Whither Faith?

My mother always tells me, "There are three things you should never talk about, & that's religion, politics, or sports."

My response is always, "Oh, three things people care deeply about!"

It might not surprise you that I never follow her advice.  Certainly not here!

There's something, therefore, it might be important to ask, "Why would someone who really doesn't have any faith do a radio show about faith?"

Because - spoiler alert - I don't really have any faith at all.  I have no real religion or religious beliefs, & when asked by believers I tell them I don't believe in anything supernatural.  When I hear people talking about "god," I usually ask them which one they're talking about.  Because it seems to me weird that even people who claim not to believe usually talk about a god assuming it's the one their culture has agreed upon, even though there have been many, many gods in human history.  & I'd hate to disrespect someone who's waxing eloquent about their god & make some sort of faux pas because I didn't clarify whether they're talking about Yahweh or Jupiter.

That doesn't explain why I'm doing a show about faith.  I'm pretending to be having an argument here, so I'll list two defenses of my show I don't really need.

1) It's in my nature to explore things that I don't necessarily agree with/believe in.  I'm a vegan, & haven't eaten meat since I was 18, but I've done a show about butchers before.  I'm sure there were other shows about things that I don't endorse, condone, care for, care about, or have ambivalent feelings around.  Some of my shows, in case you haven't noticed, are about dumb things.  It's true!

2) It turns out most people don't write songs that resemble theological discussions.  Most songs about faith, actually, are about having faith in someone, or not having faith in someone, rather than the sort of faith we associate with a religious belief.

I will talk about religious faith.  Some of my "guests" (you must know they're just friends pretending to be experts, right?) will talk about religious faith.  But mostly the show will be about fidelity to someone rather than to a deity.

Do I need to have faith in anything to have a show like that?  Nah.  In the same way I can do a show about soldiers & never have served.  What a marvelous world this can be.

The show is on tomorrow morning from 7-9 am on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington & online simultaneously at the station's website.  It will find its way some time later in the day to the show's website.  Either way, you'll have an opportunity to hear it if you want.  You don't need faith to believe that!