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May 14
Saint Matthias, Ashgar Ali Engineer, and the last witch trial in the United States
David Barnhart
May 14, 2025
Groundnut (hopniss) flowers, 2024. Own photo.
On May 14, 1878, the last trial in the United States over an accusation of witchcraft began in—guess where?—Salem, Massachusetts. This trial involved a dispute that hinged on emerging beliefs in Christian Science regarding faith healing or, in this case, faith harming.
Today is the feast day of Saint Matthias in the Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Matthias only appears in one place in scripture, in Acts, when he is chosen by lot to be the replacement for Judas Iscariot. Legend says that he preached the gospel in Ethiopia.
Today marks the death, in 2013, of Asghar Ali Engineer, a Muslim liberation theologian who emphasized peaceful coexistence of religions and women’s equality. He pointed out that in the Quran, the word jihad means struggle, not war, as it is often characterized in Western media.
Reflection:
In, Living Buddha, Living Christ, Thich Nhat Hanh writes about the term “interbeing”:
When we look into the heart of a flower, we see clouds, sunshine, minerals, time, the earth, and everything else in the cosmos in it. …In fact, the flower is made entirely of non-flower elements; it has no independent, individual existence. It “inter-is” with everything else in the universe.
…Just as a flower is made only of non-flower elements, Buddhism is made only of non-Buddhist elements, including Christian ones, and Christianity is made of non-Christian elements, including Buddhist ones. We have different roots, traditions, and ways of seeing, but we share the common qualities of love, understanding, and acceptance.
Prayer: