State of Belief Blog

Rev. Jerry Falwell took the final plunge last week and we'll examine his impact on politics and American culture.  How did he help define the Evangelical Christian movement and what has he left behind?  Jeff Sharlet, editor of The Revealer, lends us his expertise on the subject.

Susan Friend Harding experienced Falwell's power first-hand.  While conducting research on the Religious Right in the 1980s, she found herself in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Falwell's Liberty University.  It was there she "came under conviction" due to the persuasive language Falwell cultivated.  She'll tell us the stories that are detailed in her study The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics.

Faith on Film: We travel behind the camera lens with Joel Engardio, producer and director of the documentary Knocking, a look at Jehovah's Witnesses.  What is and is not know about this often misunderstood faith?

 

And, we've got a major announcement about the future of State of Belief on Air America Radio.  We'll give you a hint: More, more, more.

It's Mother's Day... a day that was created by activist and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe to promote peace throughout the world.  We'll talk to Naila Bolus of the Ploughshares Fund about why we lost sight of the day's original intent, and we'll look at the Rediscover Mother's Day campaign that is trying to bring Mother's Day back to it's roots.

Also, Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman visits us again with a Mother's Day Call-To-Action on behalf of children without health care.  She'll also introduce us to Susie Flynn, a 9-year-old Presidential Candidate. 

And comedian Judy Gold has 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother.  Find out what she's been asking mothers all over the country and what they've been saying.  You can get tickets for Judy's one-woman show here. 

We're broadcasting a mile above sea level this week.  State of Belief comes to Denver, Colorado, for The Interfaith Alliance's National Leadership Gathering.

While the NLG focuses on what area leaders can do in their communities, we'll focus on what some leaders have already done.  Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, newly re-elected Mayor of Denver John Hickenlooper, and civil rights activist Rev. Amos Brown join us to talk about their roles in public service.

Governor Ritter also makes a little news on the show when he tells us his plans to sign a bill that has been championed by The Interfaith Alliance's Colorado chapter.

Speaking of legislation that The Interfaith Alliance champions, two bills just received passage in the House of Representatives.  We'll tell you why we advocated their passage and why there's still a lot of work to be done.

And, we'll visit a restaurant in Downtown Denver with a unique business philosophy:  Pay it forward.  Brad Birky of the SAME Cafe (that stands for So All May Eat) tells us why there are no prices on any of his menu items.

The Summer Movie Season is set to kick off with the release of Spiderman 3 on Friday, May 4.  And in that spirit, we'll talk with Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, who is known as the Comic Book Rabbi for finding similarities between religious lore and modern American superheroes.  Is Superman really Jewish?  Rabbi Simcha will tell us.

Bishop John Shelby Spong continues to challenge all who listen to him with his modern day analysis of Christianity.  He talks with Welton about his new book, Jesus for the Non-Religious, and discusses a new way of understanding the divinity of Jesus.

Members of the Wiccan faith scored a victory this week that stands as a triumph for all military service members and for religious freedom.  We'll give you the details.

And finally, who hijacked the National Day of Prayer?  Would it surprise you if the culprit was James Dobson and his Focus on the Family organization (check out their misleading "official" website)?  Ryan Valentine with the Texas Freedom Network has co-authored a report on the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and he lets us in on the group's attempt to eliminate the interfaith nature of the National Day of Prayer.

Following the tragic events that occurred last Monday on the campus of Virginia Tech, we've been grappling with the role of faith during a time of unspeakable sadness.  Welton will moderate an interfaith roundtable including Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, Imam Mahdi Bray, and Rabbi Ethan Seidel to try and deal with the tough questions that linger in the aftermath of the shooting.

It's also Earth Day, and the Coaltion on the Environment and Jewish Life is getting out the message that environmentalism is rooted in Jewish traditions.  Executive Director Barbara Lerman-Golumb tells us what's Jewish about protecting the environment.

Our Your Voice segment this week introduces us to Greg Epstein.  He's the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard, and if you don't know what that is, you'll probably be surprised to learn that Harvard's Humanist Chaplaincy just turned 30 years old.

And red lights abound in our Intersection Awards.  Presidential Candidate Tommy Thompson, religious conservative Lou Sheldon, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx.)are the inauspicious recipients.