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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.
This week on Interfaith Voices:
Debating Prayer in Public Life
Picture yourself at a board meeting in the small town of Greece, N.Y. located near Rochester. The meeting begins with a prayer led by a Christian minister who invokes the name of Jesus Christ. How would you react?
Most townspeople didn’t say anything, but two women, Susan Galloway – who is Jewish – and Linda Stephens, an atheist, did object. Their case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which had just ruled that government meetings can begin with Christian prayers, or indeed prayers from any specific religion. Two sides debate the ruling.
Kumari: Young Girls Worshipped as ‘Living Goddesses’
One of the most powerful people in Nepal wears a tiny red dress and has an eye painted on her forehead. She is a 7-year-old girl named Yunika Vajracharya, and on April 9th she became the newest Living Goddess in Nepal. Like the hundreds of young girls who have filled this role since at least the 15th century, she will be worshipped as a deity by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Featured guests/speakers:
Rob Boston, director of communications at Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel for the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty
Isabella Tree, author of The Living Goddess: A Journey into the Heart of Kathmandu
