For 15 years, Presbyterian minister Randy Lovejoy and atheist Alan Katz have been unlikely friends, both living in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Back when it began, Randy ministered at the Silver Lake Community Church. Alan coached youth basketball and soccer teams. They both shared the same social circle. And then, one day, they had lunch together. They haven’t stopped talking since.

What can an atheist and a Christian minister have in common? Plenty, it turns out. It starts with awe — the awe we all feel when we gaze up at the universe. That’s the first thing we all have in common. That awe is our spirituality. One does not need religion to experience spirituality.

In a sense, a religious person saying that God is ultimately unknowable is the same as someone who believes in the scientific method thinking we may never know what lies beyond a singularity. Unknowable is unknowable whether we think of it as a deity or information. If we look closer, we’ll see that our spiritual quests are remarkably alike; it’s really the vocabulary that’s different.

What led Alan to atheism? Why did Randy become a minister? What exactly will The Faitheism Podcast talk about in future episodes? We’re glad you asked…

Sources for today’s podcast:

Bill Bryson, A Short History Of Nearly Everything, published by Broadway Books.