There are several statements in this that I feel are narrow minded and irrational. Growing up in a fairly religious household, the opinion of my conservative grandparents made a stronger impression on me than I realized, now that I am in the position to take a standpoint on the issue of faith and God. It is a personal choice to believe in a higher power and a purpose in life. That the events that unfold before us on a daily basis, are not due to random order, but are however predetermined. There is no concrete solid evidence that can be proven through some fancy mathematical equation, or through the form of statistics. For some, the belief in God or some superhuman form is their logical reasoning to explain the universe and our existence to compensate for the lack of scientific explanation. By investing one’s thoughts, feelings, and faith in a religion grants them a power, that is relative to each individual committed to their practice. Believing in something bigger than yourself, is a life choice, there is no right or wrong/ yes or no. It is a life style that asks no questions, holds no doubts, and is unwavering in the face of disconfirming evidence. There is a rhyme and a reason for our lives. Julia Sweeney ultimately argues that God is convoluted and contrived. Though I can respect her opinion, and she is very much so entitled to it, I disagree with her outlook on Jesus and his suffering. She makes e point that Jesus did not suffer and die for our sins, or at least he didn’t suffer more than the average person. When put on this earth, Adam and Eve were given the choice over the fate regarding their free will. Having disobeyed God and eating the forbidden fruit, we were thus granted free will. It is with that free will that we now possess, that Julia even has the right and power to speak her mind and say what she wants. Otherwise, had the alternative played out, we would be robots, living in a distorted and firmly molded life. With that free will, came the negative and malicious. People who committed unkind acts towards one another, verbally, physically and emotionally. Such unkind acts were with greater purpose and intensity directed at Jesus himself, as many saw him as pompous and arrogant for claiming to be something extraordinary at a time when extraordinary did not exist. Jesus hung and died on that cross selflessly, in order to make a point. It took his death for the mass to realize that they had made a mistake, that there acts were shameful and Jesus was undeserving of such treatment. We live in a world surrounded by suffering, there is no escaping that. However that suffering is something that was chosen as a way of life. Had Adam and Eve not taken the forbidden fruit, we would be living in a happy go lucky world, full of altruism and prosocial behavior. This is not the turn out, as we are all very aware of. If anything I would have expected Julia to be empathetic towards Jesus, for suffering on a cross for two days, having watched her brother struggle through cancer before his death. Perhaps there are many contradictions and unstable elements to the bible and this faith, but no where in the Christian religion did it claim to be perfect and without flaw. This is the religion upon which our country was founded. It is the religion upon which social structures and governments centered their lives around, and instilled into its people as the most highly accepted way of living their lives. Hundreds upon hundreds of years, this is the way society was run. It is only in our recent past where people have taken their own paths and strayed from religion. These people are more than welcome to come about their own conclusions regarding faith, however I believe that it would not have existed or persisted in our timeline of the worlds history for such an extended period of time, unless there was some merit to it. Faith is believing in times when you have absolutely no reason to. It is with this face that many people around the world find the strength and courage to wake up and live another day. If this is the factor in their lives that makes it possible to continue on, then why put that down? Why dissolve something that has proven its powerful effects on people psychologically, into something of old myth and folklore? There is a greater picture here, some people are still trying to see it though.