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Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace
Unavailable
Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace
Unavailable
Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace
Ebook319 pages5 hours

Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this ebook

William Lobdell's journey of faith—and doubt—may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems—including a failed marriage—drove him to his knees in prayer. As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell—a veteran journalist—noticed that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith.

Yet what happened over the next eight years was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. While reporting on hundreds of stories, he witnessed a disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders. He investigated religious institutions that acted less ethically than corrupt Wall St. firms. He found few differences between the morals of Christians and atheists. As this evidence piled up, he started to fear that God didn't exist. He explored every doubt, every question—until, finally, his faith collapsed. After the paper agreed to reassign him, he wrote a personal essay in the summer of 2007 that became an international sensation for its honest exploration of doubt.

Losing My Religion is a book about life's deepest questions that speaks to everyone: Lobdell understands the longings and satisfactions of the faithful, as well as the unrelenting power of doubt. How he faced that power, and wrestled with it, is must reading for people of faith and nonbelievers alike.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateMar 17, 2009
ISBN9780061877339
Unavailable
Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace
Author

William Lobdell

William Lobdell has been a journalist for 25 years, winning many state and national awards. In 2008 he left the Los Angeles Times after a long tenure. He is on the visiting faculty at the University of California, Irvine. He is married with four boys.

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Rating: 3.8776595276595747 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fascinating read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author details his personal journey from non-faith to devout Christian and back to non-faith. He discusses how being on the religion beat for a major newspaper led him into a state of doubt as he began to witness the unfolding of the church sex scandals, and the responses of not only the church hierarchy but the members of the congregations. He lays out an honest assessment of the process by which he explored the various questions that had nagged at him even in childhood, and his attempts to recapture some of the faith he once felt, and the peace and serenity when he finally let go. The author writes in an accessible manner, without sparing himself, and avoids the use of lofty language. He is not writing a philosophical treatise but a personal story, and his questions and the answers he receives are couched in the ordinary language of everyday faith. An important book about how we can hide from ourselves, but eventually we might just be awakened by a dash of cold water. This is a major contributor to the spate of atheist literature, because it is honest and looks at religion where we live.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very interesting read. It's unfortunate how institutions meant to protect the vulnerable are the ones usually abusing them. If there's indeed a god, why does he allow evil to happen to his creation, more especially innocent babies and animals?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The writer details how he made a good collection of life mistakes early on, became a Christian mostly in an attempt to repair his mistakes, was buoyed up for a while by contact with other Christians of good character, but eventually became disillusioned by the wrong doing of other Christians and dumped the Church. Describes pretty well why and how people subscribe to a religion for material and sociological reasons. It is an enjoyable read. It's not very deep in terms of theology or spiritual experience. It's excellent on the effects of the scandal of paedophilia in the Catholic Church.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An earnest and thorough account of a devoted believer thinking his way out of religious faith. As someone who has never had any religion to lose, I was disappointed at times that Lobdell still seems to view unconflicted atheists with more suspicion than holy rollers, but this memoir will likely be read by many more current believers than the more boisterously atheist works by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, etc., and so may do a lot of good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author details his personal journey from non-faith to devout Christian and back to non-faith. He discusses how being on the religion beat for a major newspaper led him into a state of doubt as he began to witness the unfolding of the church sex scandals, and the responses of not only the church hierarchy but the members of the congregations. He lays out an honest assessment of the process by which he explored the various questions that had nagged at him even in childhood, and his attempts to recapture some of the faith he once felt, and the peace and serenity when he finally let go. The author writes in an accessible manner, without sparing himself, and avoids the use of lofty language. He is not writing a philosophical treatise but a personal story, and his questions and the answers he receives are couched in the ordinary language of everyday faith. An important book about how we can hide from ourselves, but eventually we might just be awakened by a dash of cold water. This is a major contributor to the spate of atheist literature, because it is honest and looks at religion where we live.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I expected this to be an in-depth meditation into losing one's faith, but it wasn't. It was even more interesting. Lobdell's journey into and out of the Christian faith is the weakest part of the book and is secondary to the insights he gained about the state of Christianity in America during his time as the LA Times religion reporter. (While he does discuss other faiths in passing, the vast majority of the discussion centers on Christianity.) In the midst of converting to Catholicism when the sex abuse scandal broke, Lobdell is plunged into a world of pedophiles, faith healers, and charlatans who rock his faith in God and ultimately drive him to atheism. The main problem, he discovers, isn't simply the fraudulent leadership. It's in the refusal of laypersons to question, condemn, or demand better from people who are openly defying the very tenets they are supposed to be promoting. Why aren't they defending the abused and disenfranchised? As he asks over and over again, "Why aren't Christians acting more Christian?"

    This sounds depressing and it is. This is a very sad book to get through. He also faces some of the most horrible abuses of the Catholic Church straight on, so if child abuse disturbs you, you should be aware. He does not mince words. But unless you are extraordinarily sensitive, I think this book is worth reading. Lobdell doesn't have any answers, but he is absolutely asking the right questions.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lobdell brings rigorous journalistic practices to this memoir, and his willingness to do so adds immeasurably to the work. He starts out as a sort-of-Christian, experiences a conversion to (what I think of as Evangelical Lite) Christianity and attends a mega-church with happening music. From there he begins to explore the Catholicism of his wife's youth, ultimately deciding to convert. During this several-decade span, he is working as a journalist, eventually as a religion reporter. The last third of the book chronicles the journey Lobdell takes as he delves into the Catholic Priest/Pedophile scandal and consequently loses all of his faith.

    It's a mesmerising journey, made all the more riveting by Lobdell's intense commitment to searing honesty. One makes this trek with him, every step of the way.

    Recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A fascinating spiritual memoir about a religious journalist who finds himself losing his faith in the coruse of reporting religion stories for the Los Angeles Times. Honest and compelling.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In this open and honest memoir, Billy, a newspaper reporter, explains how he became a born again Christian and grew in his faith and prayed that he could get a job reporting on religion. He got the job and believed it was an answer to years of prayer. He enjoyed learning about religion through the stories that he reported. As he grew in his faith, he moved on from the evangelical church he met with to a Presbyterian church and then began attending a Catholic church going through a one year catechism class in order to convert and join his wife in her faith. Then, he was assigned to report on the Catholic church priest sex scandals. He was one of the first reporters to learn about it as the first stories came out. He continued in his faith, believing that the problems he was reporting on were confined to that one parish. As time went on, he went to meetings w/ the survivors of the priests' sexual abuses (which were disgusting and horrifying), and he interviewed priests and biships and he learned just how corrupt the Catholic church really is. At the end of the year, he could not join the Catholic church. He then was given more investigative religion stories and met Ole Anthony and interviewed Benny Hinn.After all that, it is no wonder that he lost his religion. Sadly, he lost his faith in God as well, believing that what religion teaches and what he saw of the religious institutions was what God is all about. This book is well-written and very interesting and thought provoking.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story of one man's journey to and then away from faith. The author was a religion columnist for the LA Times. Some of the stories he covered there including those on church and minister corruption and priest sexual abuse and its cover up, shook his faith and left him unable to answer questions about God and his faith. So he found peace in letting "letting go of God." I found the book fascinating.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Coming from a professional journalist, this is a well-written book and intriguing story. However, I found that his summary arguments in defense of his "loss of religion" were just as fundamentalist-based and proof-texted as those he had railed against.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a very thought provoking book. Lobdell is an excellent writer and this book was very readable. It was interesting to read how a person loses his faith while reporting on religion. I found myself wanting to reassure the author that "religion" and Christianity are NOT the same thing. I found myself thinking that perhaps he was trying to get his answers in the wrong place. Many of the people he interviewed about faith were important in the "church". I think if he had spoken to more of the laity he may have gotten different answers to his questions. I know I had different answers of my own to most of what bothered him. However, when it comes down to it, faith is just that - faith - and it can't be measured or learned. You either have it or you don't. I'm sorry about the author's decision (by my beliefs he made the wrong one) but I'm glad he's at peace with his decision.This book would make a very good book club or Bible study read. It raises interesting questions about faith and religion. However, I don't know that I would recommend it to someone suffering from their own crisis of faith until they had reached their own decision.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Many of us have experienced the spiritual road that Lobdell has travelled. Lobdell has articulated the twists and turns that the journey takes us. Some reach a final destination. Many continue to pursue the journey. An excellent book that is well written and compelling.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an honest, thoughtful, and fascinating memoir about Lobdell's struggles with religion. The book opens with an accounting of the ways in which his life is going wrong and a friend's quiet assurance that Lobdell needs to walk with God to find the peace he so desires. Taking this to heart, Lobdell starts going to church, eventually becoming born-again. Eager to share his newly minted faith, as he moves from the church that drew him back into the fold, to a Protestant church, and ultimately into RCIA classes to become a Catholic, journalist Lobdell decides that God has called him to write about religion so he pitches the idea to his bosses. Initially he doesn't get the job but eventually, his dream comes true and he starts writing about faith, and not just his Christian faith, in a way that few other journalists have attempted. But all is not well with Lobdell's faith as he starts uncovering the nasty side of organized religion. He was on the front lines as the pedophile priest scandal rocked the Catholic church and he examined in depth a rather seedy (but quite wealthy) televangelist who fleeces his congregation among other stories. And as Lobdell plunges farther into the stories, he starts to lose his belief in God. His journey into and out of faith took him years and I suspect that it isn't quite finished, as Lobdell himself says he's not entirely comfortable with his unbelief but which path the next leg of his journey will take remains to be seen. His writing on faith and its lack is respectful and thoughtful. And he has obviously spent much time reaching the conclusions he has but he never denigrates those around him who have managed to hold onto their faith in the face of what he says is overwhelming evidence that it is unfounded. His writing is direct and honest and his journey is definitely painful. But I for one am glad he allowed us to walk with him, even if I'm not certain I come to the same conclusions he does.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Before I started this book, I expected it to be very biased and heated, because almost all persona accounts of religion seem to be. What I found instead was a logical and restrained story of Lobdell's spritiual journey and that was endlessly refreshing. I won't say that he is entirely neutral, because that would be impossible when recounting your own faith, but Lobdell told his story in a way that you could apprectiate even if you didnt agree with him all of the time.Yes, there were times when I wanted to feel defensive when my own views of faith were called into question, but it was not off putting and I had to trouble continuing on in the book. With a topic that makes it so easy to isolate parts of your audience, I was glad to see that I finished with a sense that Lobdell had completed his journey, in his way, and even though my journey is different I appreciate what he had to say.This book offers those without faith a story to let them know they are not alone and those with faith a guide to where the stumbling blocks that may need improvement are. All in all I was very impressed with "Losing My Religion".
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What would you do if you "discovered" one day that the rock upon which you had built your spiritual house, the the God to whom you had devoted your life and to whom you assigned thanks for all your good fortune, the greatest love of your life, never existed? William Lobdell takes his readers by the hand and walks us through his spiritual life; From it's joyful birth, it's often uncomfortable growing pains and maturity to it's slow weakening and eventual demise. While focusing on his faith and his own spiritual path, the author joyfully throws himself into the role of a religious writer for a major newspaper, not apologizing for downfalls or weakness within the church but rejoicing in stories of perserverance and belief only to find that by the end of the journey he had lost his way. Confronted with the growing evidence of lives destroyed by sexual abuse, phony faith healers and greedy televangelists and the niggling doubts about why God always gets the credit but never the blame, Lobdell struggles to hang on until he can no longer maintain the facade, even for himself. Never bitter or judgmental, Lobdell explores the often misunderstood grief and sense of failure that accompanies the loss of faith. The personal disappointment, but also the sense of failing one's friends and family who remain within the framework of faith. How do you tell your wife? Your minister? Your best friend? How do you tell your readers? "Losing My Religion" isn't a recitation of the many evils of organized religion. It isn't a push by the author to abandon God. It isn't even a memoir so much as it is a love story, a tale of love found and love lost.