On the occasion of my first visit ever to a Mosque, two dominant impressions swept over me. First, the strength of the religious piety which I observed during the community prayer and in the talks afterward. And secondly, the warmth of the hospitality shown to me and other visitors.
Category Archives: Articles
Rockefeller
Only last week did I discover that writing obituaries can be dangerous.
This emerged from the revelation made by a veteran staffer in the New York Times newsroom. To a group of us journalists taking part in a weeklong seminar he disclosed a current project he is working on: an obituary for David Rockefeller, long one of New York’s most prominent bankers.
Mind you, Mr. Rockefeller is not dead yet. In fact, at 93 he may, for all I know, be thriving.
Booing John Mac Master
My heart was touched when I heard what happened to opera singer John Mac Master. This tenor, after all, had the chance of a lifetime.
There he was last month on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, singing a major role before an audience of some four thousand people.
Papal Visit
Next week, the pope is coming to America.
He will visit Washington and New York. Most important, he will speak at the United Nations.
Boston, however, does not get to receive him. Presumably, he prefers not to call further attention to the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy.
What significance does this visit of Benedict XVI have for American Catholics and others?
The Duffs Encore
In the modern world, the reach of newspapers often proves amazing. They find ways to travel all over the world.
Sometimes it happens when people tap into web sites; at other times the paper that you hold in your hands is sent to unexpected destinations. In both instances, an article can cover vast distances and end up in unexpected places.
Religion in America
A new survey has shown startling changes in religion among Americans. Researchers at the Pew Trust contacted 35,000 people age 18 and over (an unusually large sample) and discovered current religious affiliation to be “both diverse and extremely fluid.”
The findings reveal that 28 percent of our countrymen have left the religion in which they were raised. Some of them have migrated to another religious group, while others have entirely abandoned organized religion.
Skip Gates’s Findings
“No human being can be more human than another.” This is the lesson the poet Maya Angelou draws from learning about the history of her own family and that of some other prominent black people.
Angelou and others appear in the path-breaking public television series, African American Lives 2, aired last month. It follows an earlier series broadcast in 2006 that featured a different set of notable black Americans.