Moyers explores faith, reason on PBS
In a world where politics and religion overlap, believers and disbelievers – even believers of different stripes – clash with little provocation.
Can they live together peaceably? The headlines say “no.” Not even the architect of “Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason” is sure.
“What I do know is that talking to people who agree with us is like jogging in a cul-de-sac,” Moyers says via e-mail. “We have to hear what others are saying, as we want to be heard ourselves. …
“Our beliefs are so different that the important thing is not agreement, but a fair hearing for everyone.”
His new seven-part series debuts this weekend on PBS, and throughout those seven weeks of conversations, he exchanges thoughts and ideas with writers from around the globe. The topic: a world divided over God and religion.
He says he came out of retirement because “the rocking chair was squeaking. Drove me crazy.”
In fact, he heard interesting opinions being expressed on every side of this issue and couldn’t stay away.
“And when we looked at the 100 writers invited by Salman Rushdie (to New York City’s PEN American Center in April) to talk about faith and reason, we said, ‘Wow! What an opportunity to hear what creative people have to say about this hot-button issue,’ ” he explains.
Rushdie is the guest in this weekend’s segment, and his observations, as always, are provocative.
“We’re living with a new tyranny,” says Rushdie, an avowed atheist, “one that uses the language of religion but, in fact, is a new totalitarianism.”
Mary Gordon, an author and professor of English at Barnard College, joins Moyers for Part Two. She seems to surprise him by saying that she, a parochial school-educated practicing Christian, prefers the company of disbelievers, adding: “There are many more good reasons for not believing than believing.”
Jeanette Winterson brings easy humor to her conversation with Moyers in Part Three. She grew up in the U.K., a fundamentalist Pentecostal with a lot of questions she seldom asked.
Her mother, a creationist, banned all but five books from the house: the Bible and four books about the Bible. She escaped that environment to attend Oxford, and she says she believes that all of us are interested in God.
“But this is a dark time … and we have to keep belief alive for future generations,” Winterson says.
Other writers who join the discussion over the coming weeks are Canadian Margaret Atwood; David Grossman from Israel; Anne Provoost from Belgium; and Brit Colin McGinn and Richard Rodriguez from the U.S.
Moyers, for his part, says he grew up in “a tight little Protestant culture in east Texas. It was a wonderful experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, (but) religion is about dogma, beliefs.
“Faith is about experience. With religion, it’s all settled. With faith, it’s an adventure. You remain open to the spirit, to revelation wherever you find it.”