Crazy for God

I'm not a religious person.  I grew up in a secular Jewish household, and my religious training came from watching The Ten Commandments on television.  Seriously.

And as I've grown older, I've often wondered about the hypocrisy that is organized religion.  

Houses of God should, by definition, be places where people can go to find community, tolerance, love and inclusion.  Instead, I've found that synagogues where hefty membership dues are required and tickets must be purchased for the high holiday services are the norm and, as such, exemplify hypocrisy.

And the Christian churches preach the words of Jesus, while denying gays the right to marry, and caring more for a fertilized egg than for a child born into poverty without the means to live a happy, healthy life filled with love.

Hypocrisy.  Easy for me to say, as I've never had organized religion as part of my life.

Today I had the pleasure of spending an hour interviewing Frank Schaeffer.  He was born into fundamentalist Christian royalty and emerged from the madness to offer a memoir.  His latest book, "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of it Back".

His is a truly fascinating story.  You can listen to our interview here (runtime 37:37)