Ever since the 2016 election, Americans have been wary of the spread of misinformation on social media.

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Says You! Live Radio. You know.". I longed to find answers, to pierce, even momentarily, the veil that prevents us from understanding the essential questions of our existence. All rights reserved. "But at a certain point he simply was not there.". God knew everything, and heard me when I told him I knew he knew. But I was intelligent enough to dedicate myself to reforming my behavior so I wouldn't continue to be taken to the boys' restroom. Who was I to take on such monumental and elemental questions? I had not made the leap to faith since losing it somewhere between adolescence and young adulthood. I knew he was there for me, wherever "there" happened to be.

Even an unjust and cruel beating could not diminish my belief in him or his omniscience.

The Germanacos Foundation, the Jenerosity Foundation, Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, the Bernard Osher Foundation, and the members of KQED. How? Should we obey those commandments even if we cannot know or be certain of God or of his having handed them down? Let There Be Laughter A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means by Michael Krasny. But I recalled a conversation I had had with Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence, in which he told me, "I know Sam. A Radio Host Goes 'Off Mike' to Share Life Story. Airs LIVE on KQED Public Radio weekdays from 9am - 11am. Excerpted by permission of New World Library .

God knew I did not deserve that beating. After I published my memoir, Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life, I began to think a lot about goodness. When I was a boy, the question never occurred to me. I had been, for most of my adult life, in a state of uncertainty about age-old metaphysical questions concerning God's existence, good and evil, spirituality, and the meaning of life, questions that matter greatly to thinking people.

But the larger and more poignant question turns out to be this: how can I or anyone else make up for the loss of a God who once felt real, comforting, close, and personal. Michael Krasny joins us now from his studios at KQED in San Francisco, where he hosts Forum, the highly regarded daily program which is also on Sirius XM.

Because I was a kid who misbehaved, I felt the physical abuse I received was justified and my bad behavior its cause. Copyright 2010 by Michael Krasny. They're called “deep fakes.” Why security experts worry that U.S. adversaries could use them to interfere in this year's election. I slipped and helplessly watched as the bucket toppled over and yellow paint flowed down the elementary school corridor like a miniature river. hide caption. But to try to bring light to timeless and essential questions about our existence seemed at best a foolish endeavor and at worst an exercise in hubris and futility. If we cannot know or be certain of God, can we determine, without God, what is moral or good? I let it be known that I was the new Michael Krasny, a Michael Krasny who had metamorphosed into a good boy. When I write of spiritual envy, I mean envy of the consolation of faith, of the elevating power of knowing a force or forces beyond the physical, observable world or past the finite limits of self, of knowing a higher purpose, or possessing answers, or even being convinced they can be discovered. To the agnostic, such faith is nothing but the wind whispering, the clouds vanishing. An hour of the program is rebroadcast at 10pm. And even though religion has been much maligned in recent years -- and deservedly so for having led too many in its name along dark paths of cruelty, intransigence, self-righteousness, and violence -- religion also has provided ineffable solace and a reason for living a moral life, a reason for charity and generosity.

Why strive for goodness? "Yes!" But the question that intrigued me even more, I realized after my book came out, was: why choose to be good?

We Insist: A Timeline Of Protest Music In 2020. To the agnostic, faith cannot come except in response to some form of proof.

But in his teen years, Krasny discovered science -- and skepticism.

I was determined to make him know I could be good, and thus stave off his violence and see it replaced by a teacher's affection. But despite discussing countless controversial issues with his guests, he has yet to find satisfying answers to life's biggest questions.

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Is there a higher power? Wit happens! Mostly I have sought knowledge, with the hope that knowledge would lead to the kind of faith that would undergird my existence. One-hour of riddles, anagrams, brain teasers, and other word puzzles provide the basis for this freewheeling game of wordplay.

Is there a way to determine what a higher purpose is or can be?

Yet some indeterminate force was driving me to write about these matters, and I realized that if there was indeed an article of faith I believed in, it was the notion that writing brings insight and ultimately, even profoundly, affects thought and discourse. I was, I realized, a doubter, an agnostic, and, like perhaps hundreds of thousands of others, a seeker. How does one fill that vacuum? If so, what is its nature or way of manifesting? Krasny talks to NPR's Neal Conan about his book and his personal exploration of spirituality, morality and mortality. Sam Harris had published The End of Faith, in which he made a number of estimable points in his screed against faith. I got a beating in the boys' room, followed by his ordering me to mop up the paint, which I did, suffering in silence, holding in my tears until I had finished and left the school grounds. In his memoir, Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic's Quest, the public radio host writes that he has longed for a God he could believe in. KQED Contributor Michael Krasny, PhD, has been in broadcast journalism since 1983. He's also an … From the host of NPR affiliate’s Forum with Michael Krasny, a compendium of Jewish jokes that packs the punches with hilarious riff after riff and also offers a window into Jewish culture. Excerpted from Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic's Quest by Michael Krasny.

Years later, after I'd begun to think seriously about faith, I came to recognize that having faith might mean being blind, but it also meant being consoled in grief and not needing answers. About Dr. Michael Krasny, PhD Dr. Krasny is host of the award winning KQED FORUM, a program discussing news and public affairs, current events, culture, health, business and technology. Latest Newscasts: KQED NPR. As host of the popular KQED radio program The Forum, Krasny has interviewed hundreds of thinkers, writers, philosophers, atheists and believers. I began to wonder if I could or should write about faith even though my adult life has been more about seeking than finding. It worked until one day after school when I was carrying a bucket of paint for him to another sixth grade classroom. Harris said, "Science must destroy religion"; atheist Richard Dawkins compared religious education to child abuse; while Christopher Hitchens, the author of God Is Not Great, spoke of the need to prepare for a war against religion. My teacher saw it all while hastening out of the classroom for a cigarette, and he erupted into a rage that led to the most ferocious of all the assaults. I use this episode to highlight a child's faith that, even in the wake of trauma, was impossible to diminish. How do we know, when we write or paint or sculpt or talk on the radio or do good works, that we are not tapping into a mystery beyond our unconscious? I had written about wanting, as a young man, to find an answer to the question of how a good man should live, which had first struck me with considerable impact when I read the work of Nobel Prize–winning novelist Saul Bellow. To have answers and certainty, to possess spiritual anchoring or spiritual authority and purpose, is to have comfort, a release from the entrapment of life's suffering. Call in: 866-733-6786Email: forum@kqed.org. The idea of a child being beaten or otherwise abused is frequently a litmus test for belief in God. Moreover, I was bereft of answers.

But I also wasn't willing to call myself a nonbeliever, because I wasn't certain about the accuracy of characterizing what I had as the absence of belief. Which is why I never told anyone, including my parents. I thought, "and so are most of the new wave of atheists who offer screeds against faith and excoriate religion and its bloody history and the cruel and despicable deeds done in its name." I was struck by a memorable line from the British writer Julian Barnes, who said, "I don't believe in God but I miss him." Was Moses given commandments on Sinai?