Stories of faith: losing it, talking about it, constructing it, and working within it.
-
Download Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
- Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Subscribe
- Transcript
Act One
Adventures In Turning The Other Cheek
An explanation of what Christians and Muslims talk about in a place you might not expect them to get along at all: Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Host Ira Glass talks with Georg Taubmann, a relief worker with the Christian missionary group Shelter Now, who built houses and did other good works in Afghanistan for seventeen years, until he was arrested by the Taliban in August. He was rescued in November. He says that it's actually easier to talk religion with the Afghans than it is in the U.S. or in Taubmann's home country of Germany. (7 minutes)
Act Two
Does Size Matter If You're Talking About A Cross?
Josh Noel reports with Alex Blumberg from Groom, Texas, 45 minutes east of Amarillo, on the largest cross in the Western hemisphere—it's 19 stories tall—the man who built it, and the people who stop at the cross to pray. (18 minutes)
Act Three
The Epiphany Biz
Bill Lychak reports on what it's like to be a factory worker in the Epiphany Plant, bringing news of miracles to Christians in a magazine called Guideposts. It's a good job, he says. His account first appeared on Open Letters. (8 minutes)
Song:
“The Bible Tells Me So” by The John Matthews Family
Act Four
First Be Reconciled To Thy Brother, And Then Come And Offer Thy Gift
Susie Putz-Drury reports on Bethel Church in Dandridge, Tennessee. It's an all-black Presbyterian Church with a white pastor, who does not always agree with his own congregation on the best way to worship God. They yearn for more spirit, more charisma. He says if emotion is all you get from church, you're not getting enough. Susie explains how he's stayed there fifteen years. (16 minutes)