Listen Live on KKFI
Every Sunday at 3:00amAbout the Show
Inspired
Inspired is the nation's leading public radio show about faith, ethics and spirituality. Each week we offer you analyses of the big headlines alongside lesser-told stories – those of Orthodox Jewish artists and African-American atheists, Muslim feminists and spiritual seekers. Through these stories, a rough sketch of our country’s religious landscape begins to emerge. It’s a marketplace of beliefs and ideas too complex for sound bites, and too important to ignore.
Today on this week’s installment of Interfaith Voices:
Jerusalem: The Gateway to God
All three Abrahamic faiths call Jerusalem the closest city to God. Muslims go to the the Dome of the Rock to celebrate Muhammad’s ascension. Christians travel to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to honor the resurrection of Jesus. And Jews leave prayers inside the cracks of the Western Wall, the closest structure to to the ancient Temple. A new film explores what Jerusalem means to each group through the eyes of three young Jerusalemites.
Why Hanukkah is Booming in America
If you were to rank the theological heft of Jewish holidays, Hanukkah wouldn’t land near the top. Yet the eight-day festival, which recalls a miraculous drop of oil that burned for eight days, is now as popular as the high holy days for American Jews. Dianne Ashton recounts how this nearly forgotten festival skyrocketed after the late 1800s.
160 Ways to Say Grace
Many American families are choosing a turkey and digging out their stuffing recipes for Thanksgiving dinner. Before they eat, many will say a prayer. But Thanksgiving is by no means the only time people say grace. People all over the world have been blessing their food for centuries.
Featured guests/speakers:
Daniel Ferguson, writer, director and producer of Jerusalem IMAX 3D
Jodi Magness, professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Dianne Ashton, author of Hanukkah in America: A History
Adrian Butash, author of Bless This Food: Ancient & Contemporary Graces from Around the World
