Cover Story: This week, let’s start with some inspiring invitations to travel—and to remember

‘This book is an adventure!’

Douglas Brouwer invites us into ‘a profound voyage of spirit’

OUR COVER STORY THIS WEEK FEATURES THE FIRST GLIMPSE of a book that’s coming just in time to connect with our restless desire to get moving again across North America—as spring beckons, followed by summer opportunities to travel. This book—The Traveler’s Path—is so new that it just popped up on Amazon for sale. If you read our Cover Story (including a 1-minute video introduction from the author), you can click over to Amazon right now and ensure that your copy will be on its way when it officially ships to readers later this month.

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And—from Suzy Farbman—

The miracle of memory

IN HER GOD-SIGNS COLUMN THIS WEEK, Suzy Farbman writes about the power of things from our past—smells, tastes and perhaps even an old hat—to summon powerful memories.

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Holidays & Festivals

Why We Cover These Stories

EDITOR’S NOTE: The ReadTheSpirit community of writers is proud to find ourselves among the “keepers of living memory” about the special religious and cultural observances that shape the lives of billions of men, women and children around the world. If you feel the same, please share Stephanie’s columns with friends, each week, via social media or email.

Did you know this is a global season of fasting?

2.4 Billion Christians Are Entering the Lenten Season

But, how many people actually are fasting during Lent?

AND WHAT DOES “FASTING” MEAN? Holidays & Festivals expert Stephanie Fenton reports on these fascinating questions and, of course, she also provides links to delicious recipes that also are a distinctive part of this season.

Wish a friend—‘Ramadan Mubarak!’

At sunset on February 28, 2 billion Muslims around the world began the annual fasting month of Ramadan. Do you have family, friends, neighbors or co-workers who are Muslim? Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton has this important and timely overview of Ramadan that you can share with others.

Baha’is also are fasting

STARTING ON FEBRUARY 28, AS STEPHANIE FENTON reports in this column, Baha’is around the world will began a traditional fast as well.

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Preparing for Purim with a fast?

OBSERVANT JEWS AROUND THE WORLD also will be fasting for one day in mid-March in preparation for the joyous celebration of the holiday Purim. 

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WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS? It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com

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And, on the Homefront—

MANY OF OUR WRITERS AND READERS have thanked us in recent months for publishing occasional columns about human rights, diversity, interfaith understanding and the belief that peace is possible in our world—if we continue to respect and care for each other and our planet. So, we will continue to highlight these values—as they relate to weekly headlines.

First: ‘Who holds the cards?’

IN THE CONFRONTATION THIS WEEK between President Trump, Vice President Vance and Ukrainian leader Zelensky—in which Zelensky resisted being brow-beaten into signing an agreement—President Trump tried to sway Zelensky with a metaphor of playing “cards.” Zelensky rejected the metaphor, as you can read in transcripts from the meeting. In the wake of that meeting, political leaders around the world are wondering whether such life-and-death issues really amount to a game of cards for the new U.S. leadership.

FOR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE on this metaphor, check out the book Critical Conversations as Leadership: Driving Change with Card Talk, by Michigan State University Distinguished Professor of Communication William Donohue. And, to be clear, Donohue is not a political partisan. But he does provide wise background on how communications theory can be understood through the metaphor of “cards” we can use as resources to reach a consensus even n difficult situations.

Check out this Front Edge Publishing column about Donohue’s book that explains: “The goal Donohue describes in this new book is not adversarial—it’s collaboration and successful cooperation as an organization.” Whatever our political party may be, we certainly can agree on that basic goal.

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Second: ‘Is it true that we just stopped funding polio, HIV and malaria programs?’

SO MANY HEADLINES HAVE BEEN FLOWING FROM WASHINGTON that it is difficult to keep up with all of the issues unfolding around the world. As of this March 3, 2025, issue of ReadTheSpirit magazine, some court challenges are trying to restore portions of USAID that were cut. But, so far: Yes, as of this week, “the projects terminated include HIV treatment programs that had served millions of people, the main malaria control programs in the worst-affected African countries and global efforts to wipe out polio.” That’s according to a February 27, 2025, Washington Post article that includes a list of examples illustrating the far longer list of 5,800 programs that were cut.

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Third: So, who are the ‘writers’ raising these issues?

ACROSS THE RELIGIOUS SPECTRUM, writers are raising these issues—both in emails and other messages sent to our home office and in their own blogs and online magazines. Here are six examples from this week:

JOURNALIST BILL TAMMEUS is the author of Love, Loss and Endurance. His recent columns include:

CHRISTIAN ETHICIST DR. DAVID GUSHEE is the author of Introducing Christian Ethics. His latest column:

CATHOLIC: We also publish The National Catholic Reporter: Beacon of Justice, Community and Hope. Recent NCR columns include:

PROTESTANT: We are in the process of publishing four books with The Reformed Journal. Recent Reformed Journal columns include:

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Faith & Film

Curious about the coming Catholic Conclave?

Beyond the movie—we’ve got a more accurate book about this!

Curious about the coming Catholic Conclave? This month, many of our writers and readers have told us that they are closely following the declining health of Pope Francis—and millions around the world are praying for him on a daily basis. In addition to this popular, Oscar-nominated film, we publish a book that’s packed with fascinating information about the past few conclaves. It’s great for individual reading and small-group discussion.

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Our online magazine has specialized for many years in covering news about religious and cultural diversity as reflected in new books, holidays & festivals and films. In 2024, our long-time film critic Edward McNulty died. In 2025, we will continue to publish important reviews—sometimes by drawing on Ed’s considerable body of work and sometimes by welcoming other writers.

 

 

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