prayer

The view from the front seat of a tour van highlights the windy path.Enveloped by the lush greenery all around, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the sheer mountain slopes above and below the one-lane dirt road beneath our van. At the bottom of the deep chasm dropping away to our right, the grand Urubamba River swiftly swirled. In every direction, the sharp peaks of the Andes Mountains rose above us, shrouded in gray mist, proud in their legendary beauty.

David C. Dollahite, PhD, stood in the back of a mosque looking for the imam, the prayer leader of the mosque. The imam would soon be added to the list of over 250 religious men and women Dollahite has interviewed in their places of worship for his research on how religious practices and beliefs affect people’s lives, marriages, and children.