Hello everybody, I'm Dennis Prager. This is the Fireside Chat. It comes to you every week. I haven't missed one.

I'm very devoted.

This is very important and I'm devoted because I get great feedback. People are touched because they know it's real and I love real.

So anyway, it's the Fireside Chat. That's Otto. Otto is one of the most famous dogs in America and as I often tell you

because of his good upbringing in the Prager home, he is not at all cocky. It has not gone to his head.

Nothing goes to his head. In fact, not much goes in his head.

Now when I get all these letters that I insulted Otto, I didn't insult Otto. I rib him.

You know, guys rib other guys, so I'm ribbing him. Right? Okay, is that clear?

Anyway, I always begin with some thoughts and then I take your questions. So some thoughts.

You know, I am a religious person. My case, I'm a religious Jew. I believe in the God of the Ten Commandments. I believe that

the Ten Commandments are the vehicle to a good world. I believe that God wants us to be good. I believe that God judges people.

And that's the essence of what I believe and it sustains me greatly. And I never ask what can God do for me. I always ask what is God want for me.

But I am going to talk to you about something different but related to this subject.

And that is how much religious people have alienated people from religion.

This is a very important subject obviously and religious people need to hear this because it's their responsibility, my responsibility,

to make the case for God and our religious tradition.

How is it that religious people turn people off? You know, we tend to think that atheists, because they're pretty aggressive in our time,

that they're the ones who are turning people away from religion. To a certain extent that's true obviously. But it's religious people who are at least 50% responsible.

I'll concentrate mostly on Jewish and Christian religions or Judeo-Christian religions, but I'll give you an example from within Islam.

I was having a dinner at an Australian restaurant in Sydney and a very pretty young woman was the waitress from my wife and me. And I always ask people where they're from.

She said she was from Iran. So I said, oh, I'm just curious, are you Muslim, Christian or Jew? She said, no, I'm an atheist.

I said, okay, what were you born into? She said Muslim. And I had this reaction very often. My theory is that the Iranian regime has produced more atheists in Iran than any group has ever produced in one generation anywhere.

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