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Posted on · Houston writer Leah Lax has led an unconventional life. It includes nearly three decades as a Hasidic Jew in an arranged marriage she entered into when she was only 19. She and her husband moved to Houston, where she settled and became the mother of seven children. Over time, she had an awakening of sorts […]
Posted on · With the death of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, we thought we'd take time on this edition of Houston Matters to tell the story of a Houstonian whose life was directly affected by Castro's rise to power. As a teenager, Lorenzo Martinez was evacuated in secret from Cuba in the 1960s. What Martinez didn't know […]
Posted on · When you visit the doctor, you probably focus on getting answers to treat the specific, physical problem thatâs bothering you. And thatâs hard enough as it is. But what happens when a diagnosis might change your life â or even threaten it? Sometimes patients need more than just medical information, according to the Institute for […]
Posted on · Rabbi Shmuli Slonim and his wife Nechama Slonim are the new directors of the Chabad Jewish Center at Rice University, where they will serve Jewish undergraduate and graduate students. We talk with Rabbi Slonim about his journey from Australia to New York — and now to Houston. Plus we learn about the differences between Chabads […]
Posted on · Lax discusses her journey of leaving the Hasidic faith after nearly 30 years.
Posted on · The annual Gay Christian Network Conference kicks off in Houston today (Jan. 7, 2016) and runs through the weekend. Deborah Jian Lee will present on one of the panels at the conference. She's the author of Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism. We talk with her about her […]
Posted on · Greater Houston is home to more than forty megachurches – those are Protestant congregations with a sustained attendance of 2,000 or more per week. And among those are some prominent examples: Lakewood Church and Second Baptist Church – two of the ten largest megachurches in the nation, according to a recent study from the Hartford […]
Posted on · Studies show fewer adults under the age of 30 choose to affiliate with a religion. Are they walking away from faith, or towards something else? And what are Houston area religious leaders doing about it? We talk over the rise of religiously unaffiliated Houstonians with Anthony Pinn, a Professor of Humanities and Religion at Rice […]
Posted on · The US Supreme Court today, in a 5-4 ruling, declared state bans on same sex marriages unconstitutional. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy based the opinion on the due process and equal protection clauses in the 14th Amendment, writing that same sex couples, too, have a âfundamental right to marry.â To put it mildly, […]
Posted on · What do Americans think of religious these days? Penny Edgell, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, recently gave a lecture hosted by Rice University’s Religion and Public Life Program on her work addressing Americans’ attitudes about public religious expression. We talk with her about what her research suggests is a growing divide […]
Posted on · Whether youâre a newcomer or a lifer, whatâs the best way to find the right church, mosque, synagogue or community of faith in Houston? We discuss this with Greg Han, Director of Interfaith Relations for Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston.
Posted on · Ahh the sweet caress of sleep. It's where our bodies recharge and our minds defragment. Of course, we all know we're supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night. But too often we're forced to live by the philosophy of "I'll sleep when I'm dead," squeezing in four hours here, a power nap there, […]
Posted on · David McAfee grew up going to church with his family, but says he never really believed the stories of the Bible were true. But when he discovered that his family truly did believe them, instead of being driven away from religion he became obsessed with learning more about it – so much so that he […]
Posted on · A few weeks back, Rev. Clay Lein delivered his first sermon as the new rector at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in River Oaks. But he wasn’t always a religious man. He’s a former electrical engineer who was once a self-professed “angry atheist.” How did he find himself heading up a 4,000 strong Episcopal […]
Posted on · Former NPR religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty talks about her book, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality.