By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and DEEPA BHARATH

On most Monday nights, the sanctuary of All Saints Episcopal Church — with its vaulted ceilings, stone arches and stained-glass windows — seamlessly transforms into a space of quiet contemplation.

Related Articles

Faithful return to Bethlehem and Pope Leo XIV celebrates his first Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter’s

The best Christmas gift of all? For one St. Paul church, it’s a new home

Everything you need to know about Christmas, and how it has evolved into a global holiday

Devastating Eagan church fire changes Christmas Day service plans

White House rebuffs Catholic bishops’ appeal for a Christmas pause in immigration enforcement

It’s in this Gothic Revival church in Pasadena, California, that Betty Cole, a longtime Zen practitioner and “card-carrying Episcopalian,” leads a weekly interfaith group in seated and walking meditation. The group has evolved into a “quiet fellowship” since she started it in 2001, Cole said.

“It’s mostly people who are really not very inspired by the liturgy, pomp and music of the church, but do enjoy the building, the quiet of the chapel and the sense of encouragement and accountability in that shared quiet,” she said.

Christian, Jewish and other religious congregations across America have in recent years been introducing meditation practices from Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, or resurfacing ancient contemplative practices in their own religious traditions, now adapted to the needs of a fast-paced, modern world.

While longtime practitioners like Cole say these contemplative practices are inherently spiritual or religious, they recognize that mental health and social benefits are added attributes.

In some deeply religious spaces, meditation has been disparaged as a gateway to the demonic; in some secular circles, it’s debunked as superstition. Skeptics raise concerns over cultural appropriation, particularly in cases where Eastern practices have been marketed as trendy self-improvement.

But nationwide, more people — religious and non-religious — seem to be showing more interest in such practices. Increasingly, houses of worship are encouraging a variety of contemplative practices.

Connecting to ancient practices

Voices chanting “Om” — a sacred sound in several Eastern religions — blend with sounds of singing bowls, piano and other instruments at meditation held in an Ivy League university chapel. A rabbi leads virtual meditation and breath work while drawing from Jewish scriptures. In the sanctuary of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, a group gathers to study Buddhist dharma and to be enveloped in the meditative practice of a sound bath.

Across centuries, meditation has been common in Buddhism, where the goal is to become enlightened like the Buddha, and Hinduism, in which the ancient spiritual practice of yoga is rooted.

Contemplative and meditative practices in many religions seek to find a direct connection with God. That includes the Desert Fathers and Mothers — early Christian ascetics who followed a form of meditation focused on silence in the Egyptian desert. It also includes Kabbalistic and Hasidic meditation techniques in Jewish tradition, and the whirling dervishes in Sufism, a mystical movement within Islam.

“The next resurgence that we’re seeing now, is people moving all the way out from saying, ‘I’m going to practice a religious tradition’ into ‘I’m willing to do some of the practices that exist within those traditions,’” said Lodro Rinzler, a Buddhist teacher and author of “The Buddha Walks into a Bar.”

For others, Rinzler said, it has helped rekindle a connection to their own religions and their ancient, lesser-known meditative practices.

“Some of the practices that have been spliced out and stand alone are now coming back under the umbrellas,” he said. “People are then being attracted to the traditions from which they’ve always been a part of.”

Meditation rooted in Jewish tradition

That’s the case of the Or HaLev — Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation. Launched in 2011 by Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels, it seeks to give people access to a meditation practice rooted in Jewish tradition.

“We’re bringing Hasidic meditations and understandings to a contemporary audience,” said Jacobson-Maisels. “We’re also integrating that with Eastern traditions that have come from the West.”

These meditative practices, he said, are less known, mainly because of the effects of modernity and the Holocaust, which destroyed many communities and teachers who were preserving these traditions.

“As part of Jews’ assimilation to the modern world, many parts of the mystical tradition got rejected or cast aside because they were related to as unacceptable, irrational, not fitting to the modern world,” he said.

“Kabbalah was the most dominant theological paradigm in Judaism. But after modernity, it really was pushed to the side,” he said. “Now it’s experiencing, once again, a resurgence.”

Music meditation at a university chapel

Many have gathered at the Princeton University Chapel to attend meditation events that include chamber music, breathwork and the chanting of mantras.

“The feedback I’ve mostly gotten is that people say, ‘I want to do that again. I don’t know what happened, but I feel like whatever happened, I need more of it,’” said Hope Littwin, a composer who facilitates musical rituals for the meditations.

“People notice the mysterious quality and people feel changed by it,” said Littwin, who is pursuing her PhD in music composition at Princeton.

The university’s Gothic nondenominational chapel hosts concerts, weddings and interfaith services throughout the academic year.

“People from different religions, and even people with no religion at all … connect to meditation because meditation taps us into something universal, something deeper than belief systems or doctrines,” said A.J. Alvarez, a meditation teacher.

Buddhist meditation at a Universalist Unitarian Congregation

Meditation also has become a crucial part of spiritual life at All Souls NYC, a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

When the Rev. Pamela Patton, a Universalist and Buddhist, began the Mindfulness, Meditation, Buddhism program in 2016, she was unsure how it would be received.

In a decade, though, it grew into a community of about 800 members learning from teachers of different Buddhist lineages.

The Universalist religious movement welcomes people with diverse spiritual beliefs. Regarding her program, Patton said, “It’s brought a lot to our community.”

Rumi and yoga

Omid Safi, a professor of religion at Duke University who conducts Sufi meditation tours and retreats, said he sees young Muslims practicing yoga, mindfulness and breath work who are looking to integrate them with their religious identity. That, he said, comes from the recognition that Islam has its own tradition that goes back over 1,000 years developed in conversation with Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

Safi speaks of one fundamental Sufi practice of directing the breath into the subtle centers of perception in the human body called “lataif” — similar to chakras in yoga — but with an important difference.

“In the Sufi model, it’s a whirling model that whirls in your inner landscape and enters your heart,” he said. “It’s not about pure transcendence, but balancing earth and heaven.”

Meditation has historically not been done in mosques, but adjacent to them, perhaps with an Islamic teacher leading a session of poetry, music and meditation, Safi said.

In the Sufi tradition, music is “the sound of the movement of the celestial spheres,” he added. “Music is invisible, but you feel it in the heart. Poetry speaks in a symbolic language. The spiritual experiences we have are the same way.”

Catholic contemplative practices

Susan Stabile, a spiritual director who leads meditation retreats nationwide, said Catholic parishes are seeing a resurgence in contemplative practices, including meditation. Raised Catholic, Stabile became a Buddhist in her 20s and lived as a nun for a few years in Asia. She returned to Catholicism after marrying and having children. Stabile says Buddhism helped her better understand her Christian faith.

“Some in the Catholic tradition are suspicious of some of these contemplative practices such as the centering prayer,” she said, referring to a silent prayer developed in the 1970s by Catholic monastics as a way to deepen a relationship with God.

She said that’s because many Christians are unaware that early Christian hermits developed these practices.

“I didn’t know it was in my own tradition,” she said. “No one had ever told me about it.”

Stabile says she’s seeing more people wanting that deeper experience and desiring to learn about mysticism.

“My hope is that more people will allow themselves to be transformed,” she said. “To live more fully in creation and the image and likeness of God.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By DAVE COLLINS

Authorities on Monday identified two pilots who died after their helicopters collided midair in southern New Jersey.

Kenneth Kirsch, 65, and Michael Greenberg, 71, were friends who both lived in New Jersey and would often have breakfast together at a cafe near the crash site in Hammonton, about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia.

Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel said in a statement that Kirsch, of Carney’s Point, was pronounced dead at an area hospital after being flown there, while Greenberg, of Sewell, died at the crash site.

“Statements from witnesses had the two helicopters flying close together just before the crash,” he said. “The crash site was approximately a mile and a half from the airport in a farm field.”

Authorities look over the scene after two helicopters crashed in Hammonton, N.J., on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site Monday, authorities said.

Friel said rescuers responded to a report of an aviation crash at about 11:25 a.m. Sunday. Video from the scene shows a helicopter spinning rapidly to the ground. Police and fire crews subsequently extinguished flames that engulfed one of the helicopters.

The Federal Aviation Administration described the crash as a midair collision between an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and Enstrom 280C helicopter over Hammonton Municipal Airport. Only the pilots were on board each aircraft.

Sal Silipino, owner of a cafe near the crash site, said the pilots were regulars at the restaurant and would often have breakfast together. He said he and other customers watched the helicopters take off before one began spiraling downward, followed by the other.

“It was shocking,” he said. “I’m still shaking after that happened.”

Hammonton resident Dan Dameshek told NBC10 that he was leaving a gym when he heard a loud snap and saw two helicopters spinning out of control.

“Immediately, the first helicopter went from right side up to upside down and started rapidly spinning, falling out of the air,” Dameshek told the TV station. “And then it looked like the second helicopter was OK for a second, and then it sounded like another snap or something … and then that helicopter started rapidly spinning out of the air.”

Related Articles

Out with the old: With 2026 nigh, here’s some wide-ranging intel on managing transitions

Stocks slip on Wall Street as 2025 winds down

Winter storm brings blizzard conditions and dangerous wind chills

Today in History: December 29, Ghislaine Maxwell convicted

Brigitte Bardot, Movie Icon Who Renounced Stardom, Dies at 91

Hammonton is a town of about 15,000 people located in Atlantic County in the southern part of New Jersey. The town has a history of agriculture and is located near the Pine Barrens, a forested wilderness area that covers more than 1 million acres.

Investigators will likely first look to review any communications between the two pilots and whether they were able to see each other, said Alan Diehl, a former crash investigator for the FAA and NTSB.

“Virtually all midair collisions are a failure to what they call ‘see and avoid,’” Diehl said. “Clearly they’ll be looking at the out-of-cockpit views of the two aircraft and seeing if one pilot was approaching from the blind side.”

Although it was mostly cloudy at the time of the crash, winds were light and visibility was good, according to the weather forecasting company AccuWeather.

By SIMINA MISTREANU, Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — It is a soulful folk song, filled with feeling and history: A love-stricken young man tells God about his hopes and dreams of happiness. Generations of Uyghurs, the Turkic ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang region, have played it at parties and weddings.

But today, if they download it, play it or share it online, they risk ending up in prison.

“Besh pede,” a popular Uyghur folk ballad, is among dozens of Uyghur-language songs that have been deemed “problematic” by Xinjiang authorities, according to a recording of a meeting held by police and other local officials in the historic city of Kashgar last October. The recording was shared exclusively with The Associated Press by the Norway-based nonprofit Uyghur Hjelp.

During the meeting, authorities warned residents that those who listened to banned songs, stored them on devices or shared them on social media could face prison. Attendees were also instructed to avoid phrases like “As-salamu alaykum,” the greeting common among Muslims, and to replace the popular farewell phrase “Allahqa amanet,” which means “May God keep you safe,” with “May the Communist Party protect you.”

The policy has been corroborated by interviews with former Xinjiang residents, whose family members, friends and acquaintances have been detained for playing and sharing Uyghur music. AP has also obtained rare access to the court verdict of a Uyghur music producer sentenced last year to three years in prison for uploading to his cloud account songs deemed sensitive.

How a single song fits into a broad crackdown

The renewed crackdown on cultural expression in Xinjiang, classified as an “autonomous region” but tightly controlled by the central government, suggests a continuation of the past decade’s repressive policies. They have culminated in the extrajudicial detention, between 2017 and 2019, of at least 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China such as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Huis, rights activists and foreign governments say.

In 2022, the United Nations accused China of rights violations it said might amount to crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where Beijing also faces allegations of forced labor, forced sterilizations and family separations as part of a broader assimilation campaign.

The Chinese government maintains its policies in Xinjiang rooted out terrorism and religious extremism after sporadic bouts of violence rocked the region in previous decades. Beijing doubled down on that narrative in particular after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks brought antiterror policies into the accepted global mainstream.

“The Chinese government has cracked down on violent terrorist crimes and eradicated the breeding ground for religious extremism in accordance with the law, resolutely safeguarding Xinjiang’s development and stability,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It added that “anti-China forces” have “maliciously hyped up issues related to Xinjiang,” including by “linking audio and video recordings of Xinjiang departments cracking down on the propaganda of violent terrorism and religious extremism in accordance with the law to specific regions, ethnicities, and religions.”

Reached by phone, a Xinjiang government official wouldn’t confirm whether a faxed request for comment had arrived and did not pick up subsequent calls from AP.

A sign of continued repression in Xinjiang

After facing international backlash and sanctions over the alleged arbitrary internment of ethnic minorities, Beijing in late 2019 claimed the detention camps were closed and life had returned to normal in the region. China now aims to refashion Xinjiang into a destination for tourism.

Although many of the more glaring signs of repression such as internment camps and frequent traffic checkpoints appear to have been decommissioned, the list of banned songs indicates repression in Xinjiang continues, albeit more subtly, said Rian Thum, a senior lecturer in East Asian history at the University of Manchester.

Other, less conspicuous forms of control include the expansion of boarding schools, where middle-schoolers are educated while separated from their families and learn almost exclusively in Mandarin Chinese, and random checks of phones for sensitive material are common.

Chinese authorities, Thum said, seem to be normalizing a policy for long-term control in Xinjiang.

“I’m not at all surprised to hear these accounts of people either being threatened with detention or being detained or imprisoned for listening to the wrong music,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that hasn’t stopped.”

Seven categories of ‘problematic’ songs

During the Kashgar meeting, authorities played a prerecorded message warning residents against listening to, downloading and sharing seven categories of so-called problematic songs.

They range from traditional folk ballads such as “Besh pede” to newer tunes that emerged from the Uyghur diaspora. “Besh pede” was flagged for its religious content, though the song hardly incites religious extremism, said Rachel Harris, a professor of ethnomusicology at SOAS University of London.

Religion is referenced in the context of romantic tropes, with exhortations such as “Oh, God, I love you!” said Harris, who focuses on Uyghur culture.

“That’s very clearly the problem with it,” she said.

Targeting religious expression has been a cornerstone of China’s crackdown. The Communist Party is suspicious of any community organizing, especially as it pertains to religions. Over the past decade, residents have been detained for praying, fasting and storing religious books; mosques have been repurposed or stripped of their authentic role.

Music “became part of my upbringing, and removing that is like removing the soul,” said Rahima Mahmut, a Uyghur singer and activist in London who performs songs with religious connotations abroad.

Related Articles

For Zelenskyy, just keeping Trump talking counts as a win

China stages military drills around Taiwan to warn ‘external forces’ after US, Japan tensions

Trump and Netanyahu are to meet in Florida at a crucial moment for the US-backed Gaza ceasefire

US offers Ukraine 15-year security guarantee as part of peace plan, Zelenskyy says

Today in History: December 29, Ghislaine Maxwell convicted

Even songs once featured on state TV have been banned. “As-salamu alaykum,” a pop tune that starts with the Islamic greeting recited in the style of a call to prayer, was performed on the talent show “The Voice of the Silk Road,” a spinoff of “The Voice,” on state-run Xinjiang Television.

The performance aired in 2016, the year China started amping up its campaign of repression against Uyghurs. Now, the tune is prohibited for “forcing people to believe in religion.”

Another category of problematic songs: those “inciting terrorism, extremism and smearing the Chinese Communist Party’s rule of Xinjiang.” Among the tunes listed is “Yanarim Yoq,” a song based on the poem “No Road Back Home” by the imprisoned Uyghur poet Abduqadir Jalalidin. The sorrowful song, evoking entrapment and hopelessness, has spread across the diaspora in recent years; one of its most popular renditions is performed by the Turkish artists Kilich and Yenilmes.

“Atilar,” or “Forefathers,” by the famed Uyghur musician Abdurehim Heyit, is also accused of inciting terrorism and extremism. The nationalistic song was likely flagged for describing the Uyghur forefathers as martyrs ready for battle, Harris said.

Heyit, like many other Uyghur cultural elites, was detained at the height of China’s campaign in Xinjiang. Many remain in detention.

In fact, a common denominator across the banned songs is that many were written or performed by imprisoned Uyghur musicians, said Elise Anderson, a nonresident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute who specializes in Uyghur issues.

Anderson isn’t certain that every artist associated with a banned song has been detained, but “at least a number of them have,” she said. “I think just by association with those individuals, those songs are going to be seen as — you know — dangerous, sensitive.”

Three years in prison for uploading songs

Authorities at the Kashgar meeting said those found with the songs would be “heavily prosecuted” but did not specify punishment — something that gives authorities flexibility in enforcement. The prerecorded message gave the example of several people who had served 10 days in detention for being found with the banned songs.

For Uyghur music producer Yashar Xiaohelaiti, punishment has been much more severe.

The 27-year-old was detained in 2023 in Bole, a city in Xinjiang, on charges of promoting extremism. According to his verdict, Xiaohelaiti wrote and produced 42 “problematic” songs, which he uploaded to his account on NetEase Cloud Music, a Chinese streaming service. He was also convicted of downloading eight “problematic” e-books, according to the document. He received three years in prison and a 3,000 yuan ($420) fine.

Two Uyghurs interviewed by AP said they brushed up against the songs ban themselves. A man who asked that his name not be revealed, fearing repercussions, said he was called into the police station and his phone searched after he commented on the social media post of another Uyghur living abroad. While at the police station, he said he spoke to others who had been summoned specifically for storing or sharing certain Uyghur songs.

Separately, a former official from Xinjiang said a family friend was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for playing traditional Uyghur instruments and singing Uyghur songs. Several family members and friends who watched the performance were also sentenced, she said. AP could not independently verify the interviewees’ claims.

In a separate incident, the official said two teenagers were detained after sharing Uyghur songs online.

“Because they sent each other a Uyghur song on WeChat, they were arrested,” the former cadre said, referring to the teens. “I remember it very clearly. At the time we were saying, ‘What song were they listening to?’ How could they be arrested for listening to a song?’”

AP journalist Dake Kang in Beijing contributed to this story.

Ask any newly elected official, and they will tell you that the first few days on the job feel like drinking from a fire hose. But as the new mayor of St. Paul, Kaohly Her won’t have the luxury of a slow acclimation.

If I had one piece of advice for her first 100 days, it would be this: Get to the bottom of how the city currently is using — and in the minds of many overstressed taxpayers, abusing — the economic development tool known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

TIF is, in theory, a noble tool. It is designed to spur growth in “blighted” areas that developers would otherwise ignore. Landmark Towers, in downtown, was recently approved for TIF financing in 2023. How was this considered blighted? The city provides a financial “boost” to a developer and then pays it off by capturing the additional future property taxes generated by that specific project for decades.

The golden rule of TIF is the “but for” test: A project should receive public help only if development would not occur but for the city’s assistance.

Unfortunately, the St. Paul City Council just turned this principle on its head. In mid-December, they approved a TIF district for a new development at 845 Grand Avenue — the corner of Victoria and Grand. If you asked any resident to point to “blight” in St. Paul, they wouldn’t point to the heart of Grand Avenue. Yet, the city approved $2.95 million in TIF assistance, a move that, with interest and other costs, will ultimately divert millions more in total tax revenue away from our general fund over the next 26 years.

We are essentially subsidizing work in an affluent neighborhood where market-rate development partners should not be hard to find. By approving this deal, St. Paul has hung a “Handouts Available” sign at one of the most commercially desirable intersections in the state. If a developer can’t make a market-rate apartment building work at Victoria and Grand without millions in taxpayer help, then the city’s economic climate is in far worse shape than we’ve been led to believe.

This isn’t just about one building; it’s about a pattern of fiscal opacity. The watchdog group In$ight St. Paul estimates that nearly 8 percent of the city’s property is currently subject to TIF diversion. That is a massive chunk of our tax base that isn’t helping to pay for snow plowing, police, or parks.

Worse yet, the City Council is making these decisions in the dark.

Historically, the council received an annual report from staff during the budget process detailing exactly how TIF was impacting the city’s bottom line. The council hasn’t actually received that once-standard report since 2016. We are basically flying a $700 million “budget-sized” airplane with a piece of electrical tape covering one of the key gauges on the instrument panel.

Before the first new TIF request reaches her desk, we encourage Mayor Her to get a full grasp on the city’s current TIF addiction. We need to make sure that the city is working with the latest data when it crafts its annual budget, and that starts with resuming the annual report to the council and public on TIF. The taxpayers deserve a clear picture of how much future revenue we are signing away annually with this tool.

St. Paul taxpayers are already feeling uneasy with the trajectory of the city’s property tax levy.  We don’t feel that we should have to remind our leaders that unnecessary handouts to developers just make that situation worse.

This financial addiction began long before Mayor Her or the current city administration was around. It can’t be fixed overnight, and I’m confident from Mayor Her’s experience that she can see the way.

Kaohly Her’s campaign provided the city with a great deal of excitement and optimism for the future.  Hopefully she can give a nod to the hard-working people of St. Paul that she has heard our concerns and plans to be an effective steward of the public purse.  We have plenty of projects in this city that truly deserve her attention. Seeking to subsidize already prime real estate is not one of them.

John Mannillo is a member of the In$ight Saint Paul steering committee and president of the Lowertown Future Fund, Inc.

Related Articles

Real World Economics: Tales of economic growth speak volumes

Skywatch: Extended stargazing pleasure in January

Working Strategies: Resolve to create an efficient job search for new year

Mark Glende: Against the odds, this tipsy tree with the leaning star

Abdirashid Ahmed: In a time of dangerous rhetoric, Somali Minnesotans are among Minnesota’s success stories