2009
- play show: Click here
Date: 31 December 2009
Whiskers, Bones, Toes, and Teeth
In Rag and Bone, author Peter Manseau explores the macabre world of religious relics—the bodily odds and ends of saints, gurus and prophets, scattered all around the world. From Muhammed’s beard whisker to the Buddha’s tooth, it's a look at why we save and celebrate pieces of the dead. Our interview originally aired in July 2009.
Peter Manseau, author of Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead, founding editor of killingthebuddha.com
- play show: Click here
Date: 25 December 2009
Religion Redux
Two of our favorite news analysts count down the religion stories that mattered in 2009-- the flaps, the surprises and the triumphs. From Pope Benedict's blunders, to Obama's speech to the Muslim world, to the approval of same-sex blessings in the Episcopal church, it was a year to remember.
Kevin Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service
Kim Lawton, managing editor of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly
- play show:
Date: 16 December 2009
Huckabee on the Holidays
Mike Huckabee reflects on the Christmas stories and gifts that made him who he is today, from the $99 electric guitar that helped him overcome stage fright, to his family's struggle with medical bills in the Christmas of ’75. He also defends his 1997 decision to reduce the prison sentence of Maurice Clemmons, the man now arrested in connection with the murder of four police officers.
Mike Huckabee, author of A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit
- play show:
Date: 10 December 2009
Rethinking the Founder of Islam
Muhammad has an image problem. To believers he is a mystic, a reformer and a prophet of peace. But to his detractors, the Islamic prophet of God is linked with violence and the oppression of women. Omid Safi introduces us to the historical Muhammad, a deeply spiritual human who slept on a simple bed of hay, and preached a message of justice to the ancient tribes of Arabia.
Pictured: The name "Muhammad" in traditional Thuluth calligraphy.
Omid Safi, author of Memories of Mohammed: Why the Prophet Matters
- play show:
Date: 3 December 2009
The Age of the Spirit
Move over dogma—these days, religion is all about awe, wonder and emotion. Religion trend spotter Harvey Cox looks inside the idea of ‘spiritual but not religious’, and finds that modern believers are abandoning creeds and doctrine for practices that emphasize a direct experience with the divine.
Pictured: The Helix Nebula, sometimes called the "Eye of God"
Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University and author of The Future of Faith
- play show:
Date: 25 November 2009
No Compromise, No Negotiation, No Surrender
This week, the anatomy of a “cosmic war.” Scholar Reza Aslan tells us that terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda are fighting a new kind of battle—it’s about identity, not land; ideas, not armies. And he says the war can’t be won. Our story originally aired in May 2009.
Reza Aslan, author of How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror
- play show:
Date: 18 November 2009
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
- play show:
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
- play show:
Date: 9 November 2009
On November 5th, Major Nidal Malik Hasan 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
- play show:
Date: 8 November 2009
Red Kettle, a Lakota healer, joined former assistant producer Mike Leard to perform the songs you would have heard inside the sweat lodge.
Click here to view pictures from the sweat lodge construction
