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Submit Your Reflection about "Reviving Sister Aimee."

Female Evangelists (August 22, 2007)
Marion, IL (WSIU, 91.9FM) I could not help but reflect on the two most powerful female ministers I was raised with: Rev. Vallie Burrell and Rev. Corrine Ballard. Rev. Ballard is my grandmother and Rev. Burrell is my great aunt. These two sisters were ministers in the Original Church of God. This church separated from the Church of God over the issue of female ministers. The Church of God wanted to give females the title "Mother" and Rev. Burrell stated that God had called her to preach the word. These two women established a church, which still is in existence today, in Richmond, Indiana. Minister McPherson reminds me of the struggles my grandmother and aunt endured to leave a lasting legacy.

Annetta Kastner
Levittown, PA (WHYY, 91.0FM)

Doubt, Sister Amy, Chris Hitchens (August 22, 2007)
Pentecostal Sister Aimee Semple McPherson seems to have appropriated some of the Black preachers' oratory and, let's hope, some of their heartfelt empathy with suffering people. After listening to the program, I thought her perspective was pretty extreme and I decided to see if you had anything to balance this kind of game. Well, you've got a good bit—Einstein, and Jennifer Michael Hecht's program about doubt, and probably more, but not a word from or about Christopher Hitchens. Earlier today the BBC program "Reporting Religion" had illuminated the explanations that various religious sects have for killing one another. The big picture in America is the lock step between Big Time Religion and Big Time Abuse Of Power. I think Hitchens' voice deserves to be heard.

Paul Simons
Levittown, PA (WHYY, 91.0FM)

Aimee Semple McPherson and Ordained Women (August 22, 2007)
I have to take exception to your statement "Semple McPherson was a famous preacher and worship leader decades before the most liberal denominations in the U.S. ordained women as ministers." The most liberal denomination is arguably the Unitarian Universalist Association. Its forebear, the Universalist Church of America, ordained Olympia Brown in the mid-19th century, making her the first woman ordained by a denomination. There was one previously ordained woman, Antoinette Brown [no relation] (a Congregationalist if memory serves), but she was not formally ordained by the denomination. I might not be the only Unitarian Universalist to bring this to your attention. Love your show.

Erik Gunn
Racine, WI (WUWM, 89.7 FM)

Future, Related Programs? (August 10, 2007)
I was interested in your recent program on Aimee Semple McPherson. Have you thought about featuring another woman religious pioneer, Mary Baker Eddy? Her accomplishments were even more outstanding done at least 50 years prior to Aimee.

Melinda Dale
San Antonio, TX (Listens to SOF OnDemand)

Memories of Mother (August 2, 2007)
When my mom was in her teens, she went to Angelus Temple and Aimee came down the aisle on a white horse. She told me Aimee looked something like Lady Godiva. Do you have any file photos on this? Hearst papers, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Life magazine, Look magazine — they all carried her riding the white horse.

Joseph Berg
Hemet, CA (Listens to SOF OnDemand)