A Raisin in the Sun

by Lorraine Hansberry

BENEATHA I mean it! I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything? Does he pay tuition? MAMA You ’bout to get your fresh little jaw slapped! RUTH That’s just what she needs, all right! BENEATHA Why? Why can’t I say what I want to around here, like everybody else? MAMA It don’t sound nice for a young girl to say things like that—you wasn’t brought up that way. Me and your father went to trouble to get you and Brother to church every Sunday. BENEATHA Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept. It’s not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it. It’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God—there is only man and it is he who makes miracles!