“Any ritual should have the capacity to deepen your mindfulness,” says University of Virginia professor Vanessa Ochs. It helps you “deal with the chaos of life.” More →

February 24, 2017

“They are human beings, and so they have a right to live in peace and security,” says Imam Omar Suleiman, who has made several visits to the refugee camps on the Jordanian-Syrian border. “And if we’re not contributing to the betterment of their situation…are we really the moral standard for the world?” More →

February 10, 2017

“God gave Shabbat to humanity,” says Rabbi Nissan Antine of Beth Sholom Congregation in Potomac, Maryland. “It’s about those more interior kinds of things, things about working on your soul, working on your friendships, your relationships. Those are really the important things in life. Those are the things we are going to be remembered by.”
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January 5, 2017

“When people stand together and see the menorah being lit, we’re hoping to inspire them to a greater level of commitment and dedication to their own faith and tradition,” says Rabbi Chaim Block, executive director of San Antonio’s Chabad Center for Jewish Life & Learning.
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December 16, 2016

“When it’s time for prayer we say, am I clean?” explains Imam Talib Shareef of the Masjid Muhammad Mosque in Washington, DC. The ritual ablution a Muslim performs before prayer, he says, starts with intentions: “I intend to make the ablution for preparation to stand in obedience before my Lord.” More →

November 23, 2016

“Spirituals are, of course, the songs that the enslaved crafted to tell the story of their experience. But more than that, to tell the story of their faith and the understanding of who they were in relationship to God, and who God was in relationship to them, and it became a story of freedom,” says Rev. Kelly Brown Douglass, Canon Theologian at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. More →

November 4, 2016

“All of nature spoke to Francis,” says Fr James Gardiner of the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC. “The more we learn to reverence all of creation, we might learn to reverence and cherish one another better… I think Francis would approve.” More →

October 7, 2016

“It is considered the time in the prayer service where we are most open spiritually, and we’re really ready to talk to God,” says Rabbi Shira Stutman, senior rabbi at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC. More →

September 23, 2016

“What we’re saying is yes, God, I’m in my personal relationship with you, but I’m also in a relationship with all these people around me.” More →

September 23, 2016

At Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, Muslim children sit in tents, pray, throw stones, and make seven circuits around a replica of the Ka’ba as part of a mock hajj, the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca. More →

September 9, 2016