This month, in the place of our usual movie reviews, we present two videos available on YouTube. Each presents the story of a well-educated atheist who is a convinced believer today. You can watch both videos on YouTube.
John Bartunek: From Atheist to Priest
Raised in an atheistic household, John Bartunek had little reason to think about religion in youth. His father was anti-religious. John’s interest in music led him into a church choir. Once, while singing the song ‘Let there be Light,’ he had his ‘moment of grace,’ when he decided to be a Christian.
At Stanford University (rated second or third in the World Universities Ranking), he had a Jewish professor who had studied all religions of the world and chose not to follow any. He claimed to be a ‘post-atheist’ (“religion was no longer a relevant subject”). One day, the professor told John, “If you want to follow any religion—which you should not—there are only two real religions—Judaism and Catholic Christianity.” Wishing to learn about Catholicism, he went to Italy, where he saw the achievements of Christian civilization in the Renaissance art and architecture of Florence, which moved him deeply. He was deeply moved by the experience of attending Mass in a church put up during the Communist regime in Poland.
Deeply attracted to the Catholic faith, he joined the church. His father disapproved of his becoming a Catholic; his two sisters were evangelicals. He became a professional actor, but was more and more drawn to the priesthood. As a priest, he became associated with movie director Mel Gibson in the production of The Passion of The Christ. This resulted in his bestselling book, Inside the Passion: An Insider’s Look at The Passion of the Christ. Bartunek tells us of some miracles that happened on the sets during the filming and also how the actors and the crew, coming from different backgrounds and ideologies, were profoundly affected by the movie.
Fr Bartunek administers a website called vocation.com, which reaches out to youth interested in religious life or priesthood.
Jennifer Fulwiler:
An Atheist Intellectual’s Surprising Discoveries
In the YouTube video, Jennifer Fulwiler, mother of six, gives a frank and fascinating account of her life. Born into a family of technocrats, she grew up among militant atheists who believed that religion was all fairy tales and a pernicious influence. In her youth she dressed and behaved like the usual teenage rebels, wearing outrageous dresses and make-up. She took one advice from her father seriously: ‘not to trust any idea until she had worked through it.’
Jennifer went to a Christian university, but always thought of Christians as stupid. She was even embarrassed to take a religious book from the library. Her journey to faith began when she met her husband Joe, who came from a Baptist background, but was not an active Christian. Joe was indulgent of her atheism but told her that he would never deny Jesus because he had encountered Him.
Everything changed dramatically on the day Jennifer held her first child in her arms. She realized instantly, with a shock, that life cannot be an accidental happening resulting from a strange mixture of chemicals. Love would endure even if the earth would cease to exist.
This became a turning point. Interacting on a blog with those who could answer her questions, Jennifer found that the most convincing answers were all from Catholics! She decided to become a Catholic. Joe too joined her. She also realised that the moral code of the Church, however hard it sounded, was still the most reasonable and had remained unchanged.
During her third pregnancy, Jennifer found that she had a dangerous congenital disease. She saw then that it was not enough to acknowledge God intellectually. One had to accept Jesus the person and hand herself over to Him. Jennifer and Joe came to experience a series of miraculous happenings. She notes that intellectual pride and materialism block grace from working on us. We seek ‘autonomy’ as our goal, when, in fact, it does not make us happy or fulfilled. The Catholic faith brought her the answers, as well as the peace and joy she had always wanted.
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