Berkley Center

Colleagues and friends Talia Aygun and Matau Setshase discuss building spiritual connections with others, whether via negotiation with one's ancestors that generates an attitude of surrender, or via the ecstatic experience of truly understanding another person.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Married couple Kelly FitzSilva and Pedro Silva interweave the beautiful and difficult aspects of the ways they've dealt with change across the decades, pointing to their relationship as an expression of faith that embodies their distinct approaches to spirituality.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Julius Michael and Nguyet Pham—refugees from Sudan and Vietnam, respectively—have settled in the United States after being driven from their homelands by war. In this conversation, the co-workers discuss how they have kept their faith during their personal journeys and consider how religion shapes their outlooks on life.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Jonah Koetke interviews his provost, Mark Biermann, about how faith has shaped his identity and served as an anchor throughout his college years, as well as the advice he would offer to future educators.

This story was produced by David Dault with Kristen Balzer at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Thais Carter speaks with Byron Martin about the evolution of his faith and the role it can play in the ongoing struggle for justice for Black Americans.

This story was produced by David Dault with Kristen Balzer at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Jane L. provided spiritual guidance to the families of death row inmates during her nearly two decades working as a prison chaplain. In this conversation, Jane discusses with colleague Erica Gibson-Even how she experienced and processed the trauma of the executions, which initially left her feeling the absence of God.

This story was produced by StoryCorps.

Joel Barrett and David Seymour are a married couple who have significantly different religious upbringings: Barrett grew up in a conservative Baptist world that presented significant challenges to his life as a gay man, whereas Seymour was raised in a family that did not attend church regularly. In this conversation, Barrett and Seymour reflect on their faith journeys as queer people in the Midwest.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

StoryCorps Facilitator Daniel Sitts interviews Gloria Jackson about how her faith in God helped her divorce an abusive husband and transform that experience into support for other victims of domestic violence.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Mark Geraci and Judy Presta tried for years to have children naturally before they turned to in vitro fertilization. In this conversation, the husband and wife discuss the loss of the first pair of twins they succeeded in conceiving, the sense of grace that they managed to find in the midst of tragedy, and the joy they experienced when they finally gave birth to a baby boy.

This story was produced by StoryCorps.

When she was in her early thirties and raising a daughter, Patience DeWeese began questioning her faith as a Jehovah's Witness. Given the opportunity to attend college, she left her faith and was shunned by her family. In this conversation, Patience discusses her long trajectory away from the Jehovah's Witnesses and to the Unitarian Universalist church with her daughter, Keturah.

This story was produced by StoryCorps.