I feel offended but I'm not sure why.

wait. what was that last bit?

The Presbyterians - God's Frozen People.

Awesome.

he'll be sitting with a muslim?
was she kidding?

@cannotedit: Um, yeah, I was thinking that too. I'm off to go find the whole segment to see where she was going with that...

Hmmm...she seems a lot less wise-assy now that she's found teh Jesus.

I still give "Operating Instructions" to all my friends who've had babies, though. LOVE her writing.

I like her. My mother gave me that bird by bird book. Maybe I should read it.

I hate Bird by Bird so much. It's been suggested by every female writing teacher I've ever had, and an ex-boyfriend. It's so self-help-y.

I think she meant that Muslims will go to heaven as well, and she was poking fun of the fact that Dick Cheney... hates Muslims.

I took that Cheney sitting with a Muslim comment to mean 'so he will learn to get along with Muslims '. To teach him, not as punishment, or anything like that. But that's def. just my interpretation of her intent, and I didn't see the whole show.

@kimmiegiblerism: Exactly. That's what I thought, too.

@kimmiegiblerism: Not all muslims; just ones not in the Saudi Royal Family.

@Gingerlime: I think she meant to say "The Frozen Chosen." I think it's catchier, anyway.

Wait, this lady writes AND teaches children? How>? And why? She's almost incomprehensible as an intellectual.

Giving God a gender is idiotic. Genders are at least polar; the only reason God would have a gender would be if there were two.

@RomanaTwo: isn't it supposed to be self-helpy? It's a writing manual, after all. I've found it to be useful. If nothing else, the story that explains the title helps cut through the clutter.

"He'll be there, but he'll be sitting with a Muslin." What a strange thing to say.

What about Dives and Lazarus? Ain't no Dives gettin into heavens!

While I found this interview to be... uncomfortable, at the least, I really like some of Anne Lamott's writing. I'm not very religious, but I still found her books to be funny, sad, and inspiring at the same time.

@Gingerlime: The Frozen Chosen!

God is a myth, perpetuated by the same people who claim that they're able to find that other 9v battery from the two pack 8 months later when the smoke detector starts chirping again.

@Gabbo: Operating Instructions got me through those first twelve weeks.

> to plug her new book Grace, Eventually, and talk politics, Sunday school, Jeremiah Wright and the fact that God is a female

what! wait! he let her talk?

i usually skip the interview because Colbert hardly ever lets his guests get a word in edgeways.

Stupid. There is a name for a female deity. They call it a "goddess." A "god" is by name the male version of a deity.

Jeremiah Wright isn't the only dumbfuck in the news lately, is he?

@Gingerlime: Gotta love the Frozen Chosen! I was raised PC(USA) so I've got a soft spot for the denom.

@brassinpocket: Because teachers and writers are automatically "intellectual?" You should've met my 8th grade Chemistry teacher - dude must've landed that job through nepotism.

@brendastarlet: I think it is, which is part of the reason why I dislike it. The best advice I've gotten on writing is "Fear failure." but it's possible that I have a very different outlook on things.

@RomanaTwo: do you mean, "don't fear failure?"

I have read just about every word that Anne Lamott has published for over ten years. I'm quite sure that her comment about God sitting Cheney with a Muslim is based on her experience of God as a force that continually urges humanity toward love and how often our greatest revelations are born of our greatest weaknesses. I believe that in her view, God would sit Cheney next to Muslim to give Cheney the opportunity to redeem himself by replacing his hate for Muslims with love.

any heaven with cheney in it sounds like hell to me.

See, I don't like her books, but I liked this interview. And I agree with one of her theological points: God isn't about "Law," but rather "Gospel."

And I don't think God is a He or a She... something as powerful as God would transcend gender, I believe.

@braak:
I think it was more of just a feminist-f-you to the majority of people that associate God with the male gender. I liked it, she was snarky and I bet she's a wonderful writer.

I'm currently reading the Bible (strictly as a Fiction Novel. I get too angry/frustrated if I try and read it any other way) and I have to say that I think God is a woman. She can be sweet, but super bitchy (hello, PMS anyone?). She is also unbelievably understanding at times and nurturing when She finds Her disciples wives to be barren. Perhaps I'll have to go back on my reading, but so far I haven't come across anything that has said 'He God' or anything. So really, it's all up for interpretation.

I love Anna Lamott, my writer dad got me reading her when writing, and in a very helpful gift of Operating Instructions, when unexpectedly pregnant. The only parts I never related to was her God stuff.

And I totally used to say, "And now we thank her for this food" at the end of dinner time prayer as a kid. Grandparents always freaked.

And also, the Bible was extremely sexist! Like, whoa! It says some wonderful little snidbits in there like (and I'm paraphrasing here) that women belong underneath their men and not in a sexual way. A woman is to never disagree with what her man says, because his word is final say. Stuff like that. But what I also have to realize, is that that was very different time. Biblical times, in fact. It's a new world. That's not to say some people still believe in that shit. I know for a fact that they do. My point is, that the Bible is a tad sexist. So whoever wrote the thing of course assumed God was a Him. And did you know that there are more versions of the Book than words in it?

I love and adore Anne Lamott and have read everything she's written, but the best book I ever read about writing was Stephen King's "On Writing." Genuinely helpful and the opposite of self-helpy.

Of course God is a woman. With the moodiness she shows all throughout the Bible, I'm surprised no one else had noticed.

@iAlreadyHateYou: Yeah, if God were male he'd have totally flooded the planet with beer instead of water!

God has sex. Who knew? I'll bet it's divine.

@brendastarlet: Nope. "Fear failure."

@iAlreadyHateYou: Ex.act.ly.

Argument against God being female = the hymen.

But I agree; God is genderless.

I've read Lamott and have no opinion on her writing other than a resounding "meh". But Cheney going to heaven? I'm sorry but no. Can't see that - not even seated next to a muslim.

*contemplating above comment*

No. Still can't see it. No. No. and No.

I've read most of Anne Lamott's work, and this is the first time she's referred to God as female. But she's gotten too self-indulgent for me.

How convenient! A nice stained glass window on TDS set, just begging to be used as defenestration fodder!

Eh. I guess in the Bible it does refer to God as He. But, still. It is rather sexist, so does it surprise me that it's a He? No. Do I sound ridiculous to myself? Yes. But again, it's all in your own interpretation of The Book.

Comment on Anne Lamott Tells Stephen Colbert That God Is, In Fact, A 'She' Huge Jezebel fan, LOVE Anne Lamott, 'didn't see interview. Love Colbert, too. There's no gender to God, mehopes there's more imagination working in the cosmos! She was prob'ly yankin' Stevie's chain for fun. Cheney comment probably reflects Ms. Lamotts belief that God's WICKED sense of humor….a belief that I've witnessed countless times in my own life. God (whatevah pronoun ya choose…geez) gets us ALL and laughs hysterically with us. I think she's stated the humor aspect of the big cheese at one point or another it in her books, and if not, I've inferred it by the way she writes about her life, son, family, alcoholism, writing, fragility, finding religion (which was funny in its way, too). So, that's my bit. Tx.

I read every one of Anne Lamott's Salon columns a few years ago and Traveling Mercies (her first "God book") changed my life when I was going through a bad time a few years back. She has this way of putting words together that is beautifully hysterical, and I was so excited to see her on Colbert Report - but she sounded loopy and preachy! How disappointing.

She makes me happy that I'm a fellow member of the "frozen chosen." (although i always found that phrase weird b/c aren't the "chosen ones" the jews?

I went to Catholic school, and my first theology teacher there used to say "God is male, God is female, God is both, God is neither." I always appreciated that.

Bird By Bird is OK by me, at least the parts I've been able to get through, but as a "brand" she annoys the F**K out of me. So smarmy and self congratulatory. And the nasty white dreads -forget it -they reek of the self righteousness that oozed from every last one of her Salon articles. And I hate anyone telling me or anyone else who or what god is, whatever side of the fence they sit on. I feel like she's the very definition of the passive aggressive hippy. Here's another and deeply hilarious version of this type:

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