Speaking of Faith

I'm not a religious person. At all. In fact, churches burst into flame as I pass.

Not really.

But I just don't feel it, and never have.

That does not prevent me from being interested in religion, and in religious people. I've been obsessively interested in the Puritans for the last 15 years or so, and often find that my students presume I am a person of faith because of the detail with which I describe Puritan religious values.

Americans make a lot of decisions based on faith. So for someone like me, who is a professional Explainer-of-Why-Americans-Do-That-Crazy-Stuff, understanding faith is a good idea. I can't just dismiss other people's views because I don't agree. Whether I agree or not, many publicly significant decisions will rest on the faith of my neighbors.

But the vast (VAST) majority of discussions about faith frustrate me. They're simple, one-sided, intellectually shallow, etc. etc.

Cue Krista Tippett and her program, Speaking of Faith. Yesterday, in the car on the way home from taking a walk with Sarah B. and Callie (and Iain, of course), I listened to Tippett talk with Amy Sullivan about abortion. It was the only nuanced, honest, and calm such discussion I've heard in years. The segment was called "Between the Polarized Extremes of Abortion," and it boiled down to a hope that people would relax their spines enough to talk openly about the interaction between religious faith and policy.

The podcast is free on Speaking of Faith's website. They're launching a series next week about faith on the left and the right. I'll be listening.