Many religious leaders and organizations have condemned the attacks in Paris and elsewhere while calling for peace, healing, and an end to extremism. With the possibility of backlash against Muslims and debate in the US over admitting Syrian and Iraqi refugees, interfaith groups are expressing solidarity with Muslims and urging that not all Muslims be held responsible for the actions of a few. Watch our conversation with Manal Omar, associate vice president of the Center for Middle East and Africa at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Rabbi Jack Moline, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, about how religious groups are responding to the threat of ISIS.
Author Archives: Fred Yi
A New Medellin
The city of Medellin in Colombia has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years. Once known for its murders and drug trafficking, Medellin’s crime is dropping rapidly, and sleek new buildings, better public transportation options, help for small businesses, and improved policies aimed at reducing poverty and inequality are the first hopeful signs that, while there are still many challenging issues, the city may have left its violent legacy behind. We talk with a Catholic priest, an architect, and an urban affairs scholar about the city’s changes.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Fear and the Black Experience
The author of Between the World and Me began his book tour at historic Union Baptist Church in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Fear, he said, is “one of the dominant emotions of the black experience.” Watch excerpts from his talk as well as our interview with him at Howard University in Washington, DC, where he spoke about race, religion, violence, and “the moral arc of the universe.”
China Environmental Ethics; Saint Kateri and Native American Catholics
Activists in China are successfully fighting industrial pollution in China and holding factories and their customers in the West accountable; and the first Native American Catholic saint has come to symbolize the Catholic Church’s complicated historical relationship with indigenous people.
China Environmental Ethics
Industrial pollution is a major problem in China, where massive, low-cost manufacturing has taken priority over environmental protection. But that may finally be changing as awareness about the impact of China’s rapid industrialization grows. One of the people working to increase that awareness is Chinese activist Ma Jun. He founded a nongovernmental organization, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, to fight factory pollution by means of transparency, accessible data, and public information. The IPE and its American partner, the Natural Resources Defense Council, say Western consumers have a moral responsibility and ethical obligation to help solve China’s pollution problem, since the world made a decision to concentrate so much of its manufacturing in one country. In partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Saint Kateri and Native American Catholics
November is Native American Heritage Month. An estimated 25 percent of Native Americans are Catholic, but there are also longstanding tensions between the Catholic Church and some indigenous tribes. Early missionary efforts were often tied to colonization and its devastating effects on native cultures. For some Native Americans, their complicated relationship with the Catholic Church is symbolized in its first Native American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha. Managing editor Kim Lawton visits the annual Tekakwitha Conference to ask Native Americans what Saint Kateri’s legacy means to them.
Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice
Hundreds of young Catholics from across the country gathered in Washington as part of the 18th Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice to focus on two key social justice issues: climate change and immigration reform. A social justice rally on Capitol Hill on Monday, November 9, capped off the weekend’s activity. As they prepared to lobby members of Congress, these young adults heard from faith leaders, including Sister Simone Campbell, director of a national Catholic social justice lobby.
Criminal Justice Reform and the Faith Community; Religious Freedom Ambassador; A Year with the Quran
A growing coalition says reforming America’s criminal justice system is a matter of faith; Rabbi David Saperstein says religious freedom is central to the American identity; and writer Carla Power and Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi debated Islam’s holy book in search of interfaith understanding.
Criminal Justice Reform and the Faith Community
As part of his criminal justice reform efforts, President Barack Obama is pushing federal agencies to “ban the box” or refrain from asking prospective employees about their criminal histories on job applications. Host Bob Abernethy and managing editor Kim Lawton speak with Darren Ferguson, a former inmate and now pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Far Rockaway, New York, about his work reforming America’s criminal justice system and the role being played by diverse communities of faith.
Bishop Darren Ferguson Extended Conversation
“I’m living on the fact that somebody cared for me when I got out. The guys who got out before me helped me when I got out. People who are doing this work helped me, so I’m bound to reciprocate.”
