Say, wha-a-a-t?

       NPR (89.1) is always on in my car.
       When I travel out of range, I can always find it in the high 80s.
       Every single day, it gives me a so many things to think about.  So often, I  have what TPR calls "driveway moments"--when I'm so engrossed in a story I sit in the driveway to finish listening.

       Only when Planet Money comes on do I change the channel.

       Right next door on the dial is a religious station which I visited accidentally and briefly twice in the past week.

       Contrary to public radio, this station's agenda is closely aligned with the far-right political agenda.  Any mention of abortion captivates their audience.  Education, health care, treating immigrants with respect, and kindness to already-born people--not so much.

       Two minutes eavesdropping on that station gave me a glimpse into a way of thinking that made my reflection in the mirror go all crooked and wince-y.

              Three snippets:

1.

       Talking about abortion, the host of the show said that Chick Fil A customers "vote against child sacrifice" every time they buy a chicken sandwich, "just look at the long lines of protestors against abortion!"

2.

       Then a caller asked the host of the call-in-your-questions show a "very important question" that had been keeping him up nights.  As an "extraordinary minister of holy communion," a lay person who is allowed to serve communion in his local church, this was his question:

       "Is it Biblical for a lay person to serve holy communion?  I worry about this as lay people don't have consecrated hands as the priests do."  (I didn't stay to hear the answer.)

       I couldn't help it: I recalled that one in ten priests have sexually molested children.  I thought about the way the church of pro-life has moved molesters from one parish to another.  Consecrated hands, indeed....

3.

        A woman called in to ask if it "counted" if she arrived late to mass.  If she missed holy communion, could she go again that same day?

        The answer man gave her what sounded like an arbitrary and silly answer: she could go again to the following service, but no more than twice a day.


         After these snippets, I returned to home field and considered upping my annual NPR amount.