Monologues in silos. That’s how Bill Moyers sizes up the fractured state of discourse in the culture today. And there is no greater communication gap than between absolutists taking their isolated refuge in the silos of spiritualism and secularism.
With an eye toward charting some common ground, and exploring the richness of that terrain, “Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason” presents seven weekly hour-long sessions with writers of wildly varying positions on belief and disbelief – and who collectively disavow any simple either/or polarity.
So does their host.
“My point of view is that we need to consider that faith and reason are inherently part of the human experience, and embedded in us,” says Moyers, who sought out writers (as opposed to religious figures or scholars) to learn through in-
depth conversations some of what they find on their creative odysseys.
Drawn from the distinguished group that gathered recently for the PEN World Voices Festival in New York, Moyers’ guest list begins with Salman Rushdie, who joins him for the PBS series premiere at 9 tonight on KRMA-Channel 6.
Rushdie knows all too well the price of religious dogmatism.
An Indian-born atheist, the British author was forced underground for five years when his 1989 novel “The Satanic Verses” resulted in death threats and a fatwa by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini. Rushdie’s book was condemned by believers as offensive to Islam.
“It seems to me that when there is conflict between the liberty of speech and the beliefs of private individuals, the liberty of speech must always take precedence,” Rushdie declares. “Because otherwise every other liberty, including freedom of religious observance, is put into question.”
On the second edition of “Faith & Reason,” British philosopher Colin McGinn (“The Mysterious Flame: Conscious Minds in a Material World”) speaks of his journey from belief to disbelief.
On the same show, novelist Mary Gordon (“The Company of Women”) describes herself as “a person of faith” and speaks of putting that faith to work when, say, encountering greedy motorists who drive gas-guzzlers.
“It seems to me the only thing that stops me from going out and shooting people in Hummers is a religious belief that, even though I don’t like them, they are sacred and valuable in the eyes of God,” she says.
On a later episode, Canadian author Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) sees a commingling of religion at the service of politics as something that, in the United States, has “been floating in the breeze this last little while. … ‘This is the true religion: Follow our flag.”‘
Moyers’ series reflects the diversity of attitudes he perceives in society at large, and, when sitting down with his guests, “I was pleased that they were able to express the nuances that most of us experience in our thinking about faith and reason,” he says.
“I don’t think the country is as polarized as the politics represent,” he adds hopefully. “I think it’s 5 percent on each side of the spectrum that’s driving discourse these days. But surveys show that people on the whole aren’t that divided, aren’t that dogmatic, and that they’re eager for solutions, for tolerance, for progress.”
Moyers, 72, has returned to the airwaves 18 months after stepping down as anchor of “Now.” He planned to retire, but couldn’t resist TV’s siren call.
“I have a regret that some people won’t listen because the right has demonized me,” he says. “But I don’t do this to be divisive. I don’t do this to be controversial.”
