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Good Listening (Updated)

Submitted by Frank Bell on Sun, 10/12/2008 - 7:52am.

One of my favorite radio shows is Speaking of Faith. It almost always gives me serious stuff to think about.

Right now, it is running a series about religious feelings and the 2008 campaign. Here's the description of part one from the website:

The Religious Right has gotten a fair amount of coverage in recent years, while the political Left has rarely been represented with a religious sensibility. Our guest, a national correspondent for Time magazine is a political liberal and an Evangelical Christian who has been observing the Democratic Party's complex relationship with faith and the little-told story of its response to the rise of the Religious Right.

Here's the description of part two:

The second part of our examination of religious energies below the surface of the 2008 presidential campaign. Conservative columnist Rod Dreher is an outspoken critic of mainstream Republican economic and environmental ideas and the conduct of the Iraq war, but he voted for George W. Bush twice. We explore the little-known story of religiously influenced impulses within the conservative movement that diverge from the Religious Right.

Addendum, Later That Same Day:

I knew there was another fascinating show this week. This segment on Talk of the Nation:

In an effort to reconnect with his Jewish faith, Georgia-native Benyamin Cohen explored the Christianity across the "Bible Belt" of America. He documented his experiences in My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith.

Cohen has served as founder and editor of American Jewish Life magazine and Jewsweek online magazine. He is currently an editor at the Mother Nature Network.

1 comment

It's October!

Submitted by Frank Bell on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 9:06pm.

The October meeting is coming up next week.

I've been somewhat preoccupied; my personal website crashed and it was a week and a half before I got it running again, since, along the way, I had to do, like, actual work. Then the family computer decided to give up the ghost and I spend today configuring it the way I like it.

Along the way, I listened to two podcasts that I will recommend to any one who is interested in the interplay between religion and public life.

Fresh Air had an interview with Bill Maher and Larry Charles about their new movie, Religilous. You can see the trailer here (YouTube). From the website:

If you're familiar with the work of political satirist Bill Maher, you probably know that he thinks religion has done way more harm than good in the world.

In his new film, Religulous — a satirical documentary in which Maher travels to religious sites around the world, ranging from the Vatican and Jerusalem to a Muslim gay bar in Amsterdam and a Christian theme park in Orlando, Fla. — he describes religion as "dangerous."

Directed by Larry Charles, the new documentary offers a satirical — and very critical — take on organized religion and the leaps certain varieties of faith can sometimes require.

At one point, Religulous suggests that "religion must die for mankind to live;" Maher and Charles discuss the film, and their own thoughts on religion, with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, who asks Maher if in the process of responding to religious extremism, he hasn't perhaps become an anti-religious extremist.

"I believe in the doctrine of I Don't Know," Maher responds. "To say 'I don't know' about the afterlife is the only reasonable, and also humble, opinion you can hold."

Maher, the child of a Jewish mother and Catholic father, grew up in his father's church, but has cast aside organized religion as an adult. He suggests that the idea of a personal god who responds to prayer, who performs miracles and battles evil in an active way, is the result of "a long, 2,000-year-old game of Telephone" — and that belief in such a god is by definition extreme.

"The message of Jesus," on the other hand, "is not only beautiful but revolutionary," Maher stresses. "The idea that the meek shall inherit the earth, and that the poor and the powerless have just as much dignity as the powerful and the rich, that was a very new idea at the time — and it has not gone out of style."

The shame, Maher argues, is that that message gets lost amid what he describes as "the magic tricks and the bells and whistles and the nonsense" of organized religion.

In a recent New York Times article Maher described organized religion as "the ultimate hustle," and he likened his role in the film to that of Toto, the dog who pulls back the curtain to expose the shortcomings of the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz.

Maher is best known as the host of the HBO show Real Time With Bill Maher;Charles' credits include Borat (which he directed) and the TV programs Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Follow the link to the website to listen to or download the podcast.

And on Talk of the Nation,

In this installment of the This American Moment series, Eboo Patel, director of the Interfaith Youth Core, discusses his efforts to promote religious pluralism among young people. Patel believes that this type of mutual respect and understanding is the "big idea of our time."