Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason (VIDEO)

In Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason, a PBS documentary series released Nov. 9 on DVD, journalist Bill Moyers asks, "In a world where religion is poison to some and salvation to others, how do we live together?"

The first episode in the series features acclaimed author Salman Rushdie, who brought hundreds of writers together for the PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) World Voices discussion of faith and reason, before leaving as the organization's President. Bill Moyers sat down with Rushdie, among many other notable writers, to discuss interpretations of morality, the power of the conscience and controversial uses of religion as a political weapon. In this clip Moyers and Rushdie address the resurgence of religion as the center of public versus private life. [Ep. 1, 24:22--27:00]

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In Episode 5, Bill Moyers talks with author Richard Rodriguez about his experiences in aiding others as they face death, as well as his own confrontation with his mortality. By diving into the dialectic Rodriguez sees between reason and spiritual acts, he also discusses the power of prayer and listening for God in the desert. In this clip, Moyers asks Rodriguez if he is "betraying reason" whenever he prays. [Ep. 5, 8:31--10:30]

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Episode 6 features author Margaret Atwood, who talks of her job as a writer to describe her surrounding world, including hidden elements and accounts of the excluded. In Atwood's conversation with Moyers about what happens when God and politics come together, her work of The Handmaid's Tale sparks a discussion of witchcraft trials and antinomianism. [Ep. 6, 4:00--6:00]

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These clips from 'Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason' are courtesy of Athena Learning, a line of in-depth, yet entertaining, long-form documentaries that facilitate the pursuit of lifelong learning.

Comments

[kamana kapu]

03:19 PM on 01/06/2011

Truth’s are constants that have never had a begining, will never have an end, go on forever in every direction, and cannot be impacted upon or distorted.
One plus one equals two (1+1=2) is just one of the infinite number of truths to be found in mathematics making mathematics The Language of Truth.

Religion, on the other hand, cannot produce a single varifiable truth. The most important question vis-a-vis religion is “why can’t god(s) be seen, heard or touched?” The religionists have had hundreds of millions of years to answer that simple, all-important question but they cannot. And if they cannot answer that simple question than everything else about religion is treacherous, deceitful, cowardly and fraudulant.

[notwaff]

11:21 AM on 11/29/2010

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Moyers should also explore a religion that many people subscribe to – Doubt and Skepticism

There are individuals so devoted to these belief systems that they are blind to the evidence and truths that are the underpinnings of the Christian faith.
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One of my favorite followers of the religion of Skepticism is Dr. Michael Shermer, founder of Skeptic magazine.

In this video segment Shermer is trying to debunk Jesus with a theoretic conflict of Jesus' place of birth, between prophecy stating Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and Jesus having the title "Jesus of Nazareth."

Shermer gets so blinded by Skepticism that he can't see something as simple as - Jesus was born in Bethlehem and lived his life in Nazareth, which is exactly what the Bible says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxswjdgGCzQ

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Those who profession to be of the “Skeptic” belief system are not necessarily followers of "reason"

[4 All Americans]

01:26 AM on 11/27/2010

Bill Moyer, one of the high priests of the secular-progressive movement, did a documentary series on PBS, one of the most secular-progressive media outlets in America, regarding religion?!?!

Gee, I wonder what good ole Bill had to say about religion. It's troubling that those who bash religions for being intolerant of the beliefs of others are usually those that are usually so very intolerant of those who don't share their athiest/pagan world views.

[dporterdvd]

05:52 PM on 11/25/2010

Regarding creationism vs. evolutionism, I believe the story which was written directly by God in stone. If you want to read the truth, read the Grand Canyon.

[brooklyncitizen]

06:54 PM on 11/21/2010

This series does not dissappoint . One of my favorite interviews is with novelist Jeanette Winterson . Really funny and poetic....worth checking out especially for nonbelievers .
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/portraits_winterson.html

[bbriani3842]

05:26 PM on 11/21/2010

I can't say it any better than Mr. Hitchens did:

"Many religions now come before us with ingratiating smirks and outspread hands, like an unctuous merchant in a bazaar. They offer consolation and solidarity and uplift, competing as they do in a marketplace.

But we have a right to remember how barbarically they behaved when they were strong and were making an offer that people could not refuse. And if we chance to forget what that must have been like, we have only to look to those states and societies where the clergy still has the power to dictate its own terms.

The pathetic vestiges of this can still be seen, in modern societies, in the efforts made by religion to secure control over education, or to exempt itself from tax, or to pass laws forbidding people to insult it omnipotent and omniscient deity, or even his prophet."

From "God is Not Great", pages 67-68

[bbriani3842]

05:37 PM on 11/21/2010

sorry. . ."insult *its* omnipotent. . ."

[emmanuel goldstein]

12:14 PM on 11/23/2010

You can't handle the fact that most of the inhabitants of earth are both religious and good people, can you? The argument that some people have chosen to abuse religion so religion is bad is as silly as saying the same thing about government. In fact, the forms of religion your talking about are the ones in which the religion was given a back seat to governance.

[triplettam]

12:28 AM on 11/25/2010

Hey, emmanuel. Long time no see. Like your new avatar. You know what's funny and yet also sad? That many people who don't have faith--most of whom consider themselves liberal as you and I are--are as intolerant of other people's belief systems as the fanatical, right-wing preacher is. Their lack of faith almost becomes a fanatical faith. They can't stand the fact that someone might try and reconcile the natural and supernatural. They have no horse in this race, really, but they feel compelled to try and destroy the attempt. Says more about them than anything else. Well, I wish you a happy holiday. God bless.

[bbriani3842]

05:10 PM on 11/21/2010

This has already been done by another Bill.

Bill Maher

[brooklyncitizen]

06:48 PM on 11/21/2010

Bill Maher can't even come close to Moyers.
Maher is an intellectual midget.

[bbriani3842]

07:15 PM on 11/21/2010

That may be, but it doesn't make the premise of his film "Religulous" any less correct. . . .

[David Robinson]

05:11 PM on 11/20/2010

These sorts of "religious appologetic" efforts are a good start, but the ultimate reality we must face is that the all of the knowlege about the natural world we have gained through reason and science has forced religions into an intellectually untenable position.

These ways of looking at our world cannot be truly reconciled, and we need to face that fact, and leave religion behind us, as just a historical aspect of the ascent of man's consciousness, a method of dealing with the mysteries of life which which was more appropriate for our survival in the stone age that it is today.

Today, relgious "moderates" just provide cover for the extremists, lending some small degree of credulity to what are patently rediculous belief systems.

But I do love Bill Moyer, and these sorts of efforts to pretend to be able to reconcile "faith" and reason are perhaps the best way nudge us forward, out of the shadows of our dark, primitive past.

[David Robinson]

04:39 PM on 11/20/2010

These sorts of religious appologetic efforts are a good start, but the ultimate reality we must face is that the knowlege about the natural world we have gained from reason and science are forcing religion into intellectually untenable position. They can not be truly reconciled, and we need to face that, and leave religion behind us, an historical aspect of the ascent of man's consciousness, which was more appropriate for his survival in the stone age that it is today.

Relgious "moderates" just provide cover for the extremists, lending some small degree of credulity to what are patently rediculous belief systems.

But I love Bill Moyer, and these sorts of efforts are the best way nudge us forward, out of the shadows of our dark, primitive past.

[Daleri Rileda]

06:02 AM on 11/20/2010

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

"Pursue...sanctification
without which no one will see the Lord."

[BlackYowe]

04:16 AM on 11/20/2010

I just love Bill Moyers. His interviews with Joseph Campbell were truly remarkable!

[brooklyncitizen]

03:20 PM on 11/21/2010

He's one of the last real journalists and a man of integrity and conviction.How rare is that today.

[bjstucker]

10:49 PM on 11/19/2010

To have faith one needs to abandon reason.

[LintLass]

11:38 PM on 11/19/2010

Ain't so, actually. It's just a lot of *religions* (and others) say that. And some are bound to believe it, of course.

[Weirdwriter]

01:01 AM on 11/20/2010

You've never watched this series, have you?

[bbriani3842]

05:11 PM on 11/21/2010

Go ahead and delete his comment. . . .

[sunshine14]

10:32 PM on 11/19/2010

Moyers  is the best by far.

[peter ricci]

08:21 PM on 11/19/2010

"In a world where religion is poison to some and salvation to others, how do we live together?"

Simple, stop trying to legislate your beliefs onto other peoples lives that do not subscribe to your beliefs, but that is always something you cannot help doing.

Religions are slowly losing their grasp on others lives as we understand more and more about the natural world and a universe we live in - and scaring people doesn't work anymore!

[emmanuel goldstein]

09:28 PM on 11/19/2010

"Simple, stop trying to legislate your beliefs onto other peoples lives that do not subscribe to your beliefs, but that is always something you cannot help doing."

Apparently you don't know anything about Moyers.

[LynneE]

12:58 AM on 11/20/2010

I am not sure if religions are losing their grasp. It seems to me that there are more and more religious fundamentalists who are desperately trying to gain a foothold in the government, and people are still falling for the same old promises and threats.

[peter ricci]

09:05 AM on 11/20/2010

Hi Lynne

Yes, well the powerful have a large voice, but church attendances are falling dramatically. This is the first economic crisis where this has happened in memory. There are still enough people that will say they are religious for fear and misunderstanding, but more people are turning to alternatives and more and more people are outspoken on this subject.

It used to be suicide to say you were a non believer, but not anymore and there will be another period of enlightenment once the youth of today get into their 30's and 40's and era of reason - I hope :)

[rainkitty]

08:12 PM on 11/19/2010

Power of Myth by Bill Moyers, a very respectful book (and series) most Christian Fundamentalists have never heard of. Pity.

[Weirdwriter]

01:03 AM on 11/20/2010

From some of the comments here, neither have some non-Christians.