In this thought-provoking episode, our guest, Natasha L. Robinson, shares about growing up in an African-centered church, practicing Ifa/Orisa traditions and where she sees justice show up in her faith and the world.

Highlights:

• How membership in a Black church that values African cultures shaped Natasha’s openness to different religions
• How Natasha recovered from betrayal by a religious leader
• Where justice shows up in Natasha’s multifaith understanding
• How Natasha understands Jesus in and out of church

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Trinity United Church of Christ: https://www.trinitychicago.org/
• The Gathering: a Womanist Church: http://www.thegatheringexperience.com/
• Pink Robe Chronicles: https://www.drmelvasampson.com/pink-robe-chronicles
• Ase Ire: https://aseire.com/
• Jeremiah Wright: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright
• Melva Sampson: https://www.drmelvasampson.com/about
• Irie Lynne Sessions: https://www.dririe.com/about
• Kamilah Hall Sharp: https://www.ctschicago.edu/people/kamilah-hall-sharp/
• Ilekes: https://asanee44.com/ileke-beads-in-the-ifa-tradition/

Guest Information:

Natasha Robinson, J.D. is Assistant Vice President of Social Justice and Advocacy and Title IX Coordinator for Roosevelt University. Professor Robinson is a retired criminal defense attorney, and the creator and curator of Legaleaze Please! LLC, an online platform and digital space that empowers the development of individual and collective comprehension of criminal laws, cases, and policies through decoding, deconstructing, and demystifying legal language. Professor Robinson has been a regular guest legal analyst on CourtTV and WGN9 news. Robinson is a proud ministry partner of The Gathering, A Womanist Church, in Dallas, Texas, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Theological Studies as a member of the Sacred Memory Cohort at McCormick Theological Seminary.

Legaleazeplease at gmail dot com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/legaleaze_please/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/legaleazeplease/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/natasha.l.robinson.5

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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

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

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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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:

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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
• 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/

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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

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 Water Vocals: Edwin C. Sanders II; instrumental: Edwin Simunye