Segments
This week, we’re bringing you a special best-of show, with highlights from the earliest years of our program focusing on alternative beliefs in our diverse nation. On State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we’ll rewind to an interview from 2006 with secular trailblazer Sam Harris, as well as a conversation with the late Wiccan activist, broadcaster and author Margot Adler. And finally, we’ll hear one of our earliest interviews with the Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong.
With so much focus on the political Christian religious right, we have admittedly spent far less time exploring the rich tapestry of belief traditions in our nation. American author, thinker, and prominent secularist Sam Harris has always managed to garner attention. In February 2006, Sam joined State of Belief host Rev. Welton Gaddy as one of the first guests to ever appear on the show. They discussed his then-new – and still-groundbreaking – book The End of Faith.
Margot Adler passed away in 2014, and was an outspoken advocate of Neopaganism. A Wiccan high priestess, Margot was an NPR correspondent and a widely-read author. Welton will revisit their 2006 conversation about the role of Pagan traditions in our culture and our nation.
In 2009, The Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ, had just published Jesus for the Non-religious. He joined Welton on the show to discuss the highlights. A prolific author, teacher and theologian, Bishop Spong has been a frequent guest of State of Belief.
