BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Around the world, a lot of news is related to religious fundamentalism - absolute belief in the truth of one religion against the truths of everyone else. Recently, Bill Moyers interviewed 11 well-known writers on their views of how people of different faiths can coexist in peace. Those conversations begin on many PBS stations next Friday night, June 23, with the first of a series called Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason. Bill joins us from New York. Bill, welcome.

BILL MOYERS (Journalist and Host, "Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason"): Thank you, Bob.

ABERNETHY: Why do so many of your writers think that fundamentalism is so dangerous?

Mr. MOYERS: Because fundamentalism can lead to 9/11. It can lead to politics that settle nothing, in which all of us go for the other's throats and we have holy wars, in effect, in the political square instead of compromise about how to solve our common problems. They think closed minds lead to closed societies, with everyone on the outside except those who are true believers.

ABERNETHY: Of course, fundamentalism for one person can be seen by another as faithfulness to God's truth. Did your writers think that reason and debate could change that?

Mr. MOYERS: Well, they think it could temper it - not with the fundamentalist extremists, of course, because people who think they know the mind of God don't want to listen to people who think that maybe we can't know the mind of God. But they do believe that if we can move beyond the boundaries, if we can make it faith and reason, not faith versus reason, then we can avoid the kind of extremes that we've been experiencing in a world divided between the religious and the secular.

ABERNETHY: And did the people you talked to have any recommendations about how we can do that?

Mr. MOYERS: Well, yes. They're not trying to save anybody or convert anyone, but they do believe that by lowering our voices and listening to one another - even if we don't agree - we might be able to communicate more effectively than if we just listened with closed minds and closed ears.

ABERNETHY: What did they think the greatest divisions right now are between faith and reason?