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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.
Loosening the Rules on Remarried Catholics
In the Catholic Church, divorce isn’t the problem — it’s the remarriage part. Official doctrine says that a true marriage is a permanent, life-long union. To marry again, and stay in communion with the Church, Catholics must annul their first “un-true” marriage by meticulously retracing the steps that led to its’ demise, denouncing that is was ever a real union at all. This is one of the most unpopular teachings in the Church today, and the way it plays out in practice is now being reconsidered at a high-level meeting called the Synod on the Family. Featuring the following guests:
Stephanie Coontz, historian of marriage and the family at Evergreen State College
Father Jim Martin, a Jesuit Priest and author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage
Dr. Joann Heaney-Hunter, associate professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University
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Faith Behind Bars: Deceivers and Believers
Muslim prisoner Gregory Holt claims he has a right to grow a beard because it is required by his religion. But the prison disagrees. It’s a case now being argued before the Supreme Court, and it caught the attention of Chaplain Gary Friedman. He’s been pastoring to prisoners for nearly 25 years, and says that for every Gregory Holt who may have a legitimate case, there are plenty of other inmates manipulating the system.
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World Religions 101: Hinduism
Stephen Prothero calls Hinduism an “over-the-top religion of big ideas, bright colors, soulful mantras, spicy foods, complex rituals and wild stories.” The world’s oldest living religion, Hinduism is an attempt to escape the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth. The goal is to free the soul from bondage, a path known as moksha, or release.
