I Had No Idea! (March 24, 2004)
I just wanted to express my delight in hearing some about Karen Armstrong's approach to spirituality and different faiths. I had no idea there were other people, much less someone as extensively studied as she is, that have come to conclusions about God similar to my own. I was raised Catholic, although my father is sort of agnostic and remember from early on wondering how anyone could be so certain that they had all the "right" answers about such a complex being as God. It struck me as down right arrogant.

Then in high school I had a mid/far east history course in which the teacher was, herself… um, "alternately spiritual". She spent a great deal of time (for a history class) covering the religions of the regions we were studying. Couple these two things with the fact that I was at that time of life when you question deeply the foundation of the 'institutions' around you and I ended up coming to the conclusion that most of the major religions had one or, at most, two things in common and that was probably the only real TRUTH to be had out of any man-made theology.

I also figured that the 'real god' was likely so complex and incomprehensible to mere human minds that we were lucky if each major religion had only one accurate belief about the nature of God. And even if they were all different, they could all be accurate. I don't ponder my spirituality much these days, its just too frustrating with all the horrible things that are done in the name of religions that probably have most of their "facts" wrong. But I will be investigating Ms. Armstrong's book The History of God to satisfy my curiosity about some of those details. Thank you again for airing the story about Karen Armstrong.

Eden Hunt
Atlanta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

View Each Other as Fellow Seekers (March 21, 2004)
The closing anecdote about the ranting fundamentalist led me to wonder why the ranter had never read the 15th Chapter of Luke. The prodigal son denied his father — yet was forgiven. If Muslims and Jews are also guilty of denial — why is the Heavenly Father not as capable of forgiveness as the father in the parable?

My problem with fundamentalists is their belief of possession of the only true theology. We are all blind, groping in the dark (seeing through a glass darkly). My theology undoubtedly has as many holes in it as theirs, and vice versa. In my humble opinion, if all religions could see each other as fellow seekers, looking for answers that we will never really know during our mortal existence, much (but not all, sadly) conflict could be avoided.

William Preston
La Grange Park, IL (WBEZ, 91.5 FM)

Interview with Karen Armstrong (March 20, 2004)
I wanted to share my feelings about the interview with Karen Armstrong. I was deeply touched by Ms. Armstrong's words and have sent the link to her archived interview to my minister. I am a Unitarian-Universalist and Ms. Armstrong's feelings resonated with me on a very deep level. I've heard her on NPR in the past and intend to read more of her works. Thank you for an outstanding show. We must keep programs like this on the air.

Kim Tyndall
Valley Cottage, NY (WNYC, 820 AM)

Support for the Climb (April 20, 2004)
Speaking of Faith is so often like a refreshing drink of water. Thank you! As I think of other reactions to Karen Armstrong, whom I also was pleased to hear recently on C-SPAN and PBS, I wish those who think that she is speaking of emotionality as spirituality or refer to milquetoast thinking would read some more of her work! Spiral Staircase is very personal and has resonance for many of us; but taken in whole with her other more scholarly work, it can indeed lead to a new level of insight into one another as well as our own relationship to the spirit. She brings hope to what could easily be experienced as a hopeless time. I am looking forward with excitement to the work she is doing in studying Buddhism.

Moira Heffron
Minneapolis, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)

Questions Unanswered (March 24, 2004)
Karen Armstrong gave a thought-provoking glimpse of God and views held by different religions that were surprisingly similar, but this does not startle me. C.S. Lewis pointed this out some time ago.

In the preface to Mere Christianity and in the book itself, he essentially says that God and his characteristics are visible to all mankind. The thing he says though that separates him from Armstrong is that he believes there is an ultimate reality apart from our perceptions and that one person must be right and another wrong. He says that 2+2=4, and it will always equal 4; however, 5 is a lot closer than 9. I do not recall the exact quote, but that is the summation of the idea.

But i think that, eventually, the subject cannot be viewed through a compassionate eye, but must be viewed through an objective eye and a truth must be found. For while there are many similarities between the different religions, there are violent differences and they cannot all be true.

Josh Nelson
Atlanta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Three Ideas Illuminated by Krista (March 22, 2004)
I had the great pleasure of listening to WHYY as I drove through Philadelphia and then hearing the show a second time in DC that evening. The way that Ms. Armstrong brought together the similarities between Judaism, Christianity and Islam were important to me.

I was especially interested in three ideas brought out by Krista's interview: the humanity and love expressed by Paul and the teachings of Christ as being consistent with Judaic thought and teachings; the confluence and belief of Islamic and Judaic precepts of action being more important than individual beliefs; and the ideas of religion as poetry. If more people would take the time to listen to the show and to read the learnings and experience of Ms. Armstrong, perhaps we could find the common ground to find what I think we all strive for — peace, loving kindness, humanity and love for our brothers of all faiths.

It struck me again that we all believe basically the same things and all pray to the same God. I think that Krista would do us all a favor by sending a free tape to Mel Gibson, Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat, although I wonder whether it would make an impression.

Robert Wein
Reston, VA (WHYY, 91.0 FM & WETA, 90.9 FM)

Devout Skeptic Who Thinks (March 23, 2004)
I am a devout skeptic but I love listening to and reading Karen Armstrong because she makes me think. Thanks to both of you for this program.

Charlie Green
Asheville, NC (WCQS, 88.1 FM)

Karen Armstrong's Wisdom (March 22, 2004)
Thank you for hosting an excellent interview with Karen Armstrong. I was particularly awed by her synthesis of the general problems of the world today when she noted that all of them had secular roots that were not addressed, later taken over by religious zealots who "portray God as an extension of themselves, writ large." That just exploded in my mind. It put all kinds of things in a new perspective and deepened my understanding of a lot of the problems we face today.

George Wells
Dover, NJ (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something (March 20, 2004)
Without meaning to I've listened to Karen Armstrong three times over the last three days. I heard her interview on Fresh Air Weekend today and with Leonard Lopate over WNYC and just an hour ago over C-SPAN's book channel. I didn't try to find her, she's been chasing me. At least it seems more than coincidence.

It seems more than coincidence because I also thought I had a calling to religious life, and I also wound up leaving, at the request of the community. Actually at the request of two different communities. (If at first you don't succeed . . .) My problem was not epilepsy. I had been abused when I was a boy by a classmate. I hated myself and feared him. I wanted to give myself to God with the understanding that God would magically change me into someone else — someone who had never been betrayed, never terrified.

But that's not what happens in religious life. My mistake was in believing that healing meant what the World thinks it means. That is, forget about it, it didn't happen. It couldn't have happened because God wouldn't allow that to happen to his minister. No one who suffered that way could ever be healed. They would always carry the wound and no one would ever treat them like a whole human being. Jesus wasn't spared the anxiety of day-to-day living, let alone the Cross. I do not live in the Church of Superman, an invincible hero who is never wounded and never dies. I live in the Church of Jesus Christ "and Him crucified."

As Karen Armstrong would probably remind me, St. Paul said, "nothing can separate us from the Love of God." Not sin, and not anything that is done to us, especially not abuse at the hands of a boy who was living with an abuser. But like Karen Armstrong said at her talk at Union Theological Seminary earlier this month, which was carried on C-SPAN, when we confront our suffering we resolve never, never to do it to anyone else. We are broken open so that we can accept our suffering and other people's as well.

Where society has it wrong is in its denial of the possibility that you can reach outside yourself from your wounded self out to someone else. I cannot ask the world to turn around me because of what was done to me. Instead, I can reach out to other people.

Steven J. Bosch
Floral Park, NY (WNYC, 820 AM)

Reason versus Emotionality (March 21, 2004)
Heard your program with Karen Armstrong, and there are two points I disagree with: 1. By divorcing rationality from scripture and belief and emphasizing the "art or poetry," or the emotionality of a tradition, encourages fundamentalism in my opinion, rather than compassion. It is the close emotional affinity of "believers" to their particular religions that makes them dogmatic and at times completely blind to reason. 2. It is not accurate, in my opinion, to explain the actions of groups like Al-Qaeda and other "fundamentalists" to the threat they feel towards their particular tradition or brand of religion (or the lack of their ability to talk — Pat Robertson gets premium time on Fox News), by divorcing the political and the socioeconomic contexts of their group biography which better explains their motivations.

Muhammed Asadi
Detroit, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)

All-Encompassing Sacred (March 20, 2004)
Many of your programs give way to extended thought regarding one's personal spiritual quest. I too, was enslaved by the narrow path of Christianity, having spent forty years being indoctrinated and twenty being deprogrammed by a broadening of my search for 'god' and having found that force embedded within.

Like Karen, I have moved from the position of the 'debunker' to the 'lover' of mankind and our joint and individual need for being part of the 'sacred'. It is knowing that my unity with the creator has its beginnings from even before my physical birth, that I now can revel in the peace that comes with knowing I am 'not guilty'… nor in fact have I ever been 'accused'.

In a nutshell, that is the space from which I currently navigate. Without writing a treatise I will simply say, "I sincerely appreciate your inspiring programming of this Speaking of Faith offering."

Gary Luckow
Grand Forks, ND (KNTN, 102.7 FM)

Born in Hinduism But Not Practicing It (March 21, 2004)
I am an electronic engineer. I relate to Karen Armstrong in her early days, being a rebel of all religions for it divided the human race and created horror in the history of human race. Without religions the world would have been unified today by the science that exploded in this century. The nature is almost revealed to the fullest and there is no God any where in that space.

So obviously a true scientist does not believe in God. But I feel the humility, serenity, peace that the piousness brings to the human mind via Religion is true as I experienced it. I am able to feel this without believing in creativity and miracles. Why does Christian faith integrate both and miserably fail in total? Eventually one day this religion may turn out to be mere ornamental ritual. Does Karen Armstrong believe in Creation?

Thilaka Ramaswamy
Detroit, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)

Work for the Good of Others (March 25, 2004)
I was highly impressed with Karen's notion of removing the self from the center of one's own universe and placing others there instead. What a powerful notion this is. The question I raised with myself is "Does this mean I do not get up tomorrow morning and drive to the office to work for 8 hours?"

The obvious answer is Yes. I must go to the office and I must work 8 hours or more. However, now I do not do this in order to earn a paycheck. Rather, I must go to the office with primary thoughts of how I might use the next 8 hours not to benefit myself or to achieve my goals, but rather to benefit others and to help others to achieve their goals. Oh, to wish for the "other" the greatest possible good, each and every day of my life. What a joy that would be.

I confess, I have not read any of Karen's books. Your program has introduced her to me. Now, I plan to read several of her books. THANK YOU!

Marvin L. Morgan
Atlanta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Soul Found Peace (March 22, 2004)
Thank you for having Karen Armstrong on your program. I am in agreement with her conclusions regarding organized religion, although, for me, I converted at 21 from Christianity to (Conservative) Judaism, where my soul found peace (I am now 55). I am a regular listener of your program. Thank you and keep up the good work.

Jan Book
Los Angeles, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

Deep Thoughts (March 21, 2004)
I have listened to Speaking of Faith regularly — only because it's on my public radio station and I'm up early. Sum total is — all of this is absolute nonsense. It's like going into the attic of grandmother's house and putting on costumes from the trunk and trotting them out on the staircase for the approval of all. Anyone who believes that religion is anything but make-believe of the most rabid sort can swear on Marinetti's Futurist manifesto that war is "the world's only hygiene." Karen Armstrong's milquetoast religiosity has to be the bottom of the barrel. People are being killed wholesale all over the planet and religion is the excuse given by all the perpetrators.

Charles Fortner
Ann Arbor, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)