Events

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}

Thursday

3/18/10  7:00pm-8:00pm

Andrew Park
discusses BETWEEN A CHURCH AND A HARD PLACE: One Faith-Free Father’s Struggle
to Understand What it Means to be Religious (or Not)

When his three-year-old son first said the word “God,” panic
erupted over Park’s face. Teaching his children about ethics, good manners,
penmanship and the perfect free throw were no problem for Park. But when his
son started asking about religion, he was stumped. Raised without a religious
tradition in a family where teenage rebellion meant being born again as an
Evangelical Christian (as his brother did), Park always believed he’d be a
nonbeliever. But when his children confronted him with questions, Park knew it
was time to find the answers.

In BETWEEN A CHURCH AND A HARD PLACE Park takes
readers along on his tour through religion in America on his quest to find a
comfortable middle ground for himself and his family.  Colorful and
though-provoking, Park chronicles his explorations through the varied and often
contradictory influences of religion in his life so far ― his great-grandfather’s pioneering role in the
Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century, his liberal
intellectual parents’ rejection of the Protestant faiths in which they were
raised, his childhood in the Bible Belt city that produced Billy Graham and Jim
Bakker, and witnessing his older brother’s rebellious immersion in a
Charismatic church.

Along the way, Park grapples with what it means to be
irreligious in an exceptionally religious society and whether peaceful coexistence
with people of faith can ever truly be achieved. With the perfect blend of
humor and humility, he uncovers what it means to embrace religion–or not–while
still being a good role model, and most importantly, still being true to
himself.