FAITH AND REASON

Tonight I watched the first episode of 7 on PBS in which Bill Moyers interviews a famous writer about the subject "Faith and Reason." Tonight's writer was Salman Rushdie who spent many years in exile with a bounty on his head by the muslim world for his writing of a novel titled THE SATANIC VERSES. The novel is an erudite study of good and evil with comic overtones. I had never even thought of reading the book thinking that it was probably way to erudite for me but after hearing the author read an excerpt of the book at the ending of the show I was hooked. Rushdie is a self professed atheist but I was impressed by his discussion regarding faith and religion. He is not unkind to religous thinkers and believers and he himself believes that all art--literature, music, painting, etc.-- have evolved from religion historically. To make a long story short, I clicked on to www.Amazon.com and ordered a used copy of the novel for $1.71 plus shipping. What a bargain. When that arrives it will be my reading for a couple of weeks. I figure that it is probably more worthwhile reading than the book that has taken the country by storm, THE DA VINCI CODE, which I did not read nor see the movie. I am looking forward to the rest of Moyers' series and a friend is going to get them all on tape so that we can see them again. This looks like about the only worthwhile thing on TV for the summer.