LARRY KING PROBING
WITH RABBI AND PRAYING ALONE
by Allan R. Andrews
American Reporter Correspondent
Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON -- CNN talk-show host Larry
King is planning to parachute from an airplane with former President
and Navy pilot George Bush. The occasion may move King, an avowed
atheist, to prayer.
It won't be the first time King has prayed. He tells us that as
a boy growing in Brooklyn, New York's Flatbush section, he prayed
for the Dodgers to beat the New York Yankees in the 1949 World
Series.
He also ends his recent book by uttering a "thank you"
when he is alone, and the words, he contends, were not addressed
to himself.
It may come as a surprise to some that King, who has interviewed
more than 30,000 celebrities during his up-from-Florida career,
delivers a book called "Powerful Prayers: Conversations on
faith, hope, and the human spirit with today's most provocative
people" (Renaissance Books, Los Angeles). In it, King inquires
of more than 80 celebrities concerning prayer in their lives.
King was prodded into the project by his daughter, Chaia, who
King says has "always been spiritual."
King doesn't elaborate on his daughter's
spirituality, but her challenge moves him to connect with Rabbi
Irwin Katsof of Rockland County, N.Y., the executive vice president
of the Jerusalem Fund, an international organization that aims
to awaken Jews to their heritage.
In many ways, Katsof's wit and wisdom transform King's somewhat
self-aggrandizing meandering through the prayer-lives of many
guests into an interesting and provocative journey.
King's line-up includes movie and television stars (Mia Farrow,
Elliot Gould, Kirk Douglas -- who has written his own biography
of faith -- Susanne Somers), musicians (Willie Nelson, Pete Seeger)
comedians (Alan King), politicians (Orrin Hatch, John McCain),
athletes (Steve Young, Scott Hamilton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), military
men (Charles Sweeney, Jan Scruggs), business and corporate magnates
(Howard Schultz of Starbucks), and the expected clergy (Jerry
Falwell, Robert Schuller, the Dalai Lama), as well as several
others, all achievers in their own field.
Only two who speak about prayer in their lives generally could
be included among journalists: Conservative columnist Cal Thomas,
who gives a ringing testimony of his Christian life, and movie
and tv critic Michael Medved, who testifies to the value of prayer
in teaching his children good manners. (King also includes a one-liner
from tv newsman Bill Moyers.)
The celebrities' prayers run the gamut
from the humble to the arrogant, from the sublime to the silly,
from the pious to the pirated. They are interspersed between King's
wise-cracking and Rabbi Katsof's short stories on prayer.
Katsof's patience and sincerity, and his seeming conviction that
King will one day experience the reality of prayer, make the book
more than just another episode of Larry King Live! Katsof calls
the book and the experience he had in co-authoring it with King,
a "journey of understanding."
As a topic of a journalist's burning inquiry, prayer is definitely
on the back-burner. Which seems a bit odd, considering its widespread
practice, especially among news-makers, as King's book demonstrates.
In the spring of 1994, Life magazine published an article called
"Why We Pray," a look at the power of prayer and how
Americans talk to God based on a poll the magazine conducted.
The Life poll found that nine out of 10 Americans pray "frequently
and earnestly."
About 28 percent of those polled claimed
they prayed for an hour or more each time they prayed, and 51
percent said they pray at least once every day.
The two things most often prayed for by those polled were family
(98 percent) and forgiveness (92 percent).
As did King, 23 percent said they prayed for victory in connection
with an athletic event.
The Life piece is distinguished from King's book in its interviews
with ordinary people. Prayer, the interviews show, is not an avenue
only of the powerful and popular. Among Life's interviews are
those with a 24-year-old prostitute, a 36-year-old mother of seven,
and a 10-year-old California girl.
To me, the most disturbing aspect of King's book is its concentration
on celebrity and its persistent implication that prayer always
precedes a payoff. Rabbi Katsof alone brings to it some working-stiff
reality.
When King tells the rabbi of his praying
for the Dodgers to win the Series, the rabbi chides, "Mr.
King, God isn't a Las Vegas slot machine. You don't deposit a
prayer for a payoff."
By the end of the book, King has muttered a "thank you,"
but he tells the rabbi he still wants "proof."
Rabbi Katsof tells him to consider the interviews as evidence.
He encourages King, but tells him he must make the journey of
faith alone.
That reminded me of the Life magazine writer's definition of prayer:
"the flight of the alone to the Alone. ..."
Allan R. Andrews
can be contacted at allan.andrews@reporters.net