By RAY WADDLE

In faith-minded Nashville, we rarely get a look at an actual atheist talking about unbelief -- joyously -- on TV.

Recently, though, theological lightning struck on PBS.

"I think its an oppressive idea that God is always looking into your soul at every moment of the day and weighing you up,” asserts philosopher Colin McGinn.

“So I found it was sort of liberating to not have that oppressive, Big Brother surveillance from God all the time. And I found the universe more interesting and more stimulating without gods.”

McGinn advises finding down-to-earth passions -- for him, windsurfing.

“It felt to me a better world I was living in without God,” he says.

This God-forsaking philosopher is among the guests on an unusual TV series called “Faith and Reason.” Each week, host Bill Moyers goes one-on-one with high-spirited writers and scientists (Christians, Muslims, Jews, skeptics) along the faith-and-reason divide. It started last month and continues through Aug. 4.

Exposure to religious renegades -- a good idea. It bursts the bubble of complacency and routine. It sharpens one’s own religious arguments. It builds bridges of empathy across the bloody river of religious violence. And these literary figures freely ignore the rules of pious devotional writing, with its obligatory uplift and cliche.

Must faith and reason contradict? McGinn believes so; he casts his lot with rational knowledge that can be scientifically tested and corrected. He thinks society has gone soft: there is too much belief, not enough criticism of belief.

Other guests embrace both faith and reason. Catholic novelist Mary Gordon defiantly upholds faith in Jesus while denouncing the two dominant worldviews of today, fundamentalism and consumerism. She is not fond of big, pompous automobiles either. Her hot-blooded assessment:

“I think that I have to go back to a religious position, which is that if reading the Gospel means anything, if Jesus means anything, its about seeing everybody, every human being as Jesus. Thats what makes sense. Therefore every human being is of enormous value. Every human being is sacred. So it seems to me the only thing that stops me from going out and shooting people in Hummers is a religious belief that, even though I dont like them, they are sacred and valuable in the eyes of God.”

Next, on July 28, Moyers interviews novelists Margaret Atwood and Martin Amis.

I have not previewed every episode, but the range of perspectives could have been broader. I find no American born-again Protestant thinker who can offer a deeper explanation of of the furious melding of traditional belief, evangelical politics and market capitalism.

But the show reminds us of spiritual vantage points beyond the local steeples, including those of windsurfing atheists, to keep us on our toes.

A few broadcasted quotes on belief from a world of writers:

“The opposite of religious belief is not secularism or atheism. It is independence of mind — where you do your thinking alone." -- Martin Amis

"I do think (9/11) was a hinge moment. And if only because it showed us that we are now inescapably involved with each other. That we cannot disengage." -- Salman Rushdie

"More than sex. More than money. You know, life is not endless, is it? Cash, cars, cocaine, and girls. Its more than that. And there is a spiritual dimension to people ... we are driven to want something more." -- Jeanette Winterson

"Augustine recognized that [the Bible] was not a scientific textbook. John Calvin said, If you want to learn about astronomy, go to the astronomers. Dont go to the Bible. Its not a scientific textbook. They understood that." -- Sir John Houghton

"If a god showed up every time you put a quarter in the prayer slot it would not be God, it would be a puppet that you could control by doing that ... that would make the deity subservient to you. So it wouldnt be a deity, would it?" -- Margaret Atwood

"We have to start with the little babies who are born now, socialize them in freedom and critical thinking. We do not have to throw away their faith. People confuse the two, thinking if you are enlightened that means apostasy. It doesnt." -- Ayaan Hirsi Ali

"Tolerating somebody elses beliefs is not failing to criticize them. It is not persecuting them for having those beliefs. That is absolutely important. You should not persecute people for their beliefs. It doesnt mean you cannot criticize their beliefs." -- Colin McGinn

"You learn in America to speak two ways. You learn in public discourse not to be very specific about your religious life. Or, if we talk about it, we will find a secular way of doing it that will not be offensive to people of non-belief. So, that you go through life with these alternate voices." -- Richard Rodriguez

"I think this is our duty, and our pleasure, to go and to decode [the Bible] and to find the nuances and the silences between these words. And to write our stories into the story of the Bible." -- David Grossman