For most of her life, Neets’aii Gwich’in leader Sarah James has worked to protect her homelands, including the coastal plain of the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Under the Trump Administration, the United States government put out a call for bids on leasing some of the area for oil exploration and drilling. To the region’s longtime inhabitants, those […]

Listen and subscribe to The Spiritual Edge wherever you listen to podcasts – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. By Maria Martin “I began to understand that it’s good not to feel defeated. That we should keep moving  forward, loving life, and our existence.” As the COVID-19 pandemic raged and Guatemala was under lockdown, a remarkable […]

In a peaceful protest, the Winnemem Wintu call out the U.S. government for its refusal to acknowledge the destruction caused by Shasta Dam. The protest at the Shasta Dam Visitor Center reveals the Winnemem Wintu’s ongoing reality. They are ignored and later a security guard threatens to forcibly remove them. Read More We accompany the […]

“Sinbad Avenue. This is where it started,” he tells me.  He takes me to the neighborhood in San Jose that his parents moved to in the late seventies, just before he was born. It’s also where Tyson first encountered hip hop as a kid. “This is where all of that began,” Tyson says. “This was […]

Listen and subscribe to The Spiritual Edge wherever you listen to podcasts – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. By Jahd Khalil “I really have to understand that I’m not going to get closer to God just because I’m in Damascus. I have to be able to feel close to God in Detroit, too.” Diana Demchenko […]

In Becoming Muslim, we explore the motivations and challenges of converts, as they carve out a uniquely American path for being Muslim in the United States. Over seven episodes, we profile eight individuals from various cultural backgrounds. Each offers a different window into this diverse and complex religion. A spiritual seeker travels to Cairo to […]

Listen and subscribe to The Spiritual Edge wherever you listen to podcasts – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. By Natasha Haverty “We’re completely used to breaking our fast alone, like this is something that’s not foreign to a lot of us who have come to the religion, because we don’t have Muslim families.” Latinx Americans […]

Listen and subscribe to The Spiritual Edge wherever you listen to podcasts – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. By Hana Baba “Malcolm X said it himself. He said there is no audience that is more primed to hear the message of Islam than the black man in prison.” An important part of the Black Muslim […]

How did Islam first arrive on the North American continent? Did enslaved West Africans bring it to America? Or did Muslims sail with Christopher Columbus first? Later, Islam spread in the United States, among various communities. How did that happen? In this BONUS conversation that’s part of the Becoming Muslim series, host Hana Baba dives […]

Father Ismael Moreno Coto – the Jesuit priest everyone calls Padre Melo – is a spiritual leader, the director of a radio station and one of the most respected political analysts in Central America. In his native Honduras, he routinely speaks out against widespread human rights violations, fraudulent elections and government corruption. All these factors, […]

On a sunny October morning in North Carolina, the Carolina Memorial Sanctuary’s small staff gathers in a clearing.  Sumac and blackberry brambles are waist high, and blue jays shriek at the small group from a stand of pines.  There’s a burial the next morning, and the weather forecast is iffy.  The Sanctuary’s founder, Caroline Yongue, […]

“You’re going to your spiritual dwelling, and to have to enter the door in combat mode is really traumatic. But…you have to go back. You have to stand in the fire.” Women don’t always feel welcome in American mosques. They’re sometimes turned away, sent to basements to pray, or discouraged from serving on the boards […]

Most religions teach people to help those in need. But what happens when that mandate clashes with how the government views the law? After federal prosecutors cracked down on volunteers providing aid on the border, Scott Warren faced decades in prison for following his conscience. * * * The desert near the Arizona-Mexico border can […]