what new yorkers are reading on the subway


Friday, June 13, 2008

The Reason for God

Manhattan Bound A Train between Nostrand and Hoyt-Schermerhorn
We live in a city of religion, judging from what people read on the train. The Koran. The Bible. The Talmud. The Book of the Dead. And then there are the books we don't know about, books without screaming book jackets (or book jackets that have been removed). Kayle, who said she is "a stay at home mom," had just started reading The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism when I spoke with her Wednesday, June 11. "He is a Christian," she said of Timothy Keller. The book addresses the issue of whether or not Christianity is the true belief, and, as the title indicates, is addressed to skeptics. Vying for exclusivity--to be the one, true religion--is not such a bad thing, according to the book. She's only read a few chapters but finds the book "very enlightening." Me, I'd like to moderate a debate on the A train between all of the one, true religions. I bet it would take from Inwood to Far Rockaway. Afterwards, we could all go swimming.

1 comment:

Mike said...

You'd think that if any city on earth would know the true results of blind dogmatic faith in god, it would be New York City. Apparently it takes more than a few toppled buildings and thousands of deaths on a Tuesday morning to drive that point home. That's a shame.