2006 News Archive

Author Cecile Holmes Interviews Women from Different Faith Traditions in Four Women, Three Faiths

By Mark I. Pinsky

SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

Cecile Holmes caller her new book, Four Women, Three Faiths: Inspiring Journeys, "a hymn to diversity and interfaith acceptance."

"I worry about the increasing polarization in the world, ever since Sept. 11, 2001," says Holmes, 51, longtime religion editor for the Houston Chronicle, now teaching journalism at the University of South Carolina .

"I don't want to come off as naïve," she says, "but I really believe that people with different viewpoints and experiences, with different religious viewpoints, can live with one another."

So Holmes chose four representative women fro three faith traditions - Christian, Muslim and Hindu - and interviewed them about their lives. The subjects are white, black, and Asian; married and single; affluent and of modest means.

They are P.K. McCary, of Houston, author of a bible translation in the language of the American streets; Phoebe Griswold, wife of the Episcopal Church USA, who was involved in relief efforts at ground zero in New York; Riffat Hassan, a Muslim feminist and religious studies professor who supports women's rights in the Islamic world; and Arunima Sinha, who founded a Hindu temple in Columbia, S.C., and is active in interfaith activities in that city.

The women talk about being at different points in their spiritual journeys.

"I'm still searching, but not for God," McCary says in the book. "The spirit resides in me, of that I'm certain. What I wrestle with is taking my faith and using it for the good of humanity."

Griswold, after seeing ground zero, e-mailed to a friend: "That kind of experience stretches my heart to embrace the whole of humankind. Now, more that ever, every fiber of my being will work for peace and the transformation of people's hearts so that such a thing can't happen again."

Hassan considers her whole life a spiritual journey.

"You take certain passages in life, and they lead you to other places. I spent so many years of my life wrapped up in theological, intellectual stuff. My effort (now) is to translate that into practical projects for the development of women."

As a Hindu, Sinha says in the book, "I worship and embrace the divinity within all and deny none. According to my tradition, everyone is potentially divine, but the manifestation of that divinity is the purpose of life. This can be attained, as I try every day of my life, by personal search and practice. Above all, I am not a teacher, not a preacher, just a seeker."

Appeared in Monday, April 10, 2006 issue of Orlando Sentinel

For more information, contact Michael Hunley at (706) 738-0354 or mhunley@harborhousebooks.com