Spirit in Action

Peter Alsop is a singer/songwriter/worldchanger whose songs can be deep and moving, but frequently use humor to invite us to look at something new and life-altering. Violence, Food, Risk-taking, Societal Privilege and many more issues are in his non-violent sights!

Anne Feeney is a rabble rouser activist whose music is zeroed in on exposing the failings and promoting the positive possibilities for our world. She's a modern union maid and hellraiser, working for the people and against war, injustice, corporate greed and much more.

Theatre for Transformation is drama designed to open eyes and instigate change. With a cast that is mostly black, their productions often touch on the history and present of USA's racism, seeking to reclaim history so it can be dealt with and its consequences resolved.

Matt Hunter has been serving as Executive Director of FNVW- Friends for a Non-violent World for 2 1/2 years. Matt is Methodist and was dramatically turned to a belief in Jesus' nonviolent message in seminary. He's worked in South Africa around apartheid and HIV-AIDS, and worked with the homeless in Florida before coming to the Twin Cities.

Myron Buchholz brings real passion and personal insight to his teaching of high school History, particularly as it relates to war. He's spoken strongly against war since the early 1990's, but also brings respect and esteem to how he talks about our soldiers, including his daughter, currently serving in Iraq. He's a powerful, rational, dedicated voice speaking out against the error of war.

Nikki Giovanni is an original. Through her poetry, other writings and talks, she shares vivid glimpses of the human experience which, in her case, includes the experience of growing up in the near-South of the USA in the age of segregation. Nikki is all about breaking loose and choosing direction as is evidently clear from her reflections on her experience drawing on many facets of her experience,...

Visit with  Louise Knight , author of  Jane Addams: Spirit In Action . Around a century ago  Jane Addams  stood at the head of the major peace & justice efforts of her day.

Joseph Maizlish voluntarily relinquished his deferment during the Vietnam War and spent 2 1/2 years in jail. His work now includes mediation and activities with Southern California War Tax Resistance . Family counseling, civil rights, antinuclear work are all part of his path. Music Featured: Have You Been to Jail for Justice? - Anne Feeney Travelers - Andy & Terry Murray

Friends Peace House/Uguru Rw'Amahoro is a striking witness in a country so recently torn by genocide of nearly 800,000 people. The Evangelical Friends Church in Rwanda has firmly taken on the task of being workers for peace, healing and reconciliation in a land much in need of Divine Love.

John Lamoreau has a Master of Arts in Peace Studies and is the co-author of Waging Peace: A Study In Biblical Pacifism, written 26 years ago with about 25 reprintings since then. John is an Evangelical Friend/Quaker, with deep concern for faithfulness to Jesus and to the life Jesus directed that we live. He has the peculiar distiction of being perhaps the only avowed pacifist to be endorsed by the...

Jerry Wilke, Executive Director of Bolton Refuge House for 22 years talks about the practical & spiritual aspects of domestic abuse. Music Featured: Love Is the Only Medicine - Peter Alsop

Stanley Campbell has served Rockford Urban Ministries for almost 25 years, a voice for peace, justice and care for the disadvantaged of Illinois' second city. Stanley knows the ropes, having started as a John Birch conservative who volunteered to fight in Vietnam and having learned to question and reexamine what he's been told.

A visit with the co-directors of the newly opened center for transcendental meditation in the Twin Cities, discussing the history, present and potential ofTranscendental Meditation to promote health and peace, inner and outer.

Philip Gulley is the author of 16 books to date, including the popular fictional series based in Harmony, Indiana. Phil's latest is If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus , and it is a powerful challange to the anti-gay, pro-war, pro-wealth messages of Christians out of step with Jesus.

Santwana Dasgupta is Director of the Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan (P.E.C.A) for the past 2 years, working from Kabul. The path to Afghanistan grew from her youth in India, the events of 9-11 and from her work with Friends for a Non-violent World (FNVW) . Music Featured: Come to School Afghani girls - Atai Sheery

Sami Rasouli returned to Iraq after more than 20 years in the USA to rebuild the country and found the Muslim Peacemaker Teams . Combining love of his birthplace in Iraq with love of his home in the Midwest, Sami lets us see the people of both places as "us". Music Featured: Shekhani - Chaldean Folk Dance from Iraq

Niyonu Spann began leading Beyond Diversity 101 workshops after about 10 years as a diversity workshop facilitator. In this new approach, Niyonu uses mixed modes, song, movement, body work, etc, to move in new directions of growth following knowledge of racism from all sides. Among other things, Niyonu makes music with Tribe1 . Music Featured: I Wish I Knew How/Wade In The Water - Niyonu Spann &am...

Mary Conrow Coelho's book, Awakening Universe, Emerging Personhood. The Power of Contemplation in a Evolving Universe, draws on her teaching & research in biology, Masters of Divinity, and PhD in Historical Theology to explore and flesh in "The New Story" of our place in an evolving universe.

Our two guests consider whether government can do Spirit work on Earth. Jason Penn Browne, author of William Penn's Legacy , writes about the many ways that Penn's Holy Experiment influenced the development of the USA. Julia Ryberg has lived in Sweden for 30+ years, experiencing a progressive system based on the entwining of church & state.

Rodwaan Saleh is the Membership & Affiliates Coordinator of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). I visited with him as he accompanied a group of visitors to Eau Claire from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, on a trip co-sponsored by the National Peace Foundation.

James Mulholland is an author and Quaker pastor who's religious path has spanned tremendously, including fundamentalist Christian to United Methodist to Quakerism. He fearlessly faces the big questions and shares the fruits of his learning through his writing.

Project of the  National Peace Foundation  and the  Islamic Society of North America ,  Reflections and Experiences of Religion and Society  includes essays from the participants in the exchange program between Muslims, Jews & Christians between the Middle East & the US Midwest.

Patrick Bellegarde-Smith teaches in the Africology Dept of UW-Milwaukee with special expertise in Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil and Haiti, where he grew up and where he was initiated as a voodoo (or vodou) houngan (priest). Patrick has collaborated on and written a number of books including: Haiti: The Breached Citadel

Philip Gulley has authored 14 books, including the very popular Harmony series, but today we focus on 2 books co-authored with James Mulholland - If Grace Is True and If God Is Love. Phil visits with us today about his and Jim's growing and evolving conviction, moving them from a traditional fundamentalist viewpoint to a belief in Universal Salvation, and the implications of this revolution of tho...

Bryan Sirchio had a conversion experience at 17, eventually went to seminary, and developed a thirst for Biblical Justice rooted in Love. He's a singer/songwriter and has a special passion for Haiti where he's sojourned 40-50 times.