Story Archives of 'Religion'

Hospitals in the U.S. evolved following scientific principals and traditions of Western medicine. In our immigrant nation, those practices may conflict with a patient’s belief systems and notions of healing.

Hospitals in St. Paul, Minn., have served a large population of Hmong people from northern Laos since the 1970s. Over time, hospital administrators have learned to incorporate some Hmong practices into routine treatments by inviting spiritual healers inside patient wards.

This collaboration between Eastern and Western beliefs is part of a growing trend in hospitals to make concessions that can help them keep sick patients in medical care. Hospital administrators have turned off smoke detectors, cleared out surgical rooms, and extended visiting hours to accommodate Hmong healers.

Joining us to talk about this is Kathie Culhane-Pera, the associate medical director for West Side Community Health Services in St. Paul.

The New York Times: A Doctor for Disease, a Shaman for the Soul

(Photo courtesy UC Davis Health System)

Iran has just completed a third round of missile tests. This news comes shortly after it was disclosed that the country has been secretly developing an underground uranium enrichment facility. Only a few months have passed since thousands of Iranians flooded the streets to protest what was believed to be a crooked election.

Iran continues to make news for its nuclear ambitions, bitter denouncements of Israel and America by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the country’s backing of militias in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. But look closer and you might see a hidden world – middle-class Muslims going about their daily lives, enjoying the fruits of modernity and hoping for stronger economic and cultural ties with the west. They are scientists, entrepreneurs, bankers, and manufacturers.

In his new book Forces of Fortune, longtime Mideast observer Vali Nasr argues that winning the war against extremist Islam means engaging an emerging Muslim middle class. He’s a professor of international relations at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a senior adviser to the Obama administration.

Read an excerpt from Forces of Fortune

(Photo by Hamed Saber via Flickr/Creative Commons)

David Bazan gained fame as Christian rock's first indie crossover success. The now-defunct bands Pedro the Lion and Headphones reaped secular audiences, despite soundly Christian songs. In recent years Bazan has wrestled with his own faith, and with alcoholism.

His first full-length solo album, Curse Your Branches, which comes out next week, presents some serious challenges to the answers prescribed by Christianity. It's a deeply personal album - there are notes of grief, regret, anger and confusion in these songs.

David Bazan will be in New Hampshire tonight to play a sold out show at a home in Sanbornton. But before he hit the road, he took a moment to join us from the studios of WNYC in New York.

How does one person, or one congregation, or one religious organization continue the spiritual journey within chaotic times? Reverend Robinson will address the times in our lives where our spirituality can waver and how faith can inform us even as controversy or challenges in relationships, careers, and other life stresses can rock our beliefs and values. The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson graduated from the University of the South, Sewanee in Tennessee in 1969 with a B.A. in American Studies and History. His M.Div degree followed in 1973 at the General Theological Seminary in NY and was ordained deacon, then priest serving in Christ Church, Ridgewood, NJ. He served as Youth Ministries Coordinator for the seven diocese of New England and served for two years on the National Youth Ministries Development Team, where he helped originate the national Episcopal Youth Event. In 1983 he served as Executive Secretary of Province I, coordinating all cooperative programs between New England’s seven diocese. On June 7, 2003, he was consecrated Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, having served as Canon to the Ordinary for nearly 18 years and was invested as the Ninth Bishop of New Hampshire on March 7, 2004. Gene has co-authored AIDS educational curricula for youth and adults and has worked in the United States, Uganda and South Africa in this field. In addition he has advocated against racism in the diocese and wider Church.