A summary of The Meaning of Faith, a recent show on the radio program Speaking of Faith.

The first guest on the show is Sahron Salzberg, a Buddhist and writer and faith and its meaning in Buddhism. She says that most people don’t think is associated with Buddhism, but she says it is a major part of the religion. In Pali, the original language of Buddhism, the word suddha means faith, trust, confidence, and devotion. She says that in Buddhism faith isn’t a commodity that you have or don’t have and if you don’t have it your condemned, instead it is a journey based on our love for others and others love for us, it is about connection. Acts of faith we do, regardless of what we faith in will reveal something about ourselves. She says one of the things that Buddhist students are taught is that you shouldn’t believe something just because you are told it or because it is in sacred texts, instead you show go and and test it and see if it is true for yourself. She ends with saying that the opposite of faith is despair.

The next guest on the show is Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. A teacher and writer about Judaism. He says that one thing you may often find about Jews is that if you ask them if they believe in God they will say no but if you ask them if they have been close to God they will say yes. He gives advice says that you if don’t doubt God you are theologically comatose. He says that arguing about sacred text is a way of bringing each other into being, and that the challenge of faith is that you must find God in places that are increasingly less and less obvious.

The next guest is Anne Lamott, a Christian and best-selling author on books about faith. She starts with saying that you can only know Jesus through his children. She defines faith as a verb that joins people and the common thing among people of faith is the golden rule that you get what you put in. She says that our spiritual identity is not dependant on our circumstance, no matter your religion we are children of God. She says that the evil of modern religion is fundamentalism, the thinking that we are “the chosen people” and if you aren’t in the chosen group you aren’t going to get invited to the banquet (heaven).

The final guest is Omid Sofi, a Muslim and a teacher at the American Academy of Religion. He starts with saying that it is possible to be formally Muslim without having actualized the beauty of faith. He explains what the Koran says about faith. It says that faith is that you have faith in God, the angels, the scriptures, all the messengers and the last day. The Koran goes on to says that spiritual excellence is that you worship God as if you see if and even if you don’t see him you know that none the less he sees you.