Pailin Wedel

Places and Stories: Acts of Faith

"Acts of Faith" is a photo column which explores different belief systems that co-exist in the Triangle area. Ten years of heavy migration have brought many new faiths to the region, turning the Bible Belt home of Billy Graham into a spiritual coat of many colors. Mosques, Buddhist and Hindu temples, Sikh Gurudwaras, synagogues and scores of Christian churches have become spiritual and social centers cater to a rapidly changing population. The demographic shift has pushed congregations to find innovative ways to keep their members while attracting new arrivals. "Acts of Faith" was born as a way to show this new religious diversity and analyze the role spirituality plays in people's daily lives. ~ The News & Observer

After an hour of prayer at a ceremony commemorating Buddha's birthday, Bao Ly (right) crouches down to read prayers from the program with her four year-old grandson Johnathan Lam, who was too tired to stand any longer. It is their first time at the Buddha's Light International Association Temple in Cary.
   
Kenyetta Starnes, 16, gets frustrated and rests her eyes after almost three hours of studying biology at Union Baptist Church in Durham. She says that being in the church helps her study. "I believe in guardian angels and that God's one of my angels. Being here, the devil can't stop me from doing stuff I'm supposed to be doing," says Starnes.
   
Pastor Hoa Duc Vo, left, of the Vietnamese Baptist Church in Greensboro baptizes Tien Tran, 13, far right, while her two best friends watch. Jessica Duoangprachanh , 13, second from left; and Elizabeth Bya , 13, third from left, anticipate their turn at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Greensboro Coliseum. Bya says that the three thirteen-year-old girls have been friends since they were in first grade.
     
  
A man who asked to be called "Minister Jack" used to be in a motorcycle gang. Now he wears his biker outfit when he ministers. He says, "I wear what the Lord tells me to wear."
   
Friends help Soma Banik put on jewelry for her Hindu wedding in Raleigh, North Carolina. Preparations for a Hindu wedding can take many hours. Banik says she's a little nevous.
   
Missy Simmons (left), Nuran Agan (center), and their friends pray for world peace at a home in Cary on March 16th 2007. Simmons is Christian. Agan and the other women are Muslim. She made friends with the Turkish women after she met one of them at a lecture on Jesus and Islam at North Carolina State University in 2003. She says, "We are all created by the same God even though we express our faiths differently."
     
  
Vickie Moore, Karen Morris, Pearl Abraham and Rev. Iantha Greene light candles for those who are affected by HIV and AIDS during an interfaith service in light of World AIDS day at the First Baptist Church in Raleigh. Morris is HIV-positive. She says, "If I can handle this, then bigger things are waiting for me ahead."
   
Gary A. Smith jokes with Peter Donlon, M.Div at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh. Smith recently underwent bypass surgery and Donlon is a chaplain at the hospital's department of spiritual care. "You've been a great part of all this, " says Smith to Donlon. Smith's nurse says that this is the first time Smith has smiled all week.
   
Miguel de los Reyes, 7, left, Lance Lozada, 6, middle, and Joshua Palisoc, 6, right, hold hands and pray at the end of Bible study on April 22nd, 2007 at Glory of God Christian Fellowship. Glory of God is a Filipino-American Baptist ministry which is housed at the A.E. Finley YMCA. Pastor Nathan Lozada says he tries to raise his son, Lance, in a way that includes both his Filipino identiy and his love for God.
     
  
Ti Harmony, middle, chants with hundreds of other Krishna Das concert-goers at the Longview Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Krishna Das is a well-known singer-chanter. The concert consists of chants from different spiritual traditions, which are accompanied with live music. Harmony says his belief is simply that, "Everything is God."
  
Karen Cheung, 12, right, goes through the last set of meditative exercise of Falun Dafa, a set of beliefs and meditation practices, at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens on July 15th, 2007. She says, "When you do it you don't think about anything-- it's supposed to get rid of your karma."
  
Deepika Bhatt, far right, applies henna to bride-to-be Siobhan Pandy two days before her wedding at her fiance's parents' house in Cary, North Carolina. (Left to right, clockwise: Ria Shah, 5, a friend of the family from New Jersey; Khushali Dalal, 8, daughter of a family friend from Ohio; Vijay Kansupada, a family friend from Georgia; Hima Daal, the groom's cousin from South Carolina, and Shruthi Shah, Ria's mother, and a friend of the family from New Jersey.) "Mehndi" is when the bride at a Hindu wedding has henna, a brown herbal paste that stains the skin, drawn on her hands and feet.
     
  
Rev. Vernon Langley, left, Kenneth Allen, also a minister, Delphine Canady , right along with about half a dozen other parishioners from Token of Love Ministry gather in front of their church building to pray on September 17 th 2007. The church's roof and second floor burned down on July 31st 2007. Currently the church is meeting at various different locations for service until they can find a more permanent location. "Fire in the Night" pindo
   
Rev. Belva Boone, left, of St. John's MCC church in Raleigh and Eva Barbee, right, from Zimbabwe take a moment for themselves after participating during The Opening Ceremony for The Names Project - the AIDS Quilt at the Family Life Center at the First Baptist Church on November 30th 2007. Barbee says she has immediate family members who suffer from the disease in Zimbabwe. Boone, who has lost several close friends says, " It's one of the ways to honor friends and colleagues that I've lost and remember that our work is not done until there are no more names, no more quilts, no more deaths and no more funeral services. " Boone is one of the organizers of the event. One of the panels on the quilt is for a friend in Charlotte. She says she was there with him when he passed away. She says, " As long as one of us is infected, all of us are affected. As God's tapestry, we are all connected and the connection should be a catalyst for all of us to be a part of a global call to stop AIDS."
  
Andy Blanco, 25, wears ten necklaces and half of them have large crosses attached. He says the necklaces are mostly part of his style but they also let people know he's Christian. " I'm always in a good mood and that's because I'm a Christian....whenever people ask me how I am, I always say "I'm incredible."" He says, "Jesus has been good to me....it feels good to wear them."
     
  
Alicia Angyal, 21, fastens her hijab in front of her bathroom mirror before she goes in to work on October 31st 2007. Angyal only converted to Islam last year. The hijab, the muslim women's scarf and manner of clothing, is a source of pride for Angyal despite being called "terrorist" at the local Wal-Mart. She says, "When I put it on I'm saying to God , I love my religion, I honor my relgion, I honor myself."
   
Khurram Tariq, 24, does his afternoon prayers in the office of his family store "Bobby's Grocery" in Raleigh. Tariq's father,Tariq Hussain, was shot dead at the store in after a robbery. Tariq cleaned the blood off the shelves and floor then took the semester off of medical school to help his mother run the store. "If I don't pray I feel hollow." Many have asked him how has stayed so calm. He tells them it is his faith, "I think religion is a very integral part of my life.
   
Wick Westmoreland, left, and his wife Maria, erect crosses up for Danny Jacobs-Ruiz, Suley Ruiz-Martinez and Miguel Angel Juradowho lost their lives when a tornado plowed through Armour, NC in November 2006. Maria is Suley's co-worker.