The Spiritual Edge: Sacred Steps Series (Season 1)

Religion.

Often an emotional subject, the lens of religion offers profound insight into the world’s cultures.
Religion plays a role in the world’s conflicts, art, health and the way all humans search for meaning.

The Sacred Steps Series explores the shifting landscape of religion and spirituality. Hear stories of people and communities who balance a commitment to long-held beliefs with an active modern life. Season 1 of this series has nine episodes.

Produced by Judy Silber and KALW Public Radio. Check out Season 2.

Episode 1: 21:00
She sat with COVID patients as they approached death
Sarah Byrnes-Martelli is a hospital chaplain in Boston, who is caring for COVID patients when their families can’t visit, because she believes no one should die alone.

Episode 2: 23:00
Fighting for what’s sacred in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
For most of her life, Neets’aii Gwich’in leader Sarah James has worked to protect her homelands, including the coastal plain of the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Episode 3: 27:30
A former Israeli soldier questions his country and faith
Dean Issacharoff, a former Israeli soldier, starts to question violence towards Palestinians and finds himself under fire by his own government. He then suffers an identity crisis. What does it mean to be Jewish if he’s no longer a Zionist?

Episode 4: 30:00
A Palestinian man changes how he resists Sameer became a Palestinian fighter very early in his life. But then he heard a melody that became his touchstone for peace as he tries to walk the path of reconciliation amid one of the thorniest conflicts imaginable.

Episode 5: 26:30
Mennonite musicians who turn street ministry into song
Al and Andi Tauber are taking their ministry and music to the streets, where they’ve found heartbreak…and a family.

Episode 6: 25:00
Two fearless nuns are determined to help detained immigrants
After decades of work with immigrant detainees, Sisters JoAnn Persch and Pat Murphy still aren’t slowing down. They say their age is irrelevant when there is so much need.

Episode 7: 18:30
Risking his life to be a voice of opposition in Honduras
Honduran Catholic priest fondly known as Padre Melo risks his life to speak up on behalf of his country’s most vulnerable people. His activism can be heard on the radio airwaves.

Episode 8: 29:30
They wanted to save lives. The government accused them of crimes.
Federal prosecutors cracked down on volunteers providing humanitarian aid on the border between Arizona and Mexico. Scott Warren faced decades in prison for following his conscience.

Ep isode 9: 25:00
An Anti-Poverty Policymaker Finds Inspiration in Hindu Texts
A new generation of anti-poverty activists are looking to end poverty in the US by building on the movement started by Martin Luther King and others in 1968. Shailly Gupta Barnes, one of its leading tacticians. She’s an Indian American who grounds her commitment to economic justice in her family’s Hindu traditions.