Posted by Helen on: 06.22.2006 /
A new series on Faith and Reason, hosted by Bill Moyers, is beginning tomorrow (June 23) on PBS. You can watch a preview of it here.
In a world where religion is poison to some and salvation to others, how do we live together? It’s an old debate, this discussion of belief and disbelief. On one end of the spectrum people say, “Only religion counts.” On the other end, “Only reason counts.”
Well, I’ve always been a fellow who falls in the middle of this one. Neither wholly a believer nor wholly a skeptic, I see democracy as a co-operative that depends on our thinking out loud and reasoning through until we resolve the issue.
— Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers will have a different guest each week. One of the guests will be Salmon Rushdie, who will discuss the Muhammed cartoons.
If you watch any of this series, let us know what you think!
Comment by: Peter Walker
1 06/22/06 11:52 AM | Comment Link |Awesome! I’m always glad to see thoughtful discussion taking place on TV… I hope it lives up to its promise.
It IS interesting, however, to still see “Faith and Reason” pitted against eachother in such Enlightenment-era language. I have a hunch that this program will be very much formatted for the modernist worldview.
Comment by: Julie Marie
2 06/22/06 12:39 PM | Comment Link |harumph. I’d like to watch this series, but the cable to the satellite dish that captures the local channels was cut planting something back 8 months or so ago. it just hasn’t been that big of a priority to go to Lowes and buy new cable. And we don’t have any rabbit ears. now who, in this technological age, would think I’d be wishing for rabbit ears!
Comment by: Eliza
3 06/22/06 6:28 PM | Comment Link |Julie Marie, just be sure not to pray for rabbit ears…or be very clear that you mean the kind that goes on a TV! ;)
Comment by: Helen M.
4 06/22/06 6:40 PM | Comment Link |LOL Eliza :)
We don’t have cable - we just have an antenna in the attic.
We’re more ‘computer’ people than ‘TV’ people although we do watch DVDs regularly.
Comment by: Eliza
5 06/22/06 10:41 PM | Comment Link |This show looks interesting! The website says the debut showing won’t be until 6/30 in my area, *pout*. I hope someone can watch it tomorrow and give us a bit of a report!
We don’t have any antenna, nor cable. We watch essentially no TV - the last thing I watched was the 2004 presidential debates, since the radio just can’t convey facial expressions, body language, the height difference, etc, & those fold into people’s impressions of the debates (think Kennedy and Nixon). And before that was the 2000 implosion of the Kingdome, also not conveyed well by the radio (though they tried!). We didn’t turn on the TV on/after 9/11/2001 - no need to see the video footage over and over. The radio and newspaper reports were awful enough.
Luckily, PBS is the one station that our TV can pick up without an antenna or cable (don’t ask me why!). So, this would be ironic…not only has off-the-map gotten me involved in online discussions for the first time (”sucked in” might describe it better ;) )…it might have me watching a TV show every week for the first time since we stopped watching TV on 5/2/1996.
(The story behind no-TV: my husband and I were trying to watch Seinfeld from 9-9:30pm on 5/2/1996. An earthquake - now known as “the Duvall earthquake”, magnitude 5.3 - occurred at 9:04pm, got our attention but wasn’t huge - but the talking heads on the TV took over and didn’t stop. “There’s been an earthquake! We have no reports of any injuries or damage! We have fresh footage - a grocery store where cans fell off the shelves!” They were not saying anything of use, and there actually was very little news to tell, but that didn’t stop them from blabbing on & acting like Chicken Little. We got disgusted, turned off the TV, and that was that. Haven’t missed it.)
Comment by: Julie Marie
6 06/23/06 7:51 AM | Comment Link |Ha Ha That would be a sight to give both evolutionists and creationists pause!
Yeah, we have that same thing go on down here during hurricaine season. “Its in the Atlantic…yep, its a big one…forcasted to make landfall sometime next week…here’s our own Denise Adams at the local Piggly Wiggly, whats going on Denise? Well Charlie, theres still bread on the shelves…”
Comment by: Eliza
7 06/24/06 10:01 AM | Comment Link |Did anyone get a chance to watch the first episode last night? If so, please do tell us about it! (Thanks!)
Comment by: Helen M.
8 06/25/06 12:26 PM | Comment Link |Eliza, I recorded it but I haven’t watched it yet. I’ll post about it once I’ve watched it.
Comment by: Existential Punk
9 06/25/06 9:16 PM | Comment Link |His interview with Salman Rushdie (sp?) was awesome. He is a very balanced person for the most part. Hope i can catch the other interviews! Existential Punk.