https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics An examination of religion's role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines. Thu, 02 Mar 2017 15:06:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.1 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-kim-lawton/34736/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-kim-lawton/34736/#disqus_thread Fri, 24 Feb 2017 19:49:02 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34736 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-kim-lawton/34736/feed/ 0 00:09:21 “Across the US and around the world, I’ve witnessed the many ways people worship, express their spirituality, seek the sacred, and build community. The perseverance of faith and hope, even in the most difficult circumstances, continues to inspire me.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-lucky-severson/34738/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-lucky-severson/34738/#disqus_thread Fri, 24 Feb 2017 19:48:40 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34738 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-lucky-severson/34738/feed/ 0 00:08:48 “I see it all the time,” says Father Michael Doyle, a Roman Catholic priest in Camden, New Jersey, “a beauty that’s deep and wonderful and sometimes tragic, but beauty absolutely, I do. Their faces are there with their burdens and their wrinkles and their difficulties and so forth, but beauty that’s just jumping at you. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-rituals/34740/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-rituals/34740/#disqus_thread Fri, 24 Feb 2017 19:48:20 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34740 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/24/looking-back-rituals/34740/feed/ 0 00:05:12 “Any ritual should have the capacity to deepen your mindfulness,” says University of Virginia professor Vanessa Ochs. It helps you “deal with the chaos of life.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-bob-abernethy/34643/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-bob-abernethy/34643/#disqus_thread Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:32:27 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34643 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-bob-abernethy/34643/feed/ 0 00:10:25 “What makes me a believer,” says writer Frederick Buechner, “is that from time to time, going back almost as far as my memory will go back, there have been glimpses I had, sometimes literally a glimpse, which have made me suspect the presence of something extraordinary and beyond the realm of the immediate." https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-tim-obrien/34641/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-tim-obrien/34641/#disqus_thread Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:30:33 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34641 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-tim-obrien/34641/feed/ 0 00:03:56 “In the last 20 years,” says correspondent Tim O’Brien, “we’ve seen five vacancies on the Supreme Court and changing attitudes on a wide range of social issues. Times do change, and so do the justices. For better or worse, what the Constitution really means would seem to have changed over the years right along with them.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-fred-de-sam-lazaro/34646/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-fred-de-sam-lazaro/34646/#disqus_thread Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:29:51 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34646 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-fred-de-sam-lazaro/34646/feed/ 0 00:03:58 “Many of my stories have concerned human suffering,” says correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro, “and one of the most effective ways to tell these is through the work of social innovators and entrepreneurs, many driven by deep faith.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-judy-valente/34621/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-judy-valente/34621/#disqus_thread Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:10:46 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34621 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/17/looking-back-judy-valente/34621/feed/ 0 00:04:04 “I think the purpose of the monastic life in the modern world is to show that we don’t need a purpose,” says Brother Paul Quenon of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. “The purpose of life is life, and you are to be just to be. Everybody measures their importance by how useful they are. That’s not it. That’s not what life is.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/conflict-resolution-public-schools/34528/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/conflict-resolution-public-schools/34528/#disqus_thread Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:29:06 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34528 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/conflict-resolution-public-schools/34528/feed/ 0 00:07:14 “Conflict is a part of human experience,” says Wichita West High School psychologist Janet Fox Peterson, “and teaching about speaking and listening is so very critical, and we’re not working on that very much as a society.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/footsteps-mother-teresa/34530/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/footsteps-mother-teresa/34530/#disqus_thread Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:28:45 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34530 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/footsteps-mother-teresa/34530/feed/ 0 00:07:47 The sisters don't go out and try to fix the society,” says seminarian Peter Ludwig. “They really embrace the culture that they're in, find people, the absolute poorest of the poor. It's what's so different about Mother Teresa. She doesn't go and try to fix all the problems in the world. She goes out to love, to bring love into the problems of the world.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/perspective-syrian-refugees-imam-omar-suleiman/34396/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/perspective-syrian-refugees-imam-omar-suleiman/34396/#disqus_thread Fri, 10 Feb 2017 18:38:40 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34396 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/10/perspective-syrian-refugees-imam-omar-suleiman/34396/feed/ 0 00:03:38 “They are human beings, and so they have a right to live in peace and security,” says Imam Omar Suleiman, who has made several visits to the refugee camps on the Jordanian-Syrian border. “And if we’re not contributing to the betterment of their situation...are we really the moral standard for the world?” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/sanctuary-movement/34422/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/sanctuary-movement/34422/#disqus_thread Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:20:08 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34422 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/sanctuary-movement/34422/feed/ 0 00:09:38 Bob Feinman of Humane Borders says he “didn’t spend a whole lot of time paying attention to the rabbis” when he was in religious school as a child. “But the one thing I remember was the Seder every year at Passover, the Exodus. We were the ones that walked around in circles following Moses for all those years. People here are walking in circles, facing an uncertain future and facing death, as we did.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/500th-anniversary-protestant-reformation/34420/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/500th-anniversary-protestant-reformation/34420/#disqus_thread Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:19:54 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34420 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/500th-anniversary-protestant-reformation/34420/feed/ 0 00:08:54 “We hope to celebrate this anniversary without hiding the problematic side, the dark side of Martin Luther,” says Rev Johannes Block, pastor of the Evangelical City and Parish Church of St. Mary’s in Wittenberg, Germany, where Luther himself preached hundreds and hundreds of sermons in the 16th century. “The Reformation said you are responsible for yourself,” he continued. “Everybody is responsible for his faith. It’s a step of democracy. Everybody is equal in the church.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/extended-interview-professor-michael-root/34474/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/extended-interview-professor-michael-root/34474/#disqus_thread Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:17:47 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34474 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/extended-interview-professor-michael-root/34474/feed/ 0 00:05:15 “I don’t see Protestant-Catholic unity coming in the immediate future,” says Michael Root, professor of systematic theology at the Catholic University of America. “There are real differences. The question we face is how do we both affirm the commonalities while being honest about the continuing differences?” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/footsteps-martin-luther/34837/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/footsteps-martin-luther/34837/#disqus_thread Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:15:20 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34837 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/02/03/footsteps-martin-luther/34837/feed/ 0 00:08:39 Follow along as managing editor Kim Lawton visits several key sites in Germany associated with Martin Luther and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/religious-reaction-trump-executive-orders/34282/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/religious-reaction-trump-executive-orders/34282/#disqus_thread Fri, 27 Jan 2017 21:36:41 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34282 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/religious-reaction-trump-executive-orders/34282/feed/ 0 00:04:30 “We have a government now that is trying to legislate what it means to be faithful—faithful to America, faithful to a particular religious perspective,” says Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Interfaith Alliance. “We heard that in the pre-inaugural sermon that the president was presented with, and if you don’t fit into that pretty narrow definition of what it means to be an American religious person, that has a chilling effect on your sense of being at home in this country.”  https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/new-camaldoli-hermitage/34280/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/new-camaldoli-hermitage/34280/#disqus_thread Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:32:16 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34280 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/new-camaldoli-hermitage/34280/feed/ 0 00:08:40 “We’re going back to where it all began,” says Fr. Columba Stewart, a scholar of monasticism and a Benedictine monk at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, “with a variety of models of Christian ascetic life, and by ascetic I just mean disciplined. That’s what people are discovering, and they’re figuring out ways they can live as individuals, as families, as loose associations of friends who find this particular path to be helpful, sustaining, and nourishing to them.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/extended-interview-fr-columba-stewart-osb/34517/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/extended-interview-fr-columba-stewart-osb/34517/#disqus_thread Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:31:08 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34517 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/extended-interview-fr-columba-stewart-osb/34517/feed/ 0 00:14:29 “What St. Benedict is doing is providing a charter for making a community that really endures and that can encompass a variety of people who aren’t all there because they have the same personality or like the same music or have the same hobby. They’re all there for some purpose that’s really beyond themselves, this spiritual quest, and they recognize they can’t do it by themselves.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/martin-scorseses-silence/34278/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/martin-scorseses-silence/34278/#disqus_thread Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:30:36 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34278 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/27/martin-scorseses-silence/34278/feed/ 0 00:06:45 His movie "Silence," says director Martin Scorsese, “is the struggle for the very essence of faith, stripping away everything else around it. You have to find a relationship with Jesus,” says Scorsese, “with yourself, really, because that’s the one you face.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/19/religion-new-trump-administration/34242/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/19/religion-new-trump-administration/34242/#disqus_thread Thu, 19 Jan 2017 22:25:45 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34242 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/19/religion-new-trump-administration/34242/feed/ 0 00:10:00 “I have heard that the Trump presidency could see the reemergence of a real Christian left in the United States,” says Stephen Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/19/terry-waite/34195/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/19/terry-waite/34195/#disqus_thread Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:37:07 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34195 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/19/terry-waite/34195/feed/ 0 00:08:00 “I said this to myself in the face of my captors: You have the power to break my body, and you’ve tried. You have the power to bend my mind, and you’ve tried. But my soul is not yours to possess. In other words, my soul lay in the hand of God.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/13/millennials-legacy-martin-luther-king-jr/34122/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/13/millennials-legacy-martin-luther-king-jr/34122/#disqus_thread Fri, 13 Jan 2017 20:03:11 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34122 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/13/millennials-legacy-martin-luther-king-jr/34122/feed/ 0 00:08:21 “There is a really important role that spirituality is playing among millennials and contemporary activists,” says Sarah Jackson, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and an expert on social movements. But “it is a spirituality that is not necessarily tied to the formal structures of church organization, and it doesn’t necessarily require a certain type of leadership.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/13/katie-meyler/34102/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/13/katie-meyler/34102/#disqus_thread Fri, 13 Jan 2017 19:59:57 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34102 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/13/katie-meyler/34102/feed/ 0 00:07:59 “What defines you the most is what you do despite your fear,” says Katie Meyler, a 34-year-old American from suburban New Jersey who was working in Liberia in the midst of extreme poverty when Ebola struck. Now she runs a growing network of schools for girls and says, “Nobody chooses Liberia. Liberia chooses you. You can make a big difference here.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/06/brexit-londons-muslim-mayor/34029/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/06/brexit-londons-muslim-mayor/34029/#disqus_thread Fri, 06 Jan 2017 18:54:50 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=34029 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/06/brexit-londons-muslim-mayor/34029/feed/ 0 00:07:26 “I have never held myself out as a Muslim leader,” says Sadiq Khan, who became mayor of London shortly before Britain voted to leave the European Union. “But it’s a fact I’m a leader of Islamic faith, so that brings with [it] a responsibility, especially in current times.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/05/sean-callahan/33987/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/05/sean-callahan/33987/#disqus_thread Thu, 05 Jan 2017 20:37:59 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=33987 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/05/sean-callahan/33987/feed/ 0 00:06:41 The new president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services represents the spirit of American Catholicism by reaching out to suffering international communities. Even in the face of frightening crises around the world, says Sean Callahan, “the common good outweighs the evil that’s being done.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/05/shabbatsabbath/33731/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/05/shabbatsabbath/33731/#disqus_thread Thu, 05 Jan 2017 20:35:44 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=33731 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2017/01/05/shabbatsabbath/33731/feed/ 0 00:03:04 “God gave Shabbat to humanity,” says Rabbi Nissan Antine of Beth Sholom Congregation in Potomac, Maryland. “It’s about those more interior kinds of things, things about working on your soul, working on your friendships, your relationships. Those are really the important things in life. Those are the things we are going to be remembered by.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/22/look-ahead-2017/33914/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/22/look-ahead-2017/33914/#disqus_thread Thu, 22 Dec 2016 17:25:12 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=33914 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/22/look-ahead-2017/33914/feed/ 0 00:22:31 As the New Year begins, three journalists discuss the top religion stories they will be keeping an eye on in 2017 with host Bob Abernethy. He is joined by managing editor Kim Lawton, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, and Jerome Socolovsky, editor-in-chief of Religion News Service. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/22/look-back-2016/33839/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/22/look-back-2016/33839/#disqus_thread Thu, 22 Dec 2016 15:31:17 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=33839 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/22/look-back-2016/33839/feed/ 0 00:23:14 In our final show before the New Year, we review the top religion and ethics stories of 2016. Host Bob Abernathy is joined by R&E managing editor Kim Lawton, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, and Jerome Socolovsky, editor-in-chief of Religion News Service. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/mercy-chefs/33738/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/mercy-chefs/33738/#disqus_thread Fri, 16 Dec 2016 17:38:16 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=33738 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/mercy-chefs/33738/feed/ 0 00:06:24 “Hurting people don’t need to hear the gospel,” says Chef Gary LeBlanc. “They need to see the gospel.” https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/the-threshold-choir/33736/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/the-threshold-choir/33736/#disqus_thread Fri, 16 Dec 2016 17:37:05 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=33736 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/the-threshold-choir/33736/feed/ 0 00:06:33 “When we sing to a patient, we are sending them love, we are wishing them well on their journey, we are saying we’re all in this together...We are learning from them how to do this thing called dying,” says Sarah Stott, a member of the Threshold Choir in Washington, DC.  https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/december-11-2015-hanukkah-on-the-river/28225/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/december-11-2015-hanukkah-on-the-river/28225/#disqus_thread Fri, 16 Dec 2016 17:31:46 +0000 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=28225 https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/12/16/december-11-2015-hanukkah-on-the-river/28225/feed/ 0 00:03:28 "When people stand together and see the menorah being lit, we're hoping to inspire them to a greater level of commitment and dedication to their own faith and tradition,” says Rabbi Chaim Block, executive director of San Antonio’s Chabad Center for Jewish Life & Learning.