Dynamics of Religion +++ Passion +++ Guidance +++ Religious Freedom +++ Absolutely Intercultural 301

Hello dear listeners. Before introducing the main topic, today’s episode is not hosted by Laurent Borgmann. This is an experimental episode, made only by students from Hochschule Koblenz Germany, and we hope that this experimental episode will be as enjoyable as the others. Without further ado, let’s start!

Hello dear listeners and welcome to show 301 of our podcasts “Absolutely Intercultural”. Today, we are going to talk about a topic that many of you might have strong feelings about, which is “Dynamics of Religion”. It is a topic that produces diverse perspectives, depending on cultural background and lifestyle choices all around the world. When we first brainstormed the subject, we were afraid of touching a very sensitive subject like religion. We realized how everyone in our team had diverse beliefs, coming from different cultures with respective approaches, but we still feel the same way towards the concept of belief, whether that might be related to a religious devotion or a strong passion. As always, our goal in this episode is not to support one perspective over another but to offer a platform for a range of voices to share their stories and perceptions. This is the Absolutely Intercultural Podcast – and we seriously appreciate cultural diversity and different views on the same subject and absolutely everyone is welcome to think absolutely everything about this topic! By listening to this episode, we hope to encourage a deeper understanding and promote a more thoughtful and respectful dialogue on this topic.

Through these conversations, we want to show you different perspectives shaped by beliefs, values and experiences. By listening to this episode, we hope to encourage a deeper understanding and promote a more thoughtful and respectful dialogue on this topic.

absolutely suppressed

In our first story, we will listen to Nicole, a nurse from Germany. Nicole talks about how she helped patients to move on and recover, and she saw that people with a goal in mind were recovering much faster.

absolutely passionate

In our second story,  we will listen to Serief, a practicing Muslim, who tells us about how much effect religion has on his life, even changing what he is willing to eat.

absolutely motivating

In our last story, we will listen to Matilda from Albania, who experienced her country as it went through a dictatorship and became an anti-religious nation. In her story, she tells us that people continued to practice their beliefs, even when they had to hide it.

What about you? Do you or someone you know have a strong passion about religion or something else, like a concept or a hobby? Do you feel there’s no need for humans to believe in something, or do you think there is something to say about beliefs that we did not touch here in this episode? Get in touch, feel free to share your unique story with us here on this podcast.

Write a comment or mail us, we could do a follow-up interview with you in one of our next shows. On our web page, absolutely-intercultural.com, you can get more information about this show and previous episodes, and you can leave comments. And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too.

By the way, did you know we are also on iTunes, Apple Podcasts and Spotify? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment. 

Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 3 January.

Until then –find out what would you do if you were sexually harassed at the university or in your business –and above all, BleibenSie absolutinterkulturell!

The team behind this episode are: Michele Varvara, Xavier Sutton, Iryna Krupa, and Abdual Serief Mehboob Bacha

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Israel +++ music +++ religion +++ lockdown +++ study abroad +++ Michal Hoter +++ Absolutely Intercultural 258 +++

Since this is New Years Day of 2021, which we all hope will be a better year than 2020, the format is a little different than normal. We will be talking to just one person but about many different things.

We will be talking to Israeli musician, Michal Hoter about her trip to Morocco, about her first impressions of Helsinki in Finland when she went there to study, and about her stay in Denmark which I was surprised she found so different to Finland.

Continue reading “Israel +++ music +++ religion +++ lockdown +++ study abroad +++ Michal Hoter +++ Absolutely Intercultural 258 +++”

absolutely intercultural 139 +++ Kurds and Arabs +++ Iraq +++ NYOI +++ Spiritual Journeys +++ Migration +++

In this show we will talk about: religious intercultural exchange and especially the famous Catholic event  “World Youth Day”, a New Zealander who traveled the world and found the most unusual souvenir in Peru (his wife), and I will take you behind the scenes of the inspiring project – the “The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq” which we already heard about in our last shows.

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We heard from the Scottish conductor Paul MacAlindin himself, from tutors who are supporting the orchestra by teaching different musical instruments and even from students at RheinAhrCampus who helped promote the project through social media such as Facebook and YouTube. This time, in our first category  we will hear more about the intercultural differences, the language barriers and the everyday challenges of the “National Youth Orchestra of Iraq”. I talk with Karl-Walter Keppler, the chairperson of the sponsorship association which is organising financial support for the Iraqi musicians so that they can travel to Europe to perform in the Beethovenfest in Germany. Karl-Walter has first-hand intercultural experiences as he, himself, travelled to Iraq last year.  But what are the motivations behind his involvement in the project?

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In our second category  I talk to a student from RheinAhrCampus, Denise Wagner, who is perhaps a little different from other students. Most students nowadays are not very religious. Or if they are, we don’t really notice. However, Denise is an exception. She is an active Catholic and likes to do pilgrimages and so she has traveled to many spiritual places – for example the Greek Island Pathmos. Her next destination will be the “World Youth Day” which is going to take place in Spain later this year. But is she doing this on her own? And what exactly happens when she arrives at these places? Is this about fasting with bread and water in a monastery or about dancing around campfires and playing the guitar?

absolutely unexpected part II
In this category I want to come back to the interview with Karl-Walter Keppler. In this part he gives us insights into the specific work on the project. So what is his foundation doing for the orchestra? Without this support the Iraqui musicians would not be able to pay for their travel to Europe. Karl-Walter is going to tell us about the status quo of the project! Where are they at the moment, what they need and what is going to happen in the future?

absolutely migrated
In our last category  Mathew Dunne will share some of his life experiences with you. He is originally from New Zealand, but travelled the world until he met his wife in Peru on a holiday. He loves to leave his comfort zone and travel to unique destinations, but he may have different motivations… On these journeys, Mat has experienced a lot more than most of us. Mat is not just traveling as a holiday maker – he has lived in most of the countries he visited for a longer period of time and even worked there. He will tell us about his motivations and his specific experiences he gathered while working as plumber in London.

Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 22 July

Until then –
Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Editor: Markus Scherer

absolutely intercultural 33 +++ Protestant Church Congress 2007 +++ Taizé +++ Religion & Society +++

Live from the Protestant Church Congress 2007 in Cologne – Taizé Experiences – Religion and Society

To do a show about religion was suggested by Irene Hansen who left a comment on our blog some weeks ago, where she also mentioned the Taizé Community. Taizé is a community in France but its members come from various different parts of the world – so the lifestyle in the community is at the same time religious and remarkably intercultural.

absolutely abroad
Our good friend Fernando moved from Spain to the USA a few months ago, and he tells us about his observations regarding religion in general and especially Catholicism in the United States. Fernando, welcome back to ‘absolutely intercultural!’

Father Rogerabsolutely personal
We got in touch with Irene and arranged to meet her at the five day protestant church congress in Cologne, Germany, which came to an end last Sunday the 10th of June with a service attended by over 100,000 participants from all over the world. Supported by Anne Knopf and Gereon Reuter, two of our students here at RheinAhrCampus, she interviewed quite a number of people about their wishes and dreams for the world, about their experiences at the church congress and about their visits to the Taize community in France.

absolutely recommendable
But of course we haven’t been the only podcasters at the protestant church congress. The Deutsche Welle Radio for example has created a fantastic feature about the event that will provide you with even more eyewitness reports and thoughts about faith and its position in the world. So we recommend to you to go to the Deutsche Welle website and listen to their correspondents reports.

absolutely lifelong
Watch out for international conventions, exhibitions, fairs or anything that brings people from other countries to your city. At these events is usually very easy to get in contact with interesting people and learn more about their culture and of course their language.
Street preacherabsolutely original
Listent to a street preacher at Victoria Station in London who was using a megaphone to draw attention to the importance of God and hear a group of believers of the Hare Krishna movement who were out in the street to reach out to passers-by and attract them to their religious beliefs by singing.
Announcement

Karsten Kneese will participate in a panel about “The future of educasts” at 4 pm on June 20th for the Podcastday 2007. The panel will be recorded and can be downloaded after the event.

The next show will be coming to you on the 29th of June from Anne Fox in Denmark.

So long…stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann

Edited and co-hosted by: Karsten Kneese

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