Interfaith Voices - 2009

The Strange Appeal of Sacred Body Parts

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:20:57 -0500

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

They Shall Take Up Serpents

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

This week we go inside the world of Pentecostal snake handling with a special presentation of the critically-acclaimed radio documentary, "They Shall Take Up Serpents." Recorded in the early 90s in West Virginia, Alabama and Georgia, it explores the ecstasy, and the danger, of a practice virtually unknown in mainstream America.

They Shall Take Up Serpents was produced by David Isay with Sound Portraits Productions

StoryCorps: Kahlil Amustafa on Gratitude

Begins at 46 min 53 sec

This week we're looking back at our favorite selections from the StoryCorps oral history project. In this story, poet Kahlil Almustafa shares memories of his mother, who died from HIV/AIDS in 1994. Our story first aired in April 2009.

Courtesy of StoryCorps, and archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

StoryCorps: Sister Mary DeSales Collins on Kindness

Begins at 49 min 26 sec

Sister Mary DeSales Collins worked for more than 50 years at the New York Foundling, one of the oldest adoption agencies in New York City. She found homes for hundreds of children, but one adoption case stands out. Our story first aired in April 2009.

Produced by StoryCorps, and archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

A Year in Religion Reporting

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:30:10 -0500

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

The Science of Spirituality

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

National Public Radio's religion correspondent ponders the limits of science, and raises some big questions: Does spirituality run in families? Is there a God gene? And how do we explain near-death experiences? In this special rebroadcast from May, she explains how new technologies are helping scientists measure 'the fingerprints of God' in the brain.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty, author of Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality

Commentary: In Defense of Kwanzaa

Begins at 48 min 20 sec

Kwanzaa was created by a Black Studies professor in the late 60s as a way to celebrate black heritage. Some call it a pseudo-holiday, but when Melonyce McAfee and her family tried it out, back in the early 90s, it turned out to be more meaningful than they expected. Our story originally aired in December 2008.

Melonyce McAfee, copy editor at Slate Magazine

Mike Huckabee's 'Simple Christmas'

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:30:03 -0500

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

Christmas in the Year Zero

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

Say "Christmas," and many of us have warm, fuzzy feelings as we ponder the stable in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph, three Magi, and one incredibly famous baby. But where do we go from there? New Testament scholar Marcus Borg looks behind the plastic nativity scene and offers a challenging new interpretation of the Christmas story.

Marcus Borg, co-author with John Dominic Crossan of The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach Us About Jesus' Birth

My Favorite Things

Begins at 42 min 10 sec

You don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy Christmas. Producer Rebecca Sheir is Jewish, and she never let that stop her. A closet Christmas music junkie, she discovers the real meaning of the holiday season -- and it's all about bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.

Produced by Rebecca Sheir

The Christmas Story, As Told By Second Graders

Begins at 48 min 56 sec

The many stories of Christmas, conveyed and confused by the second-graders of Mrs. Beasley's class in Bozeman, Montana.

Art by Ava Jenkins, at age 5.

Produced by Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices

Muhammad As Muslims Know Him

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:26:41 -0500

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

Black Churches and Gay Marriage: Two Views

Begins at 22 min 29 sec

Nationwide, two out of three African-Americans disagree with same-sex marriage. As Washington, DC comes closer to making it legal, two African-American pastors answer tough questions about where the opposition comes from, and why faith plays a role.

Rev. Dennis Wiley, pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Washington, DC

Reverend Cheryl Sanders, pastor of Third Street Church of God in Washington, DC

Harvey Cox, On Christianity's Return to Wonder

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 11:44:17 -0500

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

Thomas Dyer, Finding Some 'Om' in Iraq

Begins at 22 min 53 sec

The US military, like the entire county, is more religiously diverse than ever. The armed forces now include at least 101 faith traditions, from Baptists and Jews to Baha'is, Mormons and Wiccans. The military can’t provide a chaplain for every faith, but that’s beginning to change. Thomas Dyer, the first Buddhist chaplain in history of the US Army, joins us to reflect on his unusual journey from Baptist to Buddhist. He is scheduled for deployment to Iraq in 2010.

Thomas Dyer, Buddhist chaplain for the Tennessee National Guard

America's Most Trusted Stranger

Begins at 34 min 25 sec

People all over the world have been sending their most intimate secrets to a mailbox in Maryland. It belongs to Frank Warren, a small business owner who began collecting the secrets of strangers in 2004. Since then he has received nearly half a million postcards, bearing confessions on everything from thoughts of suicide to far-flung hopes and dreams. Warren’s newest book wades into the realm of the spiritual, touching on life, death and religion.

Frank Warren, author of Post Secret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God, and the blog Post Secret

MC Hammer: Too Legit?

Begins at 43 min 51 sec

MC Hammer is a minister. At least, that's how he's been billing himself since 1997. As you’ll hear in our interview, where he was ordained, and what he does as a minster, is unclear. “I’ve never been one too much in promoting organizations and affiliations,” he says. “The denominations mean absolutely nothing to me.” The 90s rap icon joins Laura Kwerel for a revealing conversation on prayer, Hammer pants, and his $13.7 million bankruptcy in 1996.

MC Hammer, star of Hammertime on A&E TV

How To Win a Cosmic War

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:29:48 -0500

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

Israel’s Holocaust ‘Obsession’?

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

In a controversial new book, Avraham Burg argues that Israel is “stuck in Auschwitz,” using the Holocaust as the defining experience of Jewish identity. The former speaker of the Israeli Parliament says his country's preoccupation has led to an unhealthy nationalism that mourns the past, fears the future and feeds violence. Our story originally aired in June 2009.

Avraham Burg, author of The Holocaust is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes

Jews and The Shoah: Another View

Begins at 38 min 26 sec

Daniel Gordis also views Israel as Holocaust-centric, but doesn’t think it impacts Israeli politics as negatively as Burg suggests. He emphasizes Israel’s mandate to remember, and points out that the country was founded by survivors of the Holocaust. Our story originally aired in June 2009.

Daniel Gordis, author of Saving Israel: How the Jewish State Can Win a War That May Never End

Religion's Role in the Climate Solution

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:29 -0500

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

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

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

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

Extremism at Both Ends of the God Spectrum

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:21:38 -0500

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

Faith and Fort Hood - Full Interview with Shahed Amanullah

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 16:31:09 -0500

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

Interfaith Voices Helps Build a Sweat Lodge: Full Interview

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 18:31:48 -0500

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

When Religion Kills

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 13:30:07 -0500

A "Korean Exorcism"...Or Something Else?

What happens when religious ritual goes horribly, fatally, wrong? Take, for instance, the case of Rayoung Kim. Last summer, the 18-year-old was found unconscious in her home in suburban Washington, DC. She later died, the victim of blunt force and asphyxiation.
Police suspect she was the subject of an ancient Korean ritual that resembles an exorcism.

But what really happened to the Virginia teen? First we hear Kim’s story from Tom Jackman, the Washington Post reporter who broke the news. Then we speak to an anthropologist who has studied Korean shamanism for more than thirty years. She says Kim’s alleged exorcism is a far cry from the tradition she knows.

Pictured: The performance of a mudang, or Korean shaman (1805).

Tom Jackman, Washington Post reporter

Laurel Kendall, Curator and Chair of Anthropology American Museum of Natural History

Faith Healing and the Law

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

Most spiritual healers don’t intend to kill the people they’re trying to help. So when the unthinkable happens, how should the law prosecute these accidental assassins? Sean Peters examines the complex web of legal and ethical questions that surface when faith turns deadly.

Shawn Peters, author of When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law

The Other Side of the Wall

Begins at 34 min 6 sec

The Wailing Wall is one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem, the spot where Jews have gone to pray and mourn for two thousand years. And it is segregated by gender—one half is designated for men, one half
for women. In 2002, Jay Ladin went to the wall to pray with his son. Six years later he returned—this time as his true self: a woman named Joy. This is Joy’s story; of faith and family, gender and space, of a journey from male to female.

Pictured: The wall's Mechitza, or partition dividing men and women.

Joy Ladin, author of Transmigration: Poems and an upcoming memoir, Inside Out: Confessions of a Woman Caught in the Act of Becoming

Cracking Open the World's Best-Selling Book

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:47:25 -0400

Reading the Bible: Why and How

Prof. Timothy Beal has a term for the weird feeling some of his students have about studying scripture: Bible Baggage. He says the anxiety comes from all sorts of places-- bad memories of Sunday school, brushes with Bible thumpers, and simply feeling unauthorized to read it. But whether you're religious or not, he says, this much is true: the Bible's stories form the core of Western civilization. In his new book, Beal makes a case for reading, and yes, enjoying, the Bible.

Pictured: Moses With the Ten Commandments by Rembrandt, c.1659

Timothy Beal, author of Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know

Vatican to Anglicans: Let's Make a Deal

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

It’s one of the boldest moves to a Protestant Church since the Reformation. On October 20th, the Vatican made an offer to Anglicans who don’t like their church’s liberal policies on gay bishops and women priests: Come join us. The deal would allow Anglicans to convert to Catholicism while keeping many parts of the faith they do enjoy, like their songs, prayers and married clergy. It is, in a sense, an Anglican way to be Catholic.

Thomas Reese, S.J., Senior Fellow of Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University

Turkey's Most Famous Preacher

Begins at 39 min 16 sec

Some 85 years ago, Turkey—a predominately Muslim country—became an officially secular state, sparking an emotional debate over the role of religion in government. Into that mix walks Fethullah Gulen, a controversial Muslim preacher and activist. To his followers, he is a prophet of peace and dialogue. To his secular critics, he is a trojan horse of an Islamic state. B. Jill Carroll, author of a recent book on Gulen, offers her take. Our story first aired in June 2008.

B. Jill Carroll, Executive Director of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Judaism and Sex (*But Were Afraid to Ask)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:15:57 -0400

Heavenly Sex

She’s Jewish, she’s 4-foot-7, and she likes to see the Torah as an ancient sex manual. The one and only Dr. Ruth explains the sanctity of sex - good sex - in Jewish law.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist and author of Heavenly Sex: Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition

The Scalpel and the Soul

Begins at 22 min 40 sec

How should surgeons, trained so carefully to rely on hard facts, explain miraculous recoveries, out-of-body experiences and other-worldly visions in the operating room? Our guest, Dr. Allan Hamilton, is a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon with 30 years of experience. Once a skeptic, he says he now sees these events as signs of a power far greater than ourselves.

Dr. Allan Hamilton, author of The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural, and the Healing Power of Hope

Reclaiming a Misunderstood Apostle

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:57:23 -0400

Paul the Radical

The apostle Paul has a mixed reputation. On the one hand he’s known as the quintessential Christian, the man who wrote almost half of the New Testament. On the other, he’s long been read as a misogynistic boor, urging slaves to obey their masters and wives to obey their husbands. Marcus Borg says we’ve got it all wrong, and reveals the crucial fact scholars have known for decades: many of Paul’s letters were written by somebody else.

Pictured: Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, 16th Century

Marcus Borg, co-author of The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon

Paul the Jew

Begins at 22 min 45

Many people trace the roots of anti-Semitism back to a single moment: Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. That’s when, according to traditional teachings, Paul rejected his Judaism for the new, improved version: Christianity. Bible scholar Pamela Eisenbaum says this interpretation of Paul is not only wrong, it’s dangerous.

Pamela Eisenbaum, author of Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle

The Soul of a Dog

Begins at 33 min 45 sec

Do all dogs really go to heaven? Jon Katz says for many pet lovers, they do. We've come a long way from the teachings of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, who believed dogs, cats and other creatures were inferior to humans. These days, he says, many people see their pets as spiritual equals, with a sense of self, purpose and free will.

Jon Katz, author of Soul of a Dog: Reflections on the Spirits of the Animals of Bedlam Farm

"You Can Tell When He's in the Building'

Begins at 44 min

During his five-day visit to Washington, D.C. last week, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with state officials, politicians and not a few celebrities. But he also took the time to teach. Reporter Elizabeth Ryan sat in on one of his lectures, and asked the audience to put the experience into words.

Produced by Elizabeth Ryan

Soundscapes: Sikh Hymns

Begins 46 min 5 sec

This week we hear one final sound in our series, the Soundscapes of Faith. Shabad Kirtan is the mystical poetry of Sikhism, set to music.

Pictured: Mardana Bhai, the first Sikh musician

Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education

Answering the ‘God Question’

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 12:06:36 -0400

It's Not Just For Theologians

That brooding, looming question, ‘What is God?” has long been a favorite thought experiment for philosophers. The man known as “The Genius” on the David Letterman Show traces the concept of the divine over the past 2,500 years, and finds that it’s not God that evolves…it’s us.

Pictured: Creation of the Sun and Moon by Michelangelo, c. 1511

Andrew Pessin, author of The God Question: What Famous Thinkers From Plato to Dawkins Have Said About the Divine

The Cross That Went To Court

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

It sits atop a rock in the dusty California Mojave Desert, ten miles from the nearest highway. The Mojave cross, erected as a war memorial in the middle of a National Preserve, is now the focus of a major Supreme Court case. We hear two very different views on whether the monument amounts to a government endorsement of Christianity.

Pictured: the Mojave cross has been covered by a plywood box since 2002, in compliance with a lower court order.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

Luke Goodrich, Esq., legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Dogs, Cats, Guinea Pigs and Parakeets

Begins at 44min 7 sec

Most pet owners have little doubt that animals have souls. How else could you explain their dog’s steadfast affection, or their cat’s fussy personality? St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, is honored every year with a special ceremony just for pets. Reporter Elizabeth Ryan dropped in on one service and sent us this story.

Produced by Elizabeth Ryan

Soundscapes: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

Begins at 48 min 40 sec

For the past few weeks we’ve been listening in on holy chants, hums and melodies. This week we hear the mantra that defines Soka Gakkai Buddhism: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It’s melodic rhythm, uttered up to a thousand times a day in the morning and evening, is meant to evoke one’s “Buddha nature”: the hidden, natural potential within all believers.

Bill Aiken, Director of Public Affairs at Soka Gakkai International