Religion's Role in the Climate Solution

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Date: 18 November 2009

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Becoming a Steward of the Earth

From ending slavery to launching civil rights, people of faith have long been mobilizers of great social change.  This week, a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian explain why religion is the missing link in confronting another justice issue: climate change.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, consulting Imam for DC Green Muslims

Reverend Canon Sally Bingham, President and founder of Interfaith Power and Light

Evonne Marzouk, Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim: Sustainable Living Inspired by Torah

Credit: flickr.com/Abi Skipp

Blessing of the Solar Panels

Begins at 22 min 40 sec

The Episcopal church has an old tradition: if an object, however unusual, is used for a holy purpose, it's eligible for a special blessing.  So when St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, in Washington, DC,  installed a set of solar panels, it was only natural to hold a blessing ceremony—complete with frankincense.  Elizabeth Ryan brings us the story.

Produced by Elizabeth Ryan

Credit: Halley Wolowiec

Hallmark Doesn't Make a Card for Everything...

Begins at 25 min 40 sec

David Ellis Dickerson had always been a devoutly religious person.  Then, when he was 26 and writing greeting cards for Hallmark, Dickerson "discovered” he no longer believed in God.  His new memoir is the chronicle of a man in transition: from evangelical Christan to atheist, from Bible thumper to question seeker, from anxiety to peace.

David Ellis Dickerson, author of House of Cards: Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions

Credit: Pewee Flomoku

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Begins at 37 min 30 sec

For 14 years, the nation of Liberia disintegrated in a civil war. Women were raped, children were recruited as soldiers, and more than 200,000 Africans died. In 2003, a small group of Liberian women, both Christians and Muslims, came together to announce they had had enough.   A new film documents how they played a central role in ending the conflict, through sit ins, demonstrations and prayer.

Pictured: Liberian women demonstrate at the American Embassy in Monrovia at the height of the civil war in July 2003.

Abigail Disney, producer of Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and subject of the film