Because this week’s lectionary passage is on Doubting Thomas, my sermon for this morning mentions atheism — specifically, the militant atheism of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. Well, I’ve been listening to “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” this morning, and the “Not My Job” guest this week is Julia Sweeney. She is best-known for her years on “Saturday Night Live,” particularly her androgynous character “Pat.” Later, she did a one-woman show, “God Said Ha!”, about her struggles with cancer. I never saw it but heard it was terrific.

Well, apparently she has a new show, “Letting Go of God,” and a forthcoming book in which she documents her loss of faith and the fact that she is now an atheist. She’s definitely not the Richard Dawkins kind of atheist; on the radio show, she was good-natured about it and presented it as her personal decision rather than some sort of crusade. But it still makes me sad.