Well, today is Sunday so I’m going to give you a little spiritual medicine. It goes down easy though. Promise.
Woody Allen interviews Billy Graham here sometime in 1969. It really is an interesting and delightful interview as they both seem to genuinely enjoy themselves. Woody appears a bit uneasy at first but then Graham’s disarming personality sets him at ease. Graham never did carry the personality or scandal baggage that many well known preachers had over the years.
Interesting thing really- Graham is so rock solid in what he believes but at the same time so accepting and open. It’s like his ultra conviction and solidity in his own belief gives him such security in who he is it creates a sense of well-being one can’t help but be attracted to and charmed by. Billy can handle the jokes and the ribbing and the disagreements Woody throws at him and it only makes him more likable. One may think Billy’s simplicity in always referring to ‘the Bible says’ would make him stiff, judgmental and confrontational in dealing with a character like Allen but it does nothing of the sort -it just keeps refocusing things. You can tell Woody is thinking, “Either this guy is completely full of it or he is 100% genuine”.
I think most of us have an inner BS detector and we know when someone is real. I remember meeting people when I was eight years old and having either a good feeling about them or not. And now when I think of those people as an adult I realize that my child-like BS detector was pretty right on. The teachers I thought were a-holes were. And the ones that seemed like good people that really didn’t want to send me to the principal’s office but did so for my own good were in fact decent people.
I think Woody’s BS detector is waiting to go off and it never does. Watching this, you really get the feeling Billy genuinely likes him and cares about him. And I think Woody gets that feeling too.
A great watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_9D3CrAghU
Pretty cool, but Billy Graham, sincere or not, is hardly different from Osama Bin Laden and Jim Jones and on and on, in my mind. Religious zealots, which BG most certainly is, are dangerous; they do not just represent a different point of view, they want to convert you, by force if possible. He’s charming, alright, but I bet Hitler had his charming moments too. Sorry, I’m getting all preachy here myself!
I can’t imagine Billy in a blue coat. That’s outrageous.
Billy did seem conversion-driven, but at least he only opened his spiritual mouth in responses to questions instead of in asking leading questions or the like. Even though my BS meter didn’t go off, my preacher meter did, and I would like to have seen a few more shoot-the-bull comments made by the reverend. It seemed like a lot of corralling was going on to bring the jokes back to a convicting religious comment. If he would have allowed a bit more space between the serious parts (less is more), I think he would have been even more likable. But I agree that it was said very caringly and not condemningly. That sincerity was certainly disarming.
Any clue if Bill saw Woody’s movies or of Mr Allen went to a revival?
Jeff- I take it you aren’t a churchgoer? lol! I do think Graham is one of the few that stands out with some integrity. I think his approach to ‘conversion’ is much more of an invitation rather than a compulsion Osama Jim Jones style…
Jason- One thing I think is important to realize is this was 1969 when there was still Christmas vacation, Easter break, Christmas work parties and it was OK to say Merry Christmas without fear of a lawsuit. In other words, the nation was still very much judeo-christian in (mainstream) culture (as can be seen in questions like, “What do you think about these crazy kids having…SEX!”). So for ‘the preacher man’ to come on a show like this and chill and shoot the breeze like he did was probably perceived as being really low key and conversational for that time. In our current post modern society someone like Rick Warren going on The Daily Show would I’m sure take a much different approach…
Keith,
You’re right, I don’t go to church. In my defense, I have thought a lot about Christianity and lots of other religions, even read quite a bit of the Bible as well as quite a bit about it, but nothing adds up for me. Not even spiritualism. Nope, I’m just a heathen atheist!
Jeff
Interesting… You ever read any C.S. Lewis? Like Mere Christianity? Even if you don’t buy his conclusions, his dry English wit makes for a provocative good read. And his journey from atheism to theism is highly cerebral and quite compelling…