Interfaith Voices - Islam

Saddleback: Rounding Up the Evangelical Vote

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:50:12 -0400

A Purpose-Driven President?

Rev. Rick Warren was the amiable emcee at last Saturday’s Civil Forum on the Presidency, featuring presumptive presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain. He is the pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch, in a year when the evangelical vote is reportedly shifting. Since the 1980s, this voting bloc has focused on issues like abortion and gay marriage, but this year, the agenda has broadened to include issues like poverty and the environment. The Saddleback forum reflects that range of issues – and it foreshadows what is likely to be a faith-heavy campaign this election season.

Jacques Berlinerblau, author of Thumpin’ It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today’s Presidential Politics, and the blog, The God Vote

Kim Lawton, managing editor of PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly

Saddleback footage and commentary available at Religion and Ethics Newsweekly's blog, One Nation: Religion and Politics 2008

The Next Satanic Verses?

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In mid-August, a historical novel about the favorite wife of the prophet Muhammed, Aisha, was set to be released in bookstores nationwide. But after receiving tips that the book’s racy scenes might spark violence from Muslim extremists, the publisher panicked. Now, Random House has postponed publication of The Jewel of Medina indefinitely. Even though few people have read it, it has sparked an intense debate about censorship, art and Muslim extremism.

Sherry Jones, the author of The Jewel of Medina

Asra Nomani, former Wall Street Journal reporter, author of "You Still Can't Write About Muhammad" in the Wall Street Journal

Sex and the Soul

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Two years ago, when religion professor Donna Freitas surveyed more than 2,500 college students about their sexuality, she found two campus cultures that were drastically different. On evangelical campuses, women wore promise rings and men made vows to avoid pornography. Meanwhile, at Catholic and secular schools, students often indulged their sexuality to a destructive extreme, attending theme parties with names like “CEOs and Office Hos.” But no matter which group students fell into, Freitas discovered, the question of what to do about sex was fraught with anxiety, confusion, and an aching longing for romance.

Donna Freitas, author of Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses

This Week's Interfaith Calendar

August 24 – Khordad Sal (Zoroastrian)

Zoroastrians celebrate the birth of their prophet, Zarathusthra, today. A prophet and poet, he preached a monotheistic faith in an otherwise polytheistic part of the world – and his theology ended up having a great impact on the monotheistic faiths that developed later, like Judaism and Christianity.

August 24 – Janmashtami (Hindu)

On this day, Hindus celebrate the birth of Krishna, one of Hinduism’s most famous and beloved gods. Hindus remember this heroic warrior and divine teacher by fasting all day and feasting and dancing at midnight.

August 28 - Paryushan (Jain)

Paryushan is the Jain festival of atonement and forgiveness. During this eight-day festival, Jains fast and ask for absolution from the past year's transgressions. The essence of the day is reflected in this Jain prayer, which many Jains can recite by heart: “I grant forgiveness to all living beings. May all living beings grant me forgiveness; My friendship is with all living beings. My enmity is totally non-existent. Let there be peace, harmony, and prosperity for all.”

Turkey's Champion of Interfaith Dialogue

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 17:26:13 -0400

Fethullah Gulen, Turkey's Most Famous Preacher

Meet the man who’s in a category with the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa… but is almost unknown in the West. This highly influential Muslim writer and preacher has inspired people across Turkey – and now the world – to build top-notch schools, engage in interfaith dialogue and champion religious freedom.

Dr. B. Jill Carroll, Executive Director of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University in Houston, Tex., author of A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen’s Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse

Commentary: Peace in Lebanon

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When Maureen left for Turkey and Lebanon last month, it seemed unlikely she would be able to enter Lebanon. Tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims were at a boiling point, and gunfire had broken out in the streets of the capitol. But during her stay in Turkey, it happened—a compromise was finally reached. Maureen reflects on being among the Lebanese people when their prayers for peace were finally answered.

Maureen Fiedler, Host

Commentary: Wright and the White Gaze

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Two months after Rev. Jeremiah Wright first made headlines, Rev. Rob Hardies reflects on the ongoing hailstorm. Hardies, a white Unitarian pastor, traces suspicion of the Black Church back to slave times, calling on his white peers to step out of the "master's house.”

Rev. Rob Hardies, Senior Pastor, All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, DC

Einstein's God

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Most people have assumed that Albert Einstein, the enigmatic genius of modern science, was an atheist. But according to Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson, Einstein was something of a man of faith—a faith stemming from his awe at the great order of the cosmos. For Einstein, the face of God was revealed in the smallest details of the universe, like the curve of a cosine and the absoluteness of a prime number. As he wrote in the summer of 1930,

"The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious… To sense that, behind anything that can be experienced, there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity teaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness."

Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe

Gay and Lesbian Muslims, On a "Jihad" For Love

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A short passage in the Koran, along with a handful of quotes attributed to the prophet Muhammed, condemn homosexuality as a crime in the eyes of many Islamic scholars. A new documentary called "A Jihad for Love" tells the stories of more than a dozen gay and lesbian Muslims from around the world—all of whom stay devoted to a faith that sometimes doesn't seem to want them. The film is playing in select theaters now. Laura Kwerel explains.

Parvez Sharma, director of "A Jihad for Love" and Muhsin Hendricks, a subject of the documentary and founder of Al Fitrah, the first queer Muslim organization in South Africa

A.J. Jacobs: God's Overacheiver

Thu, 29 May 2008 13:39:29 -0400

How to Follow the Bible As Literally as Possible

Millions of Americans say they take the rules of the Bible literally. So one man tried--all 700 something of them. Turns out, there's quite a mixed bag of divine do's and don'ts: everything from growing out a full beard and turning the other cheek to stoning adulterers (he did--with a pebble). We caught up with AJ Jacobs, a Jewish agnostic best known for having read all 32 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, to find out what it really takes to become God's overachiever.

Guest: A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

Christianity's Image Problem?

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The Barna Group, an evangelical opinion polling firm, recently asked American teens and twenty-somethings for their perceptions of Christians. The results? Young people see Christians as "insensitive," "hypocritical," and "judgmental," among other unflattering traits. David Kinnaman tells us why the world's largest religion has gotten such a bad rap.

David Kinnaman, co-author of unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and president of the Barna Group

A Guide For the Perplexed

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It's no accident that one of the most important books of Jewish scholarship, from way back in the 12th century, is called A Guide for the Perplexed. Because when it comes to knowing the core beliefs of Judaism, which emphasizes deeds over creeds, Jews have often been kind of…confused. But Rabbi Gilbert Rosenthal says that unless more Jews start understanding the tenets of their religion, the number of Jews who actively worship—which is currently the lowest of all American religions—will drop even lower. Laura Kwerel fills us in.

Rabbi Gilbert Rosenthal, Executive Director of the National Council of Synagogues, author of What Can a Modern Jew Believe?

The Sound of Rumi

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The poetry of the mystic Rumi has long been set to music, using traditional instruments like the rubab, an ancient stringed instrument from Afghanistan, and the tabla, an Indian hand drum. Three Afghani musicians stopped by our studios to share their interpretation of “The Song of the Reed Flute,” one of Rumi’s most beloved poems.