Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion sounds really good (only read a review). The author, an Italian, Antonio Monta, asked 18 well known people, questions like: Do you believe in God? What will happen to you at death? Do you pray? Do you think religious believers are deluded.
Now, talk about a conversation he could have had with the "girlfriends," this is one. One interviewee was particular interesting to me, Grace Paley. I've loved her short stories over the years. She was especially adept at dealing with social issues of war, greed, and racism in telling stories.
Monta interviewed her two years before she succumbed to breast cancer. At the time, she wondered why he wanted to talk about religion and her views on it. Answer: I think it's the most important subject of our time. "Are you serious?" obviously thinking he was not.
The author interviewed celebs like Jane Fonda and several that I didn't know but were celebrities to someone, I guess. I did recognize Arthur Schlesinger and Martin Scorsese who didn't know much about God but believed in his Catholicism. Hillary Clinton and Condi Rice turned him down for an interview.
When he asked Ms. Paley, Do you think that life after death exists?
She replied, "Obviously no" but added, and an 83 old is telling you this, aware that she doesn't have much time to live. And then, turning the tables on Mr. Monda, she asked, "And what is there for you after death? He replied, "The true life"--she came back with, What is the life that we're living at this moment? He answered, "a passage and a gift." Now you see, she concluded, this is an idea that interests me because it's very different from what I believe in.
When Nathan Englander was asked if he believed in God, he whimsical said, "I'd be inclined to say no if I didn't fear God's wrath."
Some common themes: fundamentalism is bad, religions often gives people license to do bad things. Writing, film making, etc is a quasi religious calling. (Say what?) Jesus was a great thinker, rather than redeemer. As for organized religion--none of the interviewees had a good word for it. The author admits that he is a committed Catholic
I think that after reading the above comments, I am sticking to the New Testament. Power in the Blood. Thank you Jesus.
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