Diverse Devotions: Black Belief Across Boundaries

Black and Unitarian Universalist - with Takiyah Nur Amin

In this thought-provoking episode, our guest, Takiyah Nur Amin, shares about growing up with Muslim and Christian family members, finding Unitarian Universalism as a place of acceptance, and what her daily spiritual practices look like.
 
Highlights:
How Takiyah found her tradition over lunch in the high school cafeteria
What it means to be a part of a covenantal religious tradition
Why living together with love and empathy trumps doctrinal differences
Why she won’t choose between her Blackness and her faith tradition
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Care for the World: Reflections on Community Ministry: https://amzn.to/3WqVVb2
BLUU Notes: An Anthology of Love, Justice and Liberation: https://amzn.to/3Cm6SUD
Unitarian Universalist Association: https://www.uua.org/
BLUU: https://blacklivesuu.org/
OWL curriculum: https://www.uua.org/re/owl
John Shelby Spong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shelby_Spong
Chautauqua Institution: https://www.chq.org/about/
 
 
Guest Information:
Takiyah Nur Amin is a dance scholar, educator, academic success strategist. Dr. Amin serves Unitarian Universalism as a member of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and UU Studies Network, and a former member of the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) Organizing Collective Board. Her writing has been featured in UU World Magazine, and in two edited volumes, Care for the World: Reflections on Community Ministry and BLUU Notes: An Anthology of Love, Justice and Liberation (co-edited with the Rev. Mykal Slack.) You can reach Dr. Amin at TakiyahNurAmin.com
 
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Metaphysical Womanist New Thought Christian - with Tawnicia Rowan

In this thought-provoking episode, our guest, Tawnicia Rowan, shares her personal experiences of Black Christianity, finding the Universal Truth Center and how she accidentally became a minister there.
 
Highlights:
How loving a Buddhist posed big questions to her faith
Why her Christian mother pointed her to a new place of worship
Five universal principles that are the most meaningful for Tawnicia
Her experience at a historically Black and Christian seminary
How to create a world that is meaningful and compassionate for all
Mentioned in This Episode:
Universal Truth Center in Miami: https://utruthcenter.org/
Universal Foundation for Better Living: https://ufbl.org/
Rev. Dr. Mary Tumpkin: https://ufbl.org/rev-mary/
Guest Information:
Tawnicia Rowan is an ordained minister in the Universal Foundation for Better Living, an international association of New Thought Christian. Currently, Rev. Tawnicia serves as a staff minister at the Universal Truth Center in Miami Gardens, FL and as a faculty member at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary and the Unity Urban Ministerial School. You can reach Rev. Rowan via email and hear her talks on YouTube.
Email: tawniciar@utruthcenter.org
Tawnicia’s talks: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsQL9T7IxkcA8bf1j6nJsOpTNeYbpprWz&si=8YODGNFIm6x3Yljp
 
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Have thoughts about this episode? We’d love to hear from you! Send us your comments or questions at www.DiverseDevotions.com

New Thought Hoodooist - with Darnise C. Martin

In this thought-provoking episode, our guest, Darnise Martin, tells us how her childhood questions about religion led her to a New Thought metaphysics and an embrace of her ancestral traditions of hoodoo.
 
Highlights:
The mystery man who gave Dr. Darnise a pamphlet that changed her life
The connection among spirituality, magic and nature
Darnise’s spirituality in the grocery store
The role of hoodoo in justice-making
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Michael Beckwith’s podcast: https://www.michaelbeckwith.com/podcast
Michael Beckwith + Ellen DeGeneres interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONdSvQCPjeQ
Will Coleman: https://www.facebook.com/will.coleman.56/
Martinism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinism#
David Alexander’s Freedom from Discord: The Promise of New Thought Liberation Theology: https://amzn.to/42ubumh
 
 
Guest Information:
Dr. Darnise C. Martin is an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Marymount University. Dr. Darnise is the author of two books, including the 2005 volume, Beyond Christianity: African Americans in a New Thought Church and co-edited the volume Women In New and Africana Religions and numerous articles and essays. As a media consultant, Dr. Danise has been featured on Tavis Smiley’s radio program, KJLH Radio in Los Angeles, numerous of podcasts and internet radio programs. She was the research consultant on the documentaries Dark Girls and Light Girls for the Oprah Winfrey Network.  She conducts research on the diversities of African-American religions particularly the Gullah Geechee and hoodoo cultures in the South Carolina and Georgia low country regions of the U.S.
 
You can reach Dr. Darnise at DrDarnise.com  
 
Darnise’s House of Religion, Magic and History: https://www.youtube.com/drdarnise
Beyond Christianity: African Americans in a New Thought Church: https://amzn.to/4hfJs2E
“Is This a Dance Floor or a Revival Meeting” in Ain’t I a Womanist: Third Wave Womanist Religious Thought: https://amzn.to/4jq0SuR
All Books Dr. Darnise has written can be found here: https://amzn.to/4ayuKku
 
Join the Conversation:
Have thoughts about this episode? We’d love to hear from you! Send us your comments or questions at www.DiverseDevotions.com   

Okomfo in a Black Church - with Salim Faraji, part 2

In this thought-provoking episode, our guest, Salim Faraji, tells us how he straddles three religious traditions, how he raises his children and where he finds true spiritual community.
Highlights:
Why Black churches are still meaningful for Dr. Salim
The religion Dr. Salim raises his children in
How religious multiplicity is accepted in his West African communities
Why and how you should form book clubs on Black religions
Mentioned in This Episode:
Dr. Cecil Gray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecil-conteen-gray-09a8983a/
Ibrahim Farajaje: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Abdurrahman_Farajaj%C3%A9
Amen-Ra Theological Seminary: https://www.facebook.com/p/Amen-Ra-Theological-Seminary-100069481206188/?locale=fo_FO
Djimon Hounsou’s InSearch of Voodoo: Roots to Heaven https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5852022/
 
 
Guest Information:
Dr. Salim Faraji is Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is also the founding Executive Director of the Master of Arts in International Studies Africa Program at Concordia University Irvine in Ghana, West Africa. As a theological pluralist and interfaith practitioner, he is currently an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a practicing African Traditional Priest (Okomfo) who has been initiated in both the Akan traditions of Ghana, West Africa and ancient Egyptian religious practice. Professor Faraji is author of The Roots of Nubian Christianity Uncovered and numerous articles and essays.
 
You can reach Dr. Faraji at CSUDH Africana: https://www.csudh.edu/africana/faculty/salim-faraji
 
You can find Dr. Faraji’s writings here:
Life Under the Baobab Tree: Africana Studies and Religion in a Transitional Age: https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531502973/life-under-the-baobab-tree/
“Rediscovering the Links Between the Earthen Pyramids of West Africa and Ancient Nubia:” https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/rediscovering-the-links-between-the-earthen-pyramids-of-west-africa-and-ancient-nubia-restoring-william-leo-hansberrys-vision-of-ancient-kush-and-sudanic-africa/
The Roots of Nubia Christianity Uncovered: https://africaworldpressbooks.com/the-roots-of-nubian-christianity-uncovered-the-triumph-of-the-last-pharaoh-by-salim-faraji/
Join the Conversation:
Have thoughts about this episode? We’d love to hear from you! Send us your comments or questions at DiverseDevotions.com

Okomfo in a Black Church - with Salim Faraji, part 1

Our guest, Salim Faraji, tells us how he studied and practiced various Black religions before finding a home in the religious traditions of the ancient Nile Valley civilizations, the Akan people and African American Protestant churches.
Highlights:
How the religiously diverse city of Philadelphia allowed for Salim’s religious exploration
The spiritual and intellectual adventure that came from hearing a guest speaker in college
When a seminary professor let Salim do Ausar Auset divinations in a class
What happens on a trip to Ghana West Africa
How Salim left and returned to Black church leadership
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Mechal Sobel, Trabelin' On: The Slave Journey to an Afro-Baptist Faith: https://amzn.to/40Mgi5q
Ausar Auset Society in Philadelphia: https://www.ausarausetpa.com/
 
Guest Information:
Dr. Salim Faraji is Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is also the founding Executive Director of the Master of Arts in International Studies Africa Program at Concordia University Irvine in Ghana, West Africa. As a theological pluralist and interfaith practitioner, he is currently an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a practicing African Traditional Priest (Okomfo) who has been initiated in both the Akan traditions of Ghana, West Africa and ancient Egyptian religious practice. Professor Faraji is author of The Roots of Nubian Christianity Uncovered and numerous articles and essays.
 
You can reach Dr. Faraji at CSUDH Africana: https://www.csudh.edu/africana/faculty/salim-faraji
 
You can find Dr. Faraji’s writings here:
Life Under the Baobab Tree: Africana Studies and Religion in a Transitional Age: https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531502973/life-under-the-baobab-tree/
“Rediscovering the Links Between the Earthen Pyramids of West Africa and Ancient Nubia:” https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/rediscovering-the-links-between-the-earthen-pyramids-of-west-africa-and-ancient-nubia-restoring-william-leo-hansberrys-vision-of-ancient-kush-and-sudanic-africa/
The Roots of Nubia Christianity Uncovered: https://africaworldpressbooks.com/the-roots-of-nubian-christianity-uncovered-the-triumph-of-the-last-pharaoh-by-salim-faraji/
 
Join the Conversation:
Have thoughts about this episode? We’d love to hear from you! Send us your comments or questions at DiverseDevotions.com
 

Welcome to Diverse Devotions

Dive into 'Diverse Devotions’ where Monica A. Coleman, an award-winning author and celebrated religious scholar, takes you on an enlightening journey through the often unspoken spiritual experiences of Black folk. Discover how embracing multiple faiths enriches spirituality, revealing new dimensions of freedom and personal transformation. Whether you're a spiritual seeker, an educator, or simply curious …  discover what happens when Black spirituality breaks the rules of how being religious is “supposed to work.”
 
 
More info: DiverseDevotions.com
Music: Wade in the WaterVocals: Edwin C. Sanders II; instrumental: Edwin Simunye