In recent years, traditional Islamic seminaries, or madrasas, have come under scrutiny and criticism as incubators of terrorism and extremist interpretations of Islam. Correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro has a report on one school, the Jamia Islamia Clifton madrasa founded 40 years ago in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, that is trying to change that image and broaden the scope of what students are taught.
Author Archives: Fred Yi
Singing in a Chorus
Volunteers in the Choral Society at New York’s Grace Church say that choral singing feeds the soul, brings joy, and creates community. “To me, the choir is really a microcosm of what a community ought to be. People are not worried about status within their social position or their family hierarchy. What they are worried about is all together singing D major,” says music director John Maclay.
Read an excerpt from Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others by Stacy Horn, who sings in the Choral Society:
“I believe that all the arts, and especially music, are necessary to a full life,” Ralph Vaughn Williams said. Music will show you what to do with your life.” I’ll take it even further. Music, this choir, in some ways is my life. We all need a way off the couch or the floor; a way to embrace the fall or whatever else life brings. When I joined the choir I was only looking to soothe a broken heart. Instead I found something that invariably transcends every misfortune I’ve faced and makes me happy. Every week, music dependably and effectively silences my roulette wheel of worry and self-doubt, and that is not a small thing. Nor is it the only thing.
“When I think about who my closest friends are,” my fellow soprano Lucia Rivieccio told me, “they are all people I’ve met in choir or met through people in choir…just the opportunity to meet so many different kinds of people. It can be a bit of a ragtag group, some people can be really annoying, others I don’t know very well but like very much, and some I just adore. But I wouldn’t want to lose even one.”
“Ordinary human beings can do extraordinary things,” [Choral Society of Grace Church conductor John Maclay] once e-mailed us. “Belief is necessary—not in any one creed or religion, or in religion at all—but belief in yourself and in each other.”
I believe. I believe in singing. Like [musician and composer] Brian Eno, I believe in singing with other people. I know it won’t last forever. “There are people joining the choir now who were born when we first joined,” Barbara pointed out to me once. One by one we will all be replaced. But I hope that like Frits Menschaar, the bass in our choir who was singing right up until the week he died, I will be able to continue singing until the very end. “How long do you plan to sing with this or other choral groups,” I asked the people in my choir. Nancy Tepper’s simple answer summed it up best. “As long as I can.”
Moving Beyond the Confederate Flag; Changing Harlem Congregation; Flying Eye Hospital
In South Carolina, a symbol of racial hatred and violence has been removed, but deep divisions remain, says Howard School of Divinity theology professor Harold Dean Trulear; First Corinthian Baptist Church, a historic African-American congregation in Harlem, is becoming more racially diverse; and volunteer doctors travel on a converted airplane to developing nations to perform low-cost eye surgeries and to teach other doctors to do the same.
Moving Beyond the Confederate Flag
A symbol of racial hatred and violence has been removed from the State Capitol in South Carolina, but according to Howard University School of Divinity applied theology professor Harold Dean Trulear, deep divisions and the need for self-examination remain. Watch our conversation about lessons still to be learned, attitudes still to be changed, and the role of faith communities in healing our racial divides. Photos by Lauren Talley.
Racial Diversity in a Changing Harlem Congregation
In recent years, the historically African-American congregation of First Corinthian Baptist Church on 116th Street in Harlem has experienced increasing racial diversity in its pews, a reflection not just of visiting tourists but also of the shifting demographics of the surrounding neighborhood. The church’s senior pastor, Rev. Michael Walrond, welcomes the trend in church membership and says the gospel “is a message that knows no racial boundary.”
Flying Eye Hospital
Started in 1982, Orbis International’s flying eye hospital is a fully equipped, state-of-the-art hospital built inside a former military airplane. Its staff is made up of volunteer surgeons, nurses, and pilots, and together they fly to developing nations to perform low-cost eye surgeries, but just as importantly, to teach local doctors how to do the same. When the hospital was in Vietnam recently, correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro spoke with some of the doctors and the patients they were helping.
Religious Reactions to Same-Sex Marriage Ruling; Ethics of Gene Editing; Rebuilding Urban Neighborhoods
The Supreme Court’s decision upholding same-sex marriage sharply divided communities of faith; a veteran community developer and urban activist advocates models of charity that let the poor thrive; and a new medical technology allows scientists to repair and replace defective genes in order to treat genetic diseases, but ethicists are concerned about the risks of gene alteration for future generations.
Religious Reactions to Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Communities of faith are continuing to analyze the implications of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on June 26 to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Host Bob Abernethy and managing editor Kim Lawton discuss potential consequences for religious groups who say the ruling could infringe on their religious liberty.
Supreme Court Rulings; Healing Moral Wounds of War; Former Mormons
The Supreme Court upholds Obamacare and recognizes same-sex marriages nationwide; philosopher Nancy Sherman says combat veterans are coming home from our recent wars with deep moral injuries as well as physical wounds; and while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responds openly to contentious issues in its history, many Mormons continue to have doubts about the Mormon past and to leave the church behind.
Health Care and Same-Sex Marriage Supreme Court Rulings
The Supreme Court handed down major victories for same-sex marriage and Obamacare. The Court declared 5-4 on Friday, June 26 that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. It also upheld 6-3 on Thursday, June 25 the nationwide tax subsidies that underpin the Affordable Care Act, rejecting a major challenge to the law. Watch our conversation with correspondent Tim O’Brien about the Supreme Court’s decisions.
