Deryl Davis

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Finally, as people of faith learn more about each other’s religions and wrestle with inter-religious differences, a visit to a Hindu temple where worshippers are accustomed to seeing many forms of one god. Deryl Davis reports. DERYL DAVIS: Some things are still done the old way in one of the world’s most ancient religions — like the fire ceremony, offering gifts to divinity. And the ritual preparation, bathing and feeding of numerous deities — several times a day. Hindu

BOB ABERNETHY: There is a mystical tradition among Muslims that was once widely popular, drawing followers from every branch of Islam and from other religions too. It’s Sufism, which is under attack now by Muslim fundamentalists for being too liberal, but which is drawing more and more interest in the U.S. Deryl Davis visited a Sufi festival of teachings, readings, music, and dance in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. DERYL DAVIS: It’s best known in the West for the dance of the whirling dervishes.

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: As survivors of the 9/11 attacks dealt privately with their grief these past months, some of them, and many others, have asked and argued about what should happen now at ground zero. Part of that debate has involved the idea of sacred space. What is it? What spaces qualify as sacred? Deryl Davis talked with scholars and others about ground that is considered holy. DERYL DAVIS: It looks like a construction site: the gigantic crater where the twin towers of the World Trade

BOB ABERNETHY (anchor): Wicca, as modern witchcraft is often called, and its symbol of the five-pointed star, or pentacle, are becoming more visible. Although estimates vary, many scholars believe there are at least 200,000 Wiccans in America today, 70 percent of them women. Deryl Davis reports on what it means when modern witches "come out of the closet." DERYL DAVIS: It's a May Day celebration in Central Park. Complete with maypoles, ribbons, and dancers. Only this isn't the usual May Day. It

LUCKY SEVERSON: Every year the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill assigns a summer reading book for its incoming freshmen. This year that book was called APPROACHING THE QUR'AN: THE EARLY REVELATIONS, and it's generated a lot of controversy both within the state and outside of it. Deryl Davis was on campus this week as the freshmen arrived to discuss their reading and the debate around it. DERYL DAVIS: In some ways, it looked like the beginning of every other school year in Chape

DERYL DAVIS: Looking at Quakers in silent meeting today, you'd never know they got their name because early adherents were said to quake with zeal during worship. Mostly now, they're contemplative -- listening in silence for the voice of God. Occasionally, they're moved to share the experience. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: God is surely present in me, as surely as God is present in all of you. DAVIS: Quakers have always combined their quiet listening for God's guidance with active work in the world, es

DERYL DAVIS: Paryushana Parva is a festival of fasting, friendship, and forgiveness. Members of the Jain faith are celebrating the holiest time of the year. It coincides with monsoon season in India, which is where Jainism began. Dr. SUSHIL JAIN: Each rain season brings about the development and the new life. With new life comes the opportunity for us, the existing life, an opportunity to rejuvenate ourselves. DAVIS: In the festival's most colorful ritual, the Jains tell the story of the conce

LUCKY SEVERSON, guest anchor: In England, a new spiritual leader for the worldwide Anglican Communion, which includes the Episcopal Church in the U.S. This week, Queen Elizabeth II, the official head of the Anglican Church, appointed Welsh archbishop Rowan Williams to become the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. Williams is a noted theologian and writer whose critical views on the war in Afghanistan and support for female bishops and homosexual priests have already generated headlines. When he suc