"Knowledge seems to be flowing at an unprecedented rate. Wisdom seems to be ebbing at an unprecedented rate. Truth is being diluted by too many voices, all keen to reference the name of God. But what exactly is God?" That is the basis of filmmaker Peter Rodgers taking his camera to ask people—some famous, others just everyday folk—about God. In the process we meet people of faith, of yearning, of no faith. We meet Hindus, Christians, Moslems, Jews, a Druid, and followers of still other religions and no religion. We hear talk of peace, and we hear talk of damnation. We hear the hackneyed and some moderately deep expressions of faith. We hear some Christians consign all non-Christians to hell. We also hear a Muslim consign all Christians and Jews to hell. We also hear more moderate voices from these religions.

The variety of responses to his questions illustrates the problem that we face in trying to deal with people of differing or no faith. It also illustrates a bit of the hope that reconciliation can be found in spite of the differences. His visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories is a case in point. It may seem that this is ground zero for the conflict between religions (certainly it is the one that most readily comes to mind), but he finds that both Israelis and Palestinians want peace—it is how that peace will be defined and achieved that is the issue.

Central to his questioning is his seeing that all too often religion is a key element separating people. One of his interviewees switches roles and interviews Rodger and asks how he thinks his "What is God?" question will help. Rodger responds, "I am fed up personally with religions battling each other and saying their god is great than another god." At another point Rodger reflects on that sense of conflict:

• Why is one club more important than another club?
• Is the god that your club worships the same as the god that another club worships?
• Perhaps God doesn't exist at all—perhaps God is a way of giving validity to a bunch of lost souls who want to belong to something.
• Do we have to belong to a club?

Certainly the questions Rodger raises are not new. Questions of why there are so many religions, or of why there is suffering, or of why religions must divide people have been asked for as long as two people have had different ideas about the world and how it came to be. And it should be noted that a ninety-three minute film is never going to be able to get much below the surface. I took ninety semester hours of classes for my seminary degree, and even all that time and all that reading only give a starting point in addressing such things.

What makes Oh My God worthwhile is that Rodger seems willing to listen to the answers people give him. He is not argumentative. He treats the people with respect. He lets their answers be their answers. He also leaves the film open-ended so viewers can consider the questions themselves. In the process he allows us to see that there are many people of other faiths or no faith who are very like us. It is interesting to see students in India all saying the same things about God—even though they are Moslem, Hindu, and Christian. Not all the voices are conciliatory or easy to hear, but it is important that if people of faith are going to engage the world—and that includes people of other or no faith—we must learn how to listen and how to be accepting. If, as many of all faiths say in this film, God is love (a phrase that is both profound and hackneyed), perhaps love needs to be the default attitude for meeting one another.