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The State of Faith in America

In 2012 a Pew Research study showed that one-fifth of the U.S. public identified themselves as unaffiliated with any religion.  This means atheist, agnostic, and just darn nothing.  Apparently two years later this inspired the folks at Larry King Now to put together a show on “The State of Faith in America” that primarily focused on the rising tide of nonbelievers in the United States.  Assuming that two years later we’re still trending that way. ( I just want some newer data to prompt a show on Larry!  That’s all I’m saying.) 

Now I am a lady that has watched more than her fair share of round table television shows and many, okay all, of them have featured people on opposite ends of the issue being discussed.  The guests for this one are: Gus Holwerda, who directed the documentary “The Unbelievers”, Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist who is featured in the film “The Unbelievers”, Michael Beckwith, a new thought minister and author, David A.R. White, a Christian actor who stars in “God’s Not Dead”, and Jay Bakker, pastor, speaker, author, and son of Jim and Tammy Faye. 

The participants were respectful of each other and although I may have detected a hint of exasperation in Krauss’s voice on the rare occasion, voices were never raised and tempers never flared.  The problem is the show is only 30 minutes so no thoughts were given a chance to be expanded upon and no responses were given a chance for the other side to then make a brief rebuttal.  King’s heart was in the right place, but he needed at least 60 minutes for it to be a real conversation. 

Let’s be honest, we could have a million round tables like these and many of the questions posed by King may never be settled to the satisfaction of every American.  The folks over at Larry King Now were nice enough to bring this episode to my attention and now I’m sharing it with you, if you’re interested. 

Also for those who may be interested, here is the trailer for the movie “God’s Not Dead” that guest David A.R. White is in. 

And for those of you who want the flip side trailer, here’s the one for “The Unbelievers”.