polarizing issues for us, jon. billy graham has a role to play here. when i talked a moment ago how billy graham brought religion into american life. especially american political life. remember the south was mostly democratic and billy graham comes on the scene and persuades politicians, the presidents and the like hey, you have to appeal to the religious community in this country, the evangelical community. before billy graham, most people who went to church on sunday did not vote. today as you well know that s a key indicator of not only that people will vote but that they vote pretty much republican. and that s on especially true in the south as i say going from mostly democrat to mostly republican. and so you had cultural issues beginning with abortion, contraception, pornography, school prayer where the religious communities had much to say and politicians began to listen. and that is part of the cultural argument that we have
bible, series, reinvigorating, if you like, religion into american life again. what did it do to you this experience? did it give you a renewed and stronger faith or did it damage your faith? oh, that is so interesting. no one s put a question like that. first of all, i would say that i m a recovering catholic. and that s no disrespect to the catholic church. i get it. anybody who reads the book will understand what you mean. deep recovery. and i think it s the biggest thing that i got from it is guilt. the guilt is ridiculous. i feel bad about everything. and that s reflected in the book as well. but also just damnation and fire and the devil and hell. that was horrible to deal with as a child. it was just so over the top. and i still can walk into a church and recite the whole mass. and it s really scary how ingrained. do you pray regularly? i do pray. isn t that crazy? i do still pray. it s not crazy, actually.
the last time i trusted you, we ended up with a son. spike lee s do the right thing, a movie as relevant today as when it came out 25 years ago. rosie perez got her big break in that film. her new book, author rosie perez, joins us and is in the chair. welcome to you. thank you for having me. it s an incredibly powerful book. and it s dwrraining it reading . never mind what it must be like for you to live this life in your early years. are you sort of surprised in a way you even survived all the endless forms of abuse that you went through? you know, i was surprised after i finished writing the book. i had always thought it wasn t a big deal, and that i had survived it and moved on. and as i got older, it started to dawn on me, oh, my goodness, i went through an extraordinary experience.
there s a big difference. i know god is a good god. nothing can shake that from my life. i know god is a loving god. the question is, it s like my children. my children have never doubted that i love them. but they sometimes doubt my wisdom. and they don t think i ve made the right decision. this interview with rick warren back in september. it was a heart-breaking interview. i know you re very good friends. i texted you mark at the time about it. because it resonated very strongly with me as a father. they lost this troubled son who took his own life with a gun. and they were so honest in that interview. and it was so heart-breaking. but i had to ask him, as a man of great faith, had it made him question his faith. i thought his answer was really fascinated. you re both committed christians, you re catholic and you re a christian, not a catholic. but have you had times in your life when you ve questioned your faith? first of all, i ve got to say how much we appreciate how you
how i was rude to spike lee. how i was rude to don cornelius. i hit the poor man in the head with a chicken wing. it was because i didn t know how to articulate my anger. the weapons that served me well in the home, i didn t need them anymore, but i didn t realize that. i didn t realize that war was over and i had to move on. one of the counselors in the group home, the group home did serve me well, but i just want to be there. i wanted to be home. this wonderful man, and i m going to say his real name, nigel johnson. he told me when i was leaving the group home, he said life dealt you a [ bleep ] hand. i went gee, thanks for the encouragement. and good life to you, too. he says, but you can always ask for new cards. and i said, how? and he said, you re going to figure it out when you get tired of holding that hand.