Opinions for Nothing

Letters to God - DVD Review and Giveaway

When I was offered a copy of Letters to God for review I thought of my sister, who I describe as "churchy." She is a Christian who is very involved in her church and bible study. Since I am an atheist and I didn't think I would enjoy this movie, I asked my sister to review it. I am also giving away one copy.

When my sister asked if I wanted to review a movie called Letters to God I was immediately interested. I like family movies and Iam game for basically any movie about God that isn't an obvious slam.

Letters to God is about Tyler Doherty, a young boy struggling with cancer. He faces it head on, with a good attitude. He maintains his faith by writing letters to God. Brady McDaniels, the alcoholic mailman, doesn't know how to handle the letters and soon finds his life turned upside down as he is drawn into the Doherty's family situation.

The cover showed that it was from one of the producers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants. Since those movies had good content but were a bit predictable, I wondered if this would be similar.  It started off not looking so good with a some very obvious acting and a little awkwardness but the acting got better and the storyline became more engaging. Overall, it was very similar to the other movies with good content.

Lent

I am an atheist but I celebrate Christmas and Easter as secular family traditions. Easter starts with the Lenten season, which starts tomorrow, on Ash Wednesday and lasts for 40 days until Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. For Lent, I usually give up something like sodas or Cadbury Creme Eggs or steaks or American Idol.

This year, I am giving up everything. I feel like my life has gotten a little off track. I am putting my energy into the wrong things. I am going to use this time to reset. I am going to see if I can give up every bad habit I have and divest myself of any extraneous demands on my time and energy.

Here is a list of things I can do without:

• Candy
• Chips
• Cupcakes
• Cookies
• Diet soda
• French fries
• Fast food
• Television
• Staying up until midnight
• Graduate school (after this class ends in two weeks)
• Using Google Reader at work
• Take out for dinner
• Skipping breakfast
• Donuts
• Frizzy hair
• Not exercising
• Facial hair
• Hairy legs
• Clothes and shoes that don't fit well
• People I don't like
• More stuff to donate
• Tweeting and texting in the car
• No division between work and home
• Paying attention to politics

Prop 8 is Religious Persecution

California Proposition 8 would add language to the state's constitution that revokes the right of same-sex couples to marry and does not recognize same-sex marriages as legal unions. I am voting no on Prop 8.

This morning, I was talking about this to my husband and it seemed so clear to me that Prop 8 isn't about homosexuality or even equality, it is about religious persecution. I am not saying that homosexuality is part of anyone's religious beliefs, but the idea that homosexuality is wrong is part of the belief system of the main religion in the United States: Christianity. Proposition 8, by banning same-sex marriage, is forcing this religious belief onto anyone who does not share it. There is no other reason for this proposition.

Like I said on Twitter this week, if you are against gay marriage, don't marry a gay.