Extremism at Both Ends of the God Spectrum
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Date: 11 November 2009
Evangelicals and Atheists...Strange Bedfellows?
Frank Schaeffer helped build the Religious Right -- that is until he decided it was full of fanatics. He left the movement and went on to write a book called Crazy for God. Schaeffer's new book suggests that those on the other end of extremism, the so-called "New Atheists," are just as unreasonable. He joins us to explain why Evangelical fundamentalists and Atheists are more similar than you might think.
Frank Schaeffer, author of Patience With God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism)
Faith and Fort Hood
Begins at 22 min 40 sec
On November 5th, Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 and wounded 42 in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas. Even before the details of the story began to emerge, his Muslim faith became a media focus. Shahed Amanullah weighs in on the way the case has been handled by the media, the military and the Muslim community.
Shahed Amanullah, Editor-in-Chief of Altmuslim.com
Click here to listen to the full interview
Commentary: "Where is your brother?"
Begins at 30 min 27 sec
Reverend Rob Hardies offers his thoughts on the recent execution of "DC Sniper" John Allen Muhammad.
Rev. Rob Hardies, Senior Minister of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC
The "Sweat Lodge" that Killed
Begins at 36 min 13 sec
In October, three people died and more than a dozen were injured in a botched sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona, conducted by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. But what kind of sweat lodge was this? Laura Kwerel talks to J.J. Hensley, a reporter for The Arizona Republic who has been closely following this story.
Pictured: Sedona, Arizona, the city where the lethal sweat lodge ceremony occurred.
J.J. Hensley, reporter for The Arizona Republic
Interfaith Voices Helps Build a Sweat Lodge
Begins at 42 min 28 sec
Our own Laura Kwerel and former assistant producer Mike Leard went to West Virginia to build a sweat lodge in the Lakota tradition, and bring us this story.
See pictures of the sweat lodge construction, and listen to an in-studio performance of traditional Lakota songs
