Living Our Beliefs: Exploring Faith & Religion in Daily Life

Episode 51. My friend and fellow podcaster, Beatriz Nour, takes the helm for this special episode. Beatriz normally hosts her In-betweenish podcast, a wonderful show all about people, like herself, who inhabit multiple cultures. For this episode, we have switched roles, and talk about my personal faith path, sorting out my sexuality, choosing Judaism and deepening my practice. It was fascinating t...

Episode 50. Woman of Valor is Lynne Golodner’s first published novel after six non-fiction books and two poetry collections. This engaging story lets us into the rewarding and complex life of Sally, who took on the Orthodox Judaism of her grandparents. Happily married to Barry and a mother to three young children, she leads a full and contented life, but trouble arrives unexpectedly. In this episo...

Episode 49. Mona grew up in Texas in the 1980s, the only veiled Muslim girl throughout her school years.  Her faith and immigrant family was seen as strange and unknown, yet she was dedicated to her faith, even starting to veil by seven years old, which is earlier than required.  Despite or perhaps because of this extreme minority experience, Mona has dedicated her life to education, most passiona...

Episode 48. As a columnist (The New York Times, the Daily Beast and elsewhere), speaker, published author, recovering attorney and practicing Muslim, Wajahat Ali brings a sharp eye and thoughtful commentary to the issue of religion in our modern world, especially the USA. The current political dissension and aggressive efforts by the right wing and Christian nationalists to impose their values reg...

Episode 47. David has traveled far, religiously speaking, from his upbringing in a largely secular Jewish home. Other than attending services at a Reform synagogue on Boston’s North Shore, there was minimal observance. Since then, he has gone through many phases, including flirting with atheism and participating in his college Hillel services, all the while maintaining the Jewish identity inherite...

Episode 46. Having traversed the spectrum of Christian denominations – from the middle (United Methodist) to the conservative (Pentecostal) then all the way to the liberal (Unitarian Universalist) – Carlton has derived a rich and appreciative perspective on living according to Jesus’ teachings.  As he notes in the Introduction of Try My Jesus : “Anyone who invites you to try Jesus is inviting you...

Episode 45. In this second conversation with Mookie, we expanded the discussion of diversity and the ways he embodies his Catholic faith. The two main areas are his tattoos that manage to marry his Filipino and Catholic identities, and his pilgrimage in August 2022 on the Camino de Santiago. Highlights: 00:04:39 Diversity and race in the US. 00:13:34 The guest’s tattoo and its symbolism, including...

Episode 44. As a psychotherapist, professor and researcher, Mookie believes in attending to the whole person. For him, this care includes his Catholic practice. For his clients, faith or root beliefs might also be included. Mookie has arrived at his philosophy of therapy and groundedness in Catholicism through a circuitous route. Born in the Philippines, raised in California, followed by graduate...

Episode 43. Zachary Davis, a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormons), has been deeply involved in producing podcasts and other media about religion. In this Bonus episode, we discuss the role of religion in the public sphere. He talks about the importance of bringing your whole self into the community, and makes the distinction between scholarly work and dev...

Episode 42 Peter, author of Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger, describes his journey through a small Christian religious cult. Getting drawn in was not his intention, and he believes that no one knows they’re in a cult, just that they were in a cult. For Peter, the group was an unavoidable aspect of marrying the love of his life. Neither the cult nor his experience in the cult is what you would ex...

Episode 41. An award-winning reporter at WBZ/CBS Boston, the first Muslim Miss Massachusetts (2022), volunteer for the Special Olympics, convert (or revert) to Islam from Catholicism and a Black American – Katrina holds a complex identity. She channels her complexity and desire to be authentic into her passion for community, diversity, and equality.  Impressively, she does so with grace, humor, an...

Episode 40.  As a British coach, consultant, and public speaker, Sobiya helps people in different ways.  The coaching is one:one support mostly around confidence and mindset to help the client reach her potential.  As a consultant, she works with companies wanting to improve their diversity, equity and inclusion, and as a public speaker, Sobiya draws on both her personal experience as a Muslim wom...

Episode 39. Sarah draws on her innate passion for helping others in her work as a coach, trainer, and speaker.  Whether helping individuals or organizations, her drive to unlock potential and encourage people to achieve their dreams comes through. After years in leadership training for faith-based organizations, particularly within the Black community in Boston, Sarah launched Unlimited Success Se...

Episode 38. Like many people of her generation, Janet was raised with little religious instruction, due to her parents’ desire to be American. After some exploration into other faiths, she decided in her 20s to learn about the Judaism of her roots. It has been a long journey. She considers herself a JewBu – incorporating elements of both Judaism and Buddhism, generally the ritual and holidays of t...

Episode 37.  Prianka Alam has retained the dedication to helping her family and Muslim community in Maryland that she learned as a young immigrant child. The financial uncertainty growing up has prompted a craving for stability and security as an adult, in short a boring life. These desires drove Prianka to focus on her education, career path and a husband who would be Muslim and a good partner fo...

Episode 36.  Jill Sarkozi, founder of the Safekeeping Stories program, talks about the mission and system of the work. Inspired by helping her father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, write his story, Jill went on to develop the Storykeeping® method. Since founding the program in 2012, Jill and her team have helped many Jewish families capture their own family stories. The workshop provides a safe env...

Episode 35. Julie Kinscheck, singer-songwriter, teacher, and group leader extraordinaire, is a woman of many musical talents. Whether singing sacred or secular music – hymns, Christmas carols, jazz, or folk music – she brings passion and a desire to share her God-given abilities with the audience. After years of performing and teaching, the Covid lock-down created time to produce a book, Vocal Tra...

Episode 34. As a traditional Jew attending an Orthodox synagogue, Elissa believes that the Torah provides a blueprint for living. God is an ever-present force in her life and she has an ongoing relationship with God. After the death of her first child, Elissa studied the Jewish beliefs of death and the afterlife.  In addition to the studies, becoming involved in tahara, the Jewish practice of prep...

Episode 33, Hamzah has traveled an unexpected path from his Episcopalian childhood. Befriending an Indian Muslim classmate in 10th grade, he became enamored of Islam and accepted the faith after months of study. It has remained his true path and he has spent most of his career in Islamic education. Despite the unusual conversion, Hamzah has not rejected his upbringing religiously or educationally,...

Episode 32. William brings heart, head and soul together in his work as a pastoral therapist.  The combination means being attuned to the spiritual values, history and trauma, along with where therapeutic techniques should be used. While he is Christian and works mostly with other Christians, he is open to helping anyone. Highlights: ·       We have more in common than we think. ·       Praying to...

Episode 31. Saiyyidah brings her experience of Practical Theology to life in this engaging conversation. Landing in the field by accident, then choosing to remain, she views the staunchly white Christian British arena with an outsider’s eyes, while valuing the bridging of the Academy and religious leaders. Her perspective as a Muslim woman of color, prompted a deep exploration of her identity, for...

Episode 30. Coming from a multi-cultural and inter-religious home, finding his way into Jewish expression has been a process.  This flowered after moving to Germany, soon after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and coinciding with a great hunger for German Jewish history there.  Oliver has since found a home in traditional services. His individual prayer experience is the important element and the pat...

Episode 29. Orneita Burton, a professor at Abilene Christian University in Abilene Texas, speaks about Authenticity in Spirituality. This intention to be genuine in our relationship with God involves reflection, reading scripture, and serving others. Authenticity is a challenge, as it calls for understanding ourselves and others.  Part of the difficulty is from the spiritual warfare between God an...

Episode 28. Moishe Dov is a life-long and dedicated member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. He speaks from the heart of his journey through addiction and subsequent sobriety.  With regained health, taking up a daily practice of Jewish study has re-trained his definition of discipline into a positive and reliable force.   IMPORTANT:  This episode includes dis...

Episode 27. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as LDS and the Mormon church, Margaret lives her faith deeply.  In this lively conversation, she speaks openly about learning to hear the voice of God and some of the instructions she has been given.  Sometimes they are prosaic directives to invite families to dinner or bring soup to a neighbor.  Writing the In...