-Six religions represented.
One house.
And several cupcakes to share among the group.
It's the "Have a Little Faith" special reunion special.
No, but seriously,
we're getting everybody from season one together,
and we're just gonna have a nice talk
about faith and, you know,
what it was like for them to be on the show.
And there's gonna be cupcakes and snacks.
But you can't have them 'cause you're watching on YouTube.
Too bad for you.
Let's do this.
Everyone find the most comfortable seat.
-The Jew stole my favorite seat.
-Oh, no.
Oh, gosh, this is starting already.
So, if you don't know what's going on here,
we're having a "Have a Little Faith" season one reunion.
Every faith that we covered in season one
is represented here.
We're just gonna have an interfaith dialogue
between six different religions.
No punching or biting
or anything like that, everybody.
-That wasn't in the contract.
-Right. Let's just get out of here.
-Obviously, there's some new faces tonight.
Marwa, who was in our original Islam episode,
is not here because she is studying in Egypt like a badass.
And Ayman, who is her friend
and had a lovely cameo in the episode,
has graciously decided to come and represent Islam.
So high five. -Yep.
-And unfortunately, Joe Franko, who was the wonderful Quaker,
has passed away.
I think, Cody, you knew him well and were at his wedding
and wanted to say a few words about Joe.
-Yeah. I was really grateful
to attend his wedding when he got married to David.
It was just a testimony to the compassion and tolerance
that Quakers have and inspired me,
you know, to stay involved and keep going.
-We were so grateful
that we got to share his story with everybody.
We're really sorry that they both can't be here,
but we're gonna carry on in both their spirits
and have a great talk tonight.
So let's do that.
I was just wondering how everyone
felt about their episode
and how you felt your faith was represented.
-The feedback that I got from my community
was like, "You really --
We've never seen anything represented so nicely."
-Not a lot of people know about the Bahá'ís,
so to have something that is not from a Bahá'í perspective,
but, like, from you, who's just pure
and wants to really know, was invaluable.
-Felt real positive about it.
You know, everyone really loved it.
Only thing that was missing --
At the end, I saw you say that you were kind of disappointed
that I didn't baptize you.
And if I had known that, I mean, we could have done it, man.
-So, this Sunday -- pool party? Baptismal pool party?
Kylee and David, I'm really interested
in how you guys felt about your episode.
And I was kind of surprised
by some of the reactions that -- -The firestorm.
-We don't know about the reactions.
-Our, like, original video
got some hard, harsh comments from people.
For whatever reason, people like to react to our faith
in a negative way.
It's something we know and we accept.
And sometimes it's surprising still.
-What was, like, the wackiest thing
that was said? -Oh, geez.
It wasn't so much about he and I,
but when people attack your religion --
like, something you hold very sacred to you,
and because usually it comes from a place of either fear
or not understanding.
-I was honestly shocked because I thought
the Jews would get the most hate comments.
I was like, "Wow!
Finally, someone beat the Jews."
-Yay! -Oh, are we high-fiving that?
-And this is the last time I'm gonna ask.
How are we doing on the marriage front?
-We're doing well. -We're doing well!
All right! That's -- I'll take that!
-We're happy. -Just take the plunge, you know.
[ Laughter ]
-I'm glad that everyone
feels generally positive about what we put out there.
Does anyone feel that they were misrepresented, or...
-I don't know. I got...
-You had about 30 seconds of screen time.
-I had 30 seconds, yeah.
But I remember I was asked about dating.
And that's a very sensitive topic
in the Muslim religion.
Some people overheard me talking,
saying, "Yeah, I do date. Yes, I do go to parties."
And there are some people in my mosque who --
None of them were angry. They were like, "Is that true?
Like, that's really what you do?"
My mosque is really a mix of --
I consider it a very liberal mosque,
but there are some people who are quite conservative,
and I feel like that was a side that was shown by Marwa.
And she's one of my closest friends, always has been.
I consider myself liberal.
She considers herself more conservative,
and I mean, I think it would be great
to show more of both sides of the coin there.
-That's the thing with the show.
You only show one person,
and everybody practices their faith differently.
Well, before we filmed this,
we asked everybody to write a question
that they have for each member of the other faiths.
And does anyone have a burning question
that they would like to ask somebody else
in this room?
-I have a pretty burning question.
I think we got a Muslim in between us --
in between you.
-Yeah, they wanted to separate us.
-We have, like, Yom Kippur, different,
you know, like, one-day fasts.
And you guys have, like, a 30-day fast.
Do you actually do that?
And are, like, the tempers,
like, flared up, like, "Oh, don't talk to me"?
-Tensions get pretty high. I mean,
when you go from 5:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night
without eating or drinking, it gets pretty rough.
But the whole thing is to be able to show
that you can control
what you think and what you put into your body
and really try to meditate and keep with God,
even when you are in that state of wanting.
-You personally do it? -Yeah.
I was fasting during hell week for football.
-What?! -Wow. Respect.
-And we did two-a-days for two hours,
middle of the hot sun on a turf field.
It was horrible. Our closest thing
to a loophole was putting water in our mouth
and then spitting it back out in the hopes
that somehow the moisture would help you get through it.
-Wow. That's crazy. -That's commitment.
-A lot of people don't know this,
but the Bahá'ís every year have a 19-day fast.
So we're about to start ours, actually, on March 2nd.
-The same thing -- No food, no water.
-Yeah. And it's amazing.
It's, like, one of the best times of the entire year.
And you wouldn't think so. You'd think,
like, "Oh, my God, that sucks like hell."
You realize how often you just mindlessly do things --
You know, eat something or drink something.
And the whole point is to just fast from your carnal desires.
So it's very similar.
-Yeah. -That's true.
-We actually -- In the Mormon religion, as well.
We fast the first Sunday of every month.
-Really? -Mm-hmm.
-Just for the hell of it. -Just the same --
Yeah, why not, you know? Why not?
-Or for the heaven. -Why not?
Yeah, everyone else is doing it.
-Everyone that's fasted --
What does it feel like after?
Do you feel like you've gotten some sort
of spiritual connection out of it?
-For me, definitely. -Yeah.
-I think it's just this reminder that your body --
Your soul can't survive on physical nourishment alone.
But by reading of scriptures or praying or taking time
to focus on service and things like that,
that that's really what sustains you in life,
that that's what makes you happy.
That's why we're here.
-And when you're not eating
in that same kind of mindless way,
there are just so many other things
that you notice, that you hear, that you see,
that you feel that you wouldn't otherwise.
And it can be real powerful, you know?
-I feel like the common ground here
is that everyone here believes in God.
Is it possible to live a fulfilling,
happy life without God?
Because there are a lot of people, like myself,
that are still searching and questioning,
and there are a lot of atheists that are gonna watch this video.
-The first thing that popped into my brain
is that God is love, in my mind.
So if you're loving the people around you,
even if you don't believe in God,
you're exercising a love, a gift from Him
to the people around you.
I wouldn't say that they're not going to be happy.
Of course they'll be happy. There are wonderful people
all over the world who don't believe in God.
-There are days where, you know, I believe more
and days where you just kind of physically see God less.
And I think that life without God would just be like,
"What the hell are we doing here?"
It just seems so empty.
-Since I have found God
and since I have established a relationship with Him,
again, really,
life has given me a whole new perception.
Now that I've had that perception,
I don't know if I could go back.
I don't know if I would truly find happiness without God.
-I think, you know, in your individual life,
you kind of pass a point of no return,
where you've felt the happiness the way you feel in your temple
and what you've learned with God or what you guys
have felt growing in your relationship
or preaching to your congregation,
though I think, you know, people who are born, live,
and die without ever hearing the name of God --
I think that in their own case, they're able to find
very fulfilling and happy lives.
I think God is very just in that way.
I think any happiness that we receive in our life
does come from God.
And I think whether people believe in Him or not,
He's still mindful of them and giving them happiness.
-I think God is --
It's a buzzword for a lot of people.
And it's got an instant kind of --
sometimes a negative association
because everybody's been hurt in some way
by, you know,
someone from some faith
or had something mean said about them in some way
or had their clergy criticized to another -- or whatever it is.
I know I was told I was going to hell a lot
being raised in a born-again Christian town.
But I understand what God is to me,
and you have your understanding of what God is to you.
But I think the difference is what faith does.
In our faith, we believe that faith simply
means conscious knowledge
and then the practice of good deeds.
And it's through that
that you can begin to comprehend a higher power
because truthfully, like you said, we're all finite.
So the Bahá'ís believe we are all finite.
So you can't even comprehend God.
So, in many ways, when I meet someone
that doesn't believe in God, I get it
because I know that I cannot comprehend a place
without time or space.
I mean, it sounds like something out of a storybook,
but we're told we can only understand God's virtues
by doing, by seeing.
Like, you know, you spend your day in service.
We're all out, and we're trying to,
you know, have compassion and trustworthiness and honesty.
These are all virtues of God.
-Whether it's a politician trying to right the wrongs,
whether it's a teacher
who's truly committed, you know,
a healthcare professional, a great comedian,
everybody's kind of seeking that truth.
-Nobody knows. Like, none of us actually, truly know.
And that's what's so beautiful.
That's where faith comes in, you know?
We have our experiences and our faith.
And that's what we have.
-It's a lot to chew on for sure.
This was the season two premiere of "Have a Little Faith."
Keep tuned in to SoulPancake
for this and more great bongo programming.
Keep watching to learn about more great religions.
And bongos.
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So that's what happens when you get six people
from different religions in a room,
and they talk about faith.
As somebody who isn't really sure
where they stand on their faith in God,
I do have a lot of faith in humanity,
and I think the key to that
is having an open mind and an open heart.
I hope you learned something, had a good time,
and I still have not had a cupcake.
So I'm gonna have a little faith in that.
Mmm! That is good!
Delicious.
For more in-depth conversation
on things that didn't make it into the episode,
click one of the links on the screen.
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If you'd like a transcript, um...
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