On Being

I’m continually impressed by NPR’s On Being (formerly Speaking of Faith) and its host, Krista Tippett. The granddaughter of a Southern Baptist minister and a Fullbright scholar, she also holds a Master of Divinity from Yale University. The program can be heard in the Tampa area on Sunday mornings at 6:00 am (WUSF 89.7) or the more complete program can be heard on line: onbeing.publicradio.org.

I heard her this past Saturday at a seminar in Denver along with Paul Raushenbush, religion editor of the Huffington Post. Krista quoted someone (I don’t remember who) and I can only give a paraphrase, but it’s a keeper: “Religious people need to understand that non-religious people can be moral; and non-religious people need to understand that religious people can be intelligent.” Such mutual understanding would go a long way in bridging the cultural gulf that divides us. For me, that quote also captures the basic theme of the programs. If you’ve never listened, I’d encourage you to check it out.

Here is a paragraph from the website:

"Being is a spacious conversation — and an evolving media space — about the big questions at the center of human life, from the boldest new science of the human brain to the most ancient traditions of the human spirit. The program began as an occasional series on Minnesota Public Radio in 1999, then became a monthly national program in September 2001, and launched as a weekly program titled Speaking of Faith in the summer of 2003. 

Being is heard on a growing number of public radio stations in the U.S. — 240 and counting — and globally via Internet and podcast. In 2008, the program was awarded the highest honors in both broadcasting and electronic media — our first Peabody and our second Webby Award. Being is the only public radio program in the U.S. to achieve this distinction. 

Krista envisioned a program that would draw out the intellectual and spiritual content of religion that should nourish our common life, but that is often obscured precisely when religion enters the news. Our sustained growth as a show has also been nurtured by a cultural shift that seeks conversation, shared life, and problem-solving within and across religious traditions and across categories of belief and non-belief. Being has both responded and contributed to a growing acknowledgement that there are basic questions of meaning that pertain to the entire human experience. The particular dramas and dynamics of the 21st century — ecological, political, cultural, technological, and economic — are bringing this into relief."