Rev. Danny Fisher

Photo via the New York Times.
Over at Religion Dispatches, sociologist Wendy Cadge, who currently teaches at Brandeis University, offers a new piece entitled “Bearing Witness: The Work of Hospital Chaplains”. Her piece starts with an observation that I think is quite accurate:

Hospital chaplains are involved in almost everything that happens at a hospital. They are there for births and deaths; they talk to patients, their families; they sit on committees; they train nurses and medical students. But they have little voice when it comes to public conversations about religion and medicine in this country.

Cadge is currently at work on a book called Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine, which “examines the historical and current institutional presence of religion and spirituality in hospitals.” As part of her research, she’s spoken to a lot of chaplains.

Interestingly, Cadge has also contributed significantly to the ever-growing canon of literature about Buddhism in America. She’s the
author of a tremendously important book that I’d recommend if you
haven’t read it already: Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravāda Buddhism in America. It’s an ethnographic study of both immigrant and convert communities in the United States, and offers insights that wil be valuable to American readers regardless of what Buddhist tradition they study and/or practice.

According to the Associated Press, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today, while traveling in Japan:

[President Obama's Administration] is looking at what steps we might take that might influence the current Burmese government and we’re also looking for ways that we could more effectively help the Burmese people….We want to see a time when citizens of Burma and the Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi can live freely in their own country.

This from The ONE Campaign:

Zimbabwe’s new unity government is inheriting a lot of old problems. A devastating cholera outbreak has killed more than 3,000 people, hunger is widespread, and political issues remain unresolved despite months of negotiations. That’s why the African Union must do everything it can in its official role as guarantor of the new unity government.

Add your name to our petition and ask the African Union to keep its promise to Zimbabwe’s new government here.

Amnesty International is asking people to call their Senators and make the case that those responsible for enacting policies of torture must be held accountable. To lookup your contact information for your elected officials and participate, follow this link.