{"id":10807,"date":"2014-09-30T16:56:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T21:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=10807"},"modified":"2014-09-30T16:56:10","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T21:56:10","slug":"the-state-of-faith-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=10807","title":{"rendered":"The State of Faith in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2012 a Pew Research study<\/a> 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 \u201cThe State of Faith in America\u201d that primarily focused on the rising tide of nonbelievers in the United States. Assuming that two years later we\u2019re still trending that way. (I just want some newer data to prompt a show on Larry! That\u2019s all I\u2019m saying.)<\/p>\n

<\/a>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 \u201cThe Unbelievers\u201d, Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist who is featured in the film \u201cThe Unbelievers\u201d, Michael Beckwith, a new thought minister and author, David A.R. White, a Christian actor who stars in \u201cGod\u2019s Not Dead\u201d, and Jay Bakker, pastor, speaker, author, and son of Jim and Tammy Faye.<\/p>\n

The participants were respectful of each other and although I may have detected a hint of exasperation in Krauss\u2019s 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\u2019s heart was in the right place, but he needed at least 60 minutes for it to be a real conversation.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s 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\u2019m sharing it with you, if you\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n