species to another. My junior year my mom said something to me about biology and evolution, so I told
her I believed in evolution and she looked at me like, "How can you believe such crap?"
I've still never explained all of my so-called "beliefs" to my mom. She tells me to pray when things get
rough. I just say, "Yeah, OK," then roll my eyes when I'm out of sight. As a bornagain Christian, she has no
tolerance for disbelief or disrespect to God or anything.
One day I asked her how she can believe in stories like the wine at the wedding, and she said you just
have to have faith. My faith is in science and nature and coincidence. My best friend even gets mad when I
say I don't have any beliefs about anything. She told me one time that I'm intentionally trying to be a
nonconformist. Needless to say, that brought about one of our rare fights. I never came out with my
opposition to religion until this year.
Once I started to read your lyrics, I saw that you struggle with your beliefs too. I don't have any friends
who are going with me on this move toward religious nonaffiliation, so your music really helped me
understand that there are more people who feel this way. The fact that you are public with your feelings on
religion gave me an extra push to be public with mine.
This year at school I decided to not say the Pledge of Alle glance because it refers to God. I feel like
I'm empathizing with other kids who don't believe in God. If I were Muslim or Buddhist, I wouldn't say
the pledge because my beliefs would be based on some other religion.
In English class this year we had to write an essay on a famous person we would like to have lunch
with, why, and what we would talk about with that person. Before the essay was written, our teacher read
our choices aloud and asked us who the people were and what we would talk about with them. I chose to
write my essay on you, and I said that I would like to talk about breaking free of religion.
When I expressed my disbelief in God the teacher and a couple students gave me looks like, "She's
going to hell now." That experience made me tell my story even more. There is one really godly"girl in
that class, with the WWJD pins and s"""" all over her clothes and she doesn't talk to me anymore. I'm
glad, actually, because I'd prefer to not hear her preach to me.
My mom and aunt preach to me, and that's when my mom and I fight a lot because I tell her I don't want
to hear it.
In government class we had to state something we strongly opposed; I said belief in religion. Only one
kid agreed with me. Another kid after me said he strongly believed in God and opposed people who
didn't. It just shows how ignorant he was to not accept my beliefs. The kid who does believe in God also
goes to Young Life.
In school I get really pissed off when teachers talk about religion or make references to the Bible.
Because of your music and my connection to your lyrics I'm more confident about my view on religion and
I express my views when I need to.
Right now my mission is to collect all of your CDs so I can get even more of what I crave-something to
connect with. So thanks again for having the guts to tell everyone your beliefs and not care what they say.
Sincerely,