never returned to that church again. I still believed in God but no longer trusted any organized religion. I still believe they are dangerous. I think man is built to need something to hang on to. I had lots of discussions with friends and family about the existence of God. I don’t know. I think it would be nice if he did exist but I don’t know for sure either way. Through the years I’ve had lots of conversation with him but he’s never replied and I believe I was probably talking to myself. I don’t even do that anymore and I miss it.

By beverly linens on 06/02/2008 3:08 am

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beverly - Yes, it’s sad that man has always used any excuse to lambast and conquer others, including religion. And sadly, every religion has done so throughout history. Fortunately, those who did get their “reward” for their misuse of religion (many in THIS world). It isn’t the religion that’s dangerous, but the “leaders” who twist the teachings of their great “profits” and writings. We had a preacher down the street, calling us (as Catholics, Italians, and having 4 (OH what a SIN that was) children - followers of Satin. I lived it, only 4 children in the area were allowed to play with us, then there were none. Now this area is loaded with people of all faiths, cultures, races … makes me feel good to see that. But that never made me angry at those of that denomination, nor against religion. In fact, it made me see how fallible and cruel man can be, and that I need to show the opposite - to show my love in action to all I meet, no matter who, what or where. As the old man who kissed the cow said, “Each to his own!”

By Kathleen E Lo Pinto VIgnolini on 06/11/2008 11:48 pm

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The Quakers are interesting for people in your situation, Beverly, if there is a Society of Friends meeting in your area. They’re short on hate and long on community; the sense of spirit is very strong. You might check them out.

By Mugsy Peabody on 06/02/2008 3:40 am

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By the way, Ms. Cooney, in helping some of my new friends who have come to the United States from Mexico, China, and Ethiopia learn English, I have to tell you, there’s simply nothing more helpful than Sesame Street! It’s funny to see a couple of young men from Bejing repeating after Kermit the Frog in dead seriousness! Mazel tov!

By Mugsy Peabody on 06/02/2008 4:29 am

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Mugsy, but do they talk with Kermit’s voice? ;-)

By Frank Peterson on 06/02/2008 8:27 am

Heavens, Frank, you is being zo fussy. :):):)

By Jenny Oops on 06/15/2008 6:11 pm

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I grew up catholic. Catholic schools for 9 years. Being told that women were subservient to men. The nuns beating it into me that I wasn’t smart, that I belonged at home, that I needed to submit. That was enough for me. It wasn’t until I got to college that I figured out that I was really quite brilliant. That I could fend for myself. That men weren’t doing such a good job controlling things. And that maybe organized religion was organized by men for their own purposes. I do like the philosophy of the Society of Friends but frankly I don’t understand the need to be organized to have faith. I find my faith in the love of my family, in nature, in the mysteries of the universe. I try to get along with everyone, to understand their outlook and to leave things better than I found them. That’s about as “religious” as I can get.

By Barbara on 06/02/2008 6:56 am