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The Actress Teaches the Atheist to Pray

with apologies to Aaron Sorkin

 

The atheist starts off with,

“this is silly.” I think I see

him sense the abrupt change

of atmosphere walking through

the threshold into a chapel like

plunging into lake water naked.

When the actress kneels, the atheist explains

how God shouldn’t be so vain, I think of

the actress and whether or not, with her real

kneeling in the fake chapel, she actually prays.

She says, “You don’t kneel for Him; you kneel for you.”

The atheist storms out saying that “This just doesn’t

feel right,” The atheist is outraged that a mother is bleeding

to death, her baby may have no father, and someone’s

little brother is being held hostage by Islamic fundamentalists.

I remember two conversations:

Courtney telling me that God wasn’t saving me

when my brake lines rusted out in the TGI Fridays

parking lot instead of on the 74 bridge.

River telling me that she feels blessed that God has watched

over all the people in her life who have attempted

suicide, because they failed. She hastily tries to add

that God was also watching over Jenny, but is too

worried that she hurt me. Right before the scene switches

The actress looks upand tells God

that the atheist “made some good points.”

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t
Written by
tommy-n
American
Published
Dec 27, 2010
Lines·Words
27·213
Notes

Written 2010 as an exercise for the MFA program at Columbia College Chicago

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