Finding Spiritual Faith since 9/11 by Vicky Thompson
"Nearly one year after September 11, America is still experiencing a crisis of faith. Many Americans have lost their faith in national security, corporate ethics and the church as acts of terror, scandal and abuse continue to rock the foundation of society. As a result, spirituality, an antidote to religion, is becoming more accepted by the mainstream as more people explore a direct spiritual connection with God to find their faith during these trying times."
Why Politics and Religion Miss the Mark of Unconditional Love by Mari Tankenoff and Scott Bergér
"In today's society, every political and religious leader seems intent upon convincing us that God is on "their" side. How can God be on the side of one particular organized religion or political party, rather than another? The underlying problem pertains to the dichotomy between duality and Unity -- and not merely divisions between Republicans and Democrats, Jews, Christians Muslims, or anyone else divided according to theological, nationalistic, ideological, racial or gender biases."
Lost World Found An interview with Somali Artist Aziz (Abdulasis Osman)
"You also see a lot of problems, difficulties and cultural clashes. For example, in Somalia, we are all Muslim. We have to pray at work or anywhere else; here in America people do not need to observe their religion five times a day like us. It's a completely different world. It is difficult to integrate into a new society. If you don't have something to support you and help you gradually integrate, it's difficult. It's like living in two worlds, living in the world we left behind and here the world we are living in now. For me, the painting is the bridge between these two cultures."
"Yes, I did go through a dark night of the soul when I first moved here to Minnesota in 1990. I'm originally from Chicago, but I moved up here from Kansas, where I had been for 13 years. I went through a very difficult time, through depression, panic attacks, fear. I was a very religious-based person raised as a child in the Baptist religion, which was a very beautiful gift to me. But at that time, going through the dark night of the soul put me on the real search for truth, for love, for understanding. Sometimes, I think we have to be knocked down pretty hard to open up to enlightenment."
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do
not know what religion is."
~Mohandas Gandhi
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science
is blind."
~Albert Einstein
"Nobody can deny but religion is a comfort to the distressed,
a cordial to the sick, and sometimes a restraint on the wicked; therefore
whoever would argue or laugh it out of the world without giving some
equivalent for it ought to be treated as a common enemy."
~Mary Wortley Montagu