Interfaith Voices Podcast (hour-long version): Recent Episodes
Interfaith Voices
Interfaith Voices provides engaging and informative discussion on the key public issues of our day through the lenses of many different faith perspectives. We foster religious tolerance and educate our listeners on the broad diversity of religious traditions and viewpoints in the United States.
This podcast feed is for the hour-long version of the program.
Jeanne Lewis reflects on how faith-rooted work differs from the organizing of previous eras and rejects the notion that the progressive movement has lost religion.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez talks about the role of Christian pop culture in reshaping evangelical attitudes about gun rights, gender, and demographic changes sweeping across the country.
Two Catholic women share how they are working to educate and engage American Catholics to examine their beliefs and perceptions about Palestinians.
For many years, Dr. Duane Bidwell served as a hospital chaplain, working to offer spiritual support to people who were often in their most vulnerable moments.
The issue advocacy campaign to urge voters in Michigan to cast an uncommitted ballot as a protest vote exceeded organizers' expectations and has sparked a movement spreading to other primary states.
Women don’t always feel welcome in American mosques. They’re sometimes turned away, sent to basements to pray, or discouraged from serving on the boards of directors. Aisha al-Adawiya is devoted to changing that.
Author Ann W. Duncan describes the “sacred pregnancy movement” and examines three major organizations involved. Their services range from sacred belly painting in luxurious retreat settings to helping process pregnancy l
Samira Mehta discusses how words like “sacred,” “ensoulment,” “mother,” and “baby” have been used by both sides of the culture war over reproductive rights and how they have changed our perception of pregnancy.
This special segment was produced by NPR’s Code Switch, co-hosts B. A. Parker and Gene Denby explore the curious twists and turns in the relationship between freedom-seeking activists across oceans and borders.
A group of public health workers in North Carolina worked to foster trusting relationships to tackle vaccine hesitancy among Native Americans.
Dr. Toni Pressley-Sanon's latest book, Lifting As They Climb: Black Women Buddhists and Collective Liberation explores how a growing number of Black women have integrated Buddhist practices into their spiritual lives.
Mike Merryman-Lotze joins us to share the struggles facing humanitarian workers in Gaza.
The Israeli military is using artificial intelligence and the targeting of low-level members of Hamas in their homes at a time when civilian casualties would be high.
Joy Ashford is the new religion reporter at the Dallas Morning News, supported by Report for America. They join us to share some of the stories Joy has been covering in North Texas.
Bob Otis, founding pastor of Sacred Garden Community Church, outlines its beliefs and practices. Then, the author of God on Psychedelics describes how psychedelic worship communities are proliferating.
Pastor Bob Otis describes his faith journey from a Christian home in Tennessee to a psychedelic church in Berkeley. Then, Chief Phillip Scott discusses the fine line between respectful use and cultural appropriation.
Richa Karmarkar, RNS's first national religion reporter covering the Hindu beat hopes the growth of the Hindu community sparks interest and curiosity about a religious tradition not well understood.
A trailblazer in Christian feminist theology, Dr. Mary Hunt, joins to reflect on how the world for women in religion has changed and how groups like hers are adapting.
Carolina Nieto, director of Ashoka's Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean office, established a "council of elders," hoping to tap into its members' wisdom, patience, and spirituality.
Cultural anthropologist Lynsey Farrell, co-founder of The Grandmother Collective, is building community by connecting older women with adolescent girls.
Dr. Connie Zweig discusses why spirituality—however it may be defined—is crucial to a fulfilling old age.
A new poll released by the Pew Research Center reinforces one key finding: Americans believe religion is a force for good in society.
The leader of Word and Way, a Christian media company, is focused on building conversation spaces for Christians to deal with the MAGA version of Christianity and confront the political manipulation of scripture.
Dr. Kameelah Mu’Min Oseguera joins us to explain why she sees interrogating the Western narrative of the enslaved as interconnected to Black Muslim mental health today.
Dr. Robert P. Jones, President and Founder of PRRI, discusses the latest research documenting the rising influence of Christian Nationalism in some segments of American politics.
As the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a group of multifaith peace activists began a journey from Philadelphia heading for the White House.
Women don’t always feel welcome in American mosques. They’re sometimes turned away, sent to basements to pray, or discouraged from serving on the boards of directors. Aisha al-Adawiya is devoted to changing that.
Emgage Action Michigan interim executive director Hira Khan joins to explain why her organization and volunteer network worked with partners to encourage voters to use the ballot to send a message instead of disengaging.
Kim Bobo, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, joins us to discuss the 2024 legislative agenda and how the 42-year-old organization continues to grow and expand its base across the Comm
Among the hundreds of volunteers preparing to lobby lawmakers was Anne Murphy, a Catholic retiree and resident of Northern Virginia. In this conversation, she describes why she has attended these annual lobbying events
Though the Founding Fathers were Christian, many of them held beliefs out of step with most American Christians of their time – and ours.
Both Union and Confederate leaders invoked God to advance their causes during the Civil War. But Abraham Lincoln refused to claim the divine on his side.
As a law student, Thomas Jefferson bought a Quran from an English publisher. But why? Did he read it as a sacred text? As a window into Muslim law?
Sick, tired, and hopeful, Central American migrants are bused daily from a detention center to a former Benedictine monastery in Tucson, Ariz., where a small army of volunteers offers showers, fresh clothes, and medical
We talk to Daisy Vargas, whose current work traces the history of anti-Mexican and anti-Catholic bias in the U.S.
Rev. Esau McCaulley confronts the controversy that the Civil War was not fought because of slavery but Southern heritage.
We explore the inspiration behind Dr. Jemar Tisby's new book, How to "Fight Racism: A Young Reader's Edition".
Dr. Ryan Burge discusses the trends and data that may explain Mr. Trump’s ongoing appeal, evidenced in the 2024 Iowa Caucus results.
Journalist Jeff Sharlet talks about the "slow civil war" taking place in the United States and his book The Undertow.
Dr. Lewis V Baldwin discusses his new book, “The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” He looks at what we could lose if we forget the teachings of Dr. King.
Episcopal priest and writer Greg Garrett confronts the religious legacy of James Baldwin and the challenge his theology poses to anti-black racism in the United States.
Ronit Y. Stahl is an associate professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, who has studied how military chaplaincy evolved.
Filmmakers David Washburn and Razi Jafri introduce the three military Muslim chaplains profiled in their new documentary and describe how they came to spend seven years following them around the country.
Tia Kolbaba of Rutgers University co-teaches a popular course connecting religion to the hot-button headlines. Kolbaba teaches her students that religion is not separate from everything else but is almost always in the r
In Spokane, Washington, a religion-news website called FāVS is bucking the national trend away from local news.
This week, we feature selections from the December 8, 2019, Sounds of Faith concert at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Tim Alberta’s new book, "The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory," examines the divisions threatening to destroy the American evangelical movement.
This week, Kelley Nikondeha joins to talk about why she wrote about that first season and how the book, released in October 2022, is now being discovered as more Christians want to learn about Palestine.
Journey Films founder and director Martin Doblmeir talks about the documentary feature that tells the story of Black liberation theologian Howard Thurman and his legacy. The feature film now airing on public television
Raza Segal, an Israeli-born scholar of the Holocaust. at Stockton University, describes how the decontextualized use of Holocaust memory and Nazi imagery can be used to justify war crimes.
No matter your race, class, gender, or faith, we all have to eat. We explore what food says about who we are and what we believe.
We look at one of the thorniest issues confronting contemporary America – how to reconcile our history of slavery with our present.
Honor is a riveting novel that transports readers to an India where interfaith marriage between Muslims and Hindus animates deep religious polarization.
Dr. Mathew Sandoval’s scholarship and research into the history and evolution of the festival known as Dia de Los Muertos was fueled by two pivotal events: as a young man traveling to Guatemala and observing the festival
Reporter Kimberly Winston explores the links and intersections between religion and horror with Dr. Jonathan Greenaway from the University of Chester in Manchester, England.
As the drumbeat of support for Israel’s retribution for a deadly terror attack grows, some faith leaders are raising concerns.
Human rights leaders talk about the threat of Hindu nationalism for religious minorities and the struggle to hold India accountable for transnational repression.
On June 2, 2020, Donald Trump used military and law enforcement to forcibly clear peaceful protesters, so he could pose for a photo with a bible. With Juneteenth approaching we interrogate the symbology of this event.
Blair Hodges, host of Fireside with Blair Hodges, discusses the new freedom he has as a podcaster since leaving the Maxwell Institute at Brigham Young University.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg spoke to a reporter about the Jewish views on redemption and forgiveness in 2018. When she shared her teachings in a Twitter thread, the reaction surprised her.
We speak with two “spiritual magpies” – Blair Hodges, the Mormon host of a popular podcast, and Rabbi Danya Rutenberg, the “wunderkind of Jewish feminism.”
Esau McCaulley confronts the controversy that the Civil War was not fought because of slavery but Southern heritage.
This is Not the Story of An Exceptional Kid. Rev. Esau McCaulley uses the memoir to write a story about the family and community that shaped him, not his journey or success. In each chapter, he introduces readers to a new person who he sees as shaping and forming the world that raised him.
In 2016, journalist Stephanie Salda set out to interview people fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria. What, she wondered, did people bring with them when forced out of their homes.
What do people bring with them when forced out of their homes, perhaps never to return? Stephanie Saldaña set out to answer this question.
Journalist Kalpana Jain is raising alarms about the threats to press freedom in the world’s most populous democracy, India.
Filled with anticipation and hope, the indigenous community hopes a rare sighting of a salmon in the creek is the answer to a century of prayers.
Dr. Connie Zweig, a retired therapist in her 70s, is the author of multiple books on spiritual wellness. She discusses why spirituality -- however it may be defined -- is crucial to a fulfilling old age.
Carolina Nieto started working for the non-profit Ashoka at the age of 62. Now she is the director of its Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean office. Just this year, she and Ashoka established a “council of elders” drawn from Spanish speakers across Latin America, hoping to tap into its members' wisdom, patience, and spirituality.
Cultural anthropologist Lynsey Farrell co-founder of The Grandmother Collective is building community by connecting older women with adolescent girls.
We sit down with award-winning filmmaker Martin Dobleimer to discuss his latest documentary, "Sabbath: An Ancient Practice Meets the Modern World."
Dr. Robert Gross outlines the often confounding basics of Transcendentalism and shows why they were extraordinary in 19th-century America.
In this non-narrated reflection from musician Craig Green, we learn why creating space for people to sing outdoors is his spiritual calling.
A Northern California indigenous tribe’s declaration of war generates global support — Then the faith identity of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer.
This episode of "A Pray For Salmon" begins as Northern California’s Winnemem Wintu tribe faces a turning point in 2004 as the government plans to raise the Shasta dam accelerate. The tribal leaders make a difficult decision to revive an ancient practice: the War Dance.
Many Americans feel disillusioned with formalized religious institutions, yet their hunger for spiritual comfort remains. Enter, the Nearness, a year-old online space where people of all faiths and no faith can talk over the “big questions.” Nearness co-founder Casper ter Kuile talks about the importance of dedicated, judgment-free spaces for spiritual curiosity, and his own spiritual journey from atheism to Harvard Divinity School and beyond.
Mentor Dida was an 8-year-old boy when the Balkan War came to his hometown in Kosovo. A chance encounter with a volunteer aid worker in a refugee camp set the course of the rest of Dida’s life, leading directly to his founding of Changemakers, an Albanian-language website for exploring spiritual questions beyond religious boundaries.
The online space InnoFaith works to transcend religious boundaries by building service-based community programs to foster mutual understanding and empowerment. Founder Danielle Goldstone shares her vision of how humanity can thrive by harnessing shared values drawn from diverse perspectives.
Elizabeth Reiner Platt, director of Columbia Law School’s Law, Rights and Religion Project discusses the implications of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in 303 Creative v Elenis. She explains why the controversial ruling extending First Amendment protections to a creative business creates a dangerous precedent opening the door for other potential challenges to anti-discrimination policies. Platt reminds listeners of an earlier era in which businesses could explicitly reject people based on gender, religion and race to deny access to goods, services, and public accommodations. Citing the 303 Creative ruling and hypotheticals presented during oral arguments, Platt notes that nothing in the decision limits its application to same-sex couples seeking to marry.
In the first year of the global pandemic, COVID deaths among Native Americans were significantly higher than any other ethnic or racial group in America due to exceedingly poor public health infrastructure. To combat the inequity, a group of public health workers in North Carolina led by Dr. David Tillman, supported by a grant from Interfaith America, worked to foster trusting relationships to tackle vaccine hesitancy and combat misinformation with the Coharie tribe in Sampson County. Producer Monique Parsons of Interfaith America reports this story from North Carolina.
In June 2023, the Public Religious Research Institute released a new poll exploring America’s shifting public attitudes on gender, the role of inclusive policies and perceptions of fairness, and the recent attacks on policies that support transgender individuals. Public Religion Research Institute’s CEO Dr. Melissa Deckman joins Ambereen Khan to discuss the findings and to review the shifts in attitudes especially among a surprising cohort -- younger Americans.
Filmmaker Martin Doblmeier talks about his 2021 Gabriel Award-winning film "Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story" and the life of this powerful social activist.
At a school board protest hundreds of Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox parents demand the right to opt their kids out of reading LGBTQ+ story books invoking religious rights and then, the organizer of Faith for Pride talks about their work.
This installment of A Prayer For Salmon begins with the creation story of the Winnemem Wintu, at a sacred spring high up on Mt. Shasta.
In the next part of A Prayer for Salmon, we travel back to Northern California to continue the story of an indigenous community fighting plans to raise the level of Shasta Dam.
Award-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed is no stranger to diving into the areas that make readers uncomfortable. In her 2021 book, On Juneteenth, Gordon-Reed offers a hybrid history and memoir that gets personal and is timely as Texas lawmakers battle over voting rights.
Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C. and one of the most influential women in American Christianity. Her new book, How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, was born out of her response to President Donald Trump’s bible-waving photo op in front of an Episcopal church during the protest summer of 2020.
Soularize founder Spencer Burke talks about his vision for Soularize and lays out its goals – to be a bridge between people working at the different intersections of faith with social justice, youth empowerment, migration, the environment, and longevity.
Guest Anne Borden Evans of the Ashoka Foundation discusses why this secular non-profit is interested in supporting what it calls “spiritual changemakers” and “spiritual innovators.”
Editor-in-Chief of the Gospel Coalition Collin Hansen reflects on his friendship with Keller and insights from writing the pastor’s biography, released earlier this year. Hansen shares how pivotal experiences shaped Keller’s beliefs about religion and politics and why he was often criticized by both the political left and right.
Public intellectual, gay marriage activist, journalist, and author Jonathan Rauch shares how he found an unlikely friendship with Keller, who, as a Reformed evangelical opposed same-sex marriage.
We revisit our December 2022 conversation between host Ambereen Khan and Keller, including how his terminal cancer changed his views on mortality and time, and heightened the need to make forgiveness a cultural priority.
Dr. Linda Mercadante a Distinguished Research Professor, Emerita, Methodist Theological School in Ohio. and founder of HealthyBeliefs discussed her journey from being "spiritual but not religious" to becoming a scholar of religion. She argues for more research and understanding into the growing numbers of Americans identifying as such. In her book, "Beliefs without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual But Not Religious," Mercadante shares her research findings from a listening tour across the US, Canada, Mexico, and beyond. She discovered that while sociologically, people identifying as “spiritual but not religious” are quite different, they share many common beliefs — including rejecting the word "God" while still believing in something bigger than themselves.
Belief Without Borders
Oxford University Press
This week's closing music, New Hope, by Audiobinger,
used under a Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 license.
Additional music by Blue Dot Session.
In his book, God, the Best Seller, Stephen Prothro tells the story of Eugene Exman, responsible for the religious book department at Harper and Brothers from 1928 to 1965. Prothro argues that Exman was partly responsible for the current trend toward “spirituality not religious.” The book highlights Exman’s role in publishing some of the most influential religion books of the 20th century — including The Perennial Philosophy by Aldi Huxley, essays on Zen Buddhism by DT Suzuki, The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day, and The Religions of Man by Houston Smith.
God the Bestseller
Harper Collins
Episode five of "A Prayer for Salmon," and an Elder of the Lummi Nation uses indigenous storytelling to educate the world about the sacred obligation to protect the water.
In episode five of A Prayer for Salmon, the Winnemem Wintu and supporters start a two-week Run4Salmon prayer to call salmon back to the waters above Shasta Dam.
Lummi Nation member Darrell Hillaire is on a mission: amplify native indigenous storytelling using technology to educate and inspire actions to protect water ecosystems for future generations.
Our guests, a physician and a hospice chaplain, discuss the importance of attending to the spirit as well as the body at the end of life.
We spend a day with Rabbi Oksana Chapman, a Russian-speaking chaplain who grew up under Soviet rule and once got an 'A' in Atheism.
In a soundscape of surf, sand, and spirituality, Father Christian Mondor recounts how he began riding waves at age 70. In water, he finds a metaphor for the holy trinity. And in the surf, he finds a kind of baptism.
An elder remembers indigenous life back before Shasta Dam was built. The legality of the proposal to raise Shasta Dam is considered. Meanwhile, Chief Caleen Sisk considers a new strategy to fight back: turning an adversa
Liam Adams, the religion reporter for The Tennessean in Nashville, introduces us to the complex religious landscape of the city, and talks about the response of the faith community to the Covenant School shooting. Many f
In his latest book, The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War, Journalist Jeff Sharlet outlines a new era of martyrs and civil war.
Chief Phillip Scott is a teacher in indigenous medicine with Lakota ancestry. He has consulted with Sacred Garden Community Church on their use of what he calls “sacred plants."
Bob Otis is the founding pastor of Sacred Garden Community Church. He outlines its core beliefs, its practices, and the somewhat long path to membership. Then Don Lattin, author of “God on Psychedelics,” describes how wo
Pastor Bob Otis describes his own personal faith journey that brought him from a Christian home in Tennessee to a psychedelic church in Berkeley.
The story continues as Judy Silber explores how the Winnemem Wintu view water and land as sacred entities that must be in balance and believe they were put on Earth to protect and steward their homeland.
Judy Silber, producer of A Prayer for Salmon, talks about building trust with the Winnemem Wintu tribe as a journalist,
We present A Prayer for Salmon: A documentary series from The Spiritual Edge telling the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with the raising of Shasta Dam.
Pardeep Kaleka shares what he has learned about himself, how his faith has evolved, and how escalation in mass shootings demands a reckoning with the deeply held values of the nation.
To say that planning a Model Seder and Iftar was a learning experience would be an understatement. In this conversation, Orthodox Jew Deena Grant shares how surprised she was to discover many similarities between her tra
Dr. Tricia Bruce, a sociologist from Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religion in Society recently published a paper studying discordant benevolence as it relates to attitudes about abortion in America.
Anwar Khan is the President of Islam Relief USA and is a board member of global and national humanitarian organizations working to alleviate hunger and human suffering. He describes their counterparts in Turkey and how
Stephen Prothero talks about Eugene Exmam who was responsible for publishing some of the most important religious books of the 20th century.
In his book, God, the Best Seller, Stephen Prothro tells the story of Eugene Exman, responsible for the religious book department at Harper and Brothers from 1928 to 1965.
Dr. Linda Mercadante a Distinguished Research Professor, Emerita, at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. and founder of HealthyBeliefs discussed her journey from being "spiritual but not religious" to becoming a scholar of religion.
Finding new inspiration in this ancient story to stand with oppressed women in the #MeToo era.
Harley Rustad recounts the life of Justin Alexander Shetler, an American man who vanished in India’s Parvati Valley in 2016.
In 2014, our founder Maureen Fiedler interviewed President Jimmy Carter shortly after his book A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power.
In the 2014 religious biography Redeemer, Randall Balmer describes how the controversial president’s rise and fall coincided with the decline of Christian progressives and the Religious Right.
Jan Williams witnessed and describes President Carter’s spiritual legacy which included working to support women’s access and inclusion in all spheres of church life.
In his 2021 book, “Learning to Pray,” Jesuit priest and bestselling author Father James Martin charts an approach to prayer that is not just for Catholics, but is for everyone.
Martyn Oliver, says fasting most likely predates organized religion. And we explore how individuals and communities are embracing the ancient ritual of abstaining from food, water, intimacy, and comfort.
Five years ago she left her church and found a more profound sense of connection and belonging outdoors. Valerie Luna Serrels shares her journey and offers a glimpse at how members of her local Church of the Wild gather
Bob Smietana's new book Reorganized Religion takes a closer look at the state of the American church and the way congregations and their leaders are adapting, shifting, or resisting.
Springtide Research Institute’s former executive Josh Packard explains why data and survey research offers more nuance and insights into GenZ’s approach to values, meaning-making, and answering the big questions.
The leader of the New York Immigration Coalition Murad Awawdeh is undeterred in his advocacy for migrants. The oldest coalition of immigration groups in New York is leading efforts to secure housing, shelter, and suppor
Two years ago on the campaign trail, President Biden promised to end the inhuman border policies that barred migrants seeking asylum from entering the United States. Instead of ending the use of Title 42, faith leaders d
Jovana Nieto is the coordinator of the Migrant Accompaniment Network and she is on a mission to recruit volunteers to support newcomers on their journey to making the US home.
One of the major themes to emerge from the new PBS documentary "The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song" is the often-overlooked roles Black women play in strengthening that institution.
Dr. Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University's Divinity School, describes how women keep the institution of the Black church strong and growing, despite being often unwelcome in the pulpit.
We talk to filmmaker Joshua Seftel to learn about his Academy Award-nominated film "Stranger at the Gate" and the backstory that lead him to make it.
Award-winning author Sofia Samatar was raised Mennonite, but, with brown skin in a Germanic faith, she sometimes felt she did not fit in. Then she discovered the obscure story of a group of 19th-century Russian Mennonite
Rev. Earl Smith, Jr is the chaplain for the San Francisco 49ers and Golden State Warriors. It’s a pastoral job that demands a different approach.
Award-winning Palestinian-American journalist Daoud Kuttub writes for the Religion News Service that the rise of Israel’s far-right orthodox parties in the new coalition government could threaten democracy and democratic
Dr. Lewis V Baldwin, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University, discusses his new book, “The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,” which he was inspired to write, in part, by the battle over truth
Kalpana Jain offers context, history, and analysis of the biggest global stories likely to appear in the headlines in 2023.
Christian Chronicle editor Bobby Ross Jr. and producer Kimberly Winston discuss the biggest stories in the US based on feedback from religion reporters around the world.
Lauren Markoe is the news editor at the Forward. This American Jewish weekly publication monitors the rise in anti-Semitism and the various responses from civic and government leaders.
This week we feature selections from the December 8, 2019 Sounds of Faith concert at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
After building a megachurch in Manhattan, Presbyterian Timothy Keller has no trouble engaging secular and skeptical audiences. Keller insists that our culture is failing to value a key skill and essential building block
Alyssa, a young Mormon woman, tells us her personal story of sexual assault. When her church leaders pressured her to forgive her abuser, it made her feel as if her pain did not matter and that she wasn’t worthy of being
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg talks about what it means to make amends and if a person wronged has an obligation to forgive the person who hurt them.
When Luzer Twersky was in his early twenties and already a married father of two, he decided to leave the only world he had ever known, a close knit Jewish enclave in Brooklyn. He told his story to documentary producer
First-person accounts of people who grew up inside insular religious groups, and then choose a different path. These stories are collected from our Escaping Religion series.
Lauren Drain, was a member of The Westboro Baptist Church for seven years. Today, She is a cardiac nurse and a popular fitness model.
Joshua Safran was born in 1975 into a coven of radical feminist witches. Then one day he discovered he was Jewish, and after years of wandering he finally felt he had found a home.
Jean-Luc Pierite, the chair of the board of the Native American Culture Center in Boston — dives into the history and role of the National Day of Mourning.
Robert P. Jones, Founder, and President of the Public Religion Research Institute joins us to talk about the findings from the 2022 American Values Survey.
Religion News Service national religion reporter Jack Jenkins talks about the races where faith and religion emerged in surprising and not-so-surprising ways.
The Yoruba religion is a tapestry of myths, magic, spirits, and secrets. Prothero calls it "a tradition about hanging onto tradition," a way for people scattered by the African diaspora to connect to their common origins.
Steve Sarowitz is not a filmmaker. But when the former tech entrepreneur declared himself a Baha’i, he felt compelled to let others know about his new faith.
Bob Smietana is an award-winning religion reporter and editor whose new book Reorganized Religion takes a closer look at the state of the American church and the way congregations and their leaders are adapting, shifting, or resisting.
A seminarian decides to recharge by centering nature in her sacred practices and rituals in Ojai, California. Within six years Victoria Loorz's exploration and experimentation sparked a new movement – The Church of the Wild.
Rev. Dr. Alvin Edwards has been part of the Charlottesville, Virginia faith community since 1981 but in 2015 after the horrific attack at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina he began to assess his relationships with the local clergy. The question he could not shake – do we trust each other enough to come together if racially motivated hate and violence come to our community.
Reza Aslan believes a 22-year-old Presbyterian missionary from North Dakota offers a spiritual lesson for those losing hope in democratic institutions and liberal values. In a new biography, Aslan introduces the events surrounding the 1906 revolution in Iran that sparked aspirations of self-determination and hope in empires subjected to oppressive and arbitrary leaders.
On October 15, 2022, in Washington Square Park in New York City, hundreds gathered to demonstrate support for the resistance movements in Iran. Host Ambereen Khan captures the sounds and talks to Iranian-Americans about their hopes and fears
Reporter Kimberly Winston explores the links and intersections between religion and horror with Dr. Jonathan Greenaway.
Dr. Mathew Sandoval’s scholarship and research into the history and evolution of the festival known as Dia de Los Muertos was fueled by two pivotal events: as a young man traveling to Guatemala and observing the festival for the first time in a country that was not Mexico and, the death of his father.
Producer Kimberly Winston interviews Dr. Katey Walter Anthony, author of Chasing Lakes: Love, Science and the Secrets of the Arctic, about how science and faith intersect in her life.
Reverend Timothy McDonald, III is the senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta and a leader in Faithworks, a new voter mobilization campaign to increase voter participation in Georgia.
Veteran environmental advocate Heather White talks about her new book, One Green Thing: Discover Your Hidden Power to Save the Earth.
Dr. Robert Gross outlines the often confounding basics of Transcendentalism and shows why they were extraordinary in 19th-century America.
Musician Craig Green, tells us why creating space for people to sing outdoors is his spiritual calling.
We talk to filmmaker Joshua Seftel to learn about his film "Stranger at the Gate" and the backstory that lead him to make it.
As the United Kingdom mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II, around the globe a new generation is calling for a reckoning.
Producer Kimberly Winston talks with Catherine Wolff, an educator, and university chaplain, about her new book, Beyond:: How Humankind Thinks About Heaven.
This week we are reflecting on the anniversary of 9/11 and the origins of Interfaith Voices. Dalia Mogahed and Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik share their insights.
Filmmaker Martin Doblmeier talks about his 2021 Gabriel Award-winning film "Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story" and the life of this powerful social activist.
Two religion professors team up to launch an irreverent and informative podcast, and become what host Ambereen Khan calls "the Click and Clack of religion podcasting."
Shankar Vedantam defines a “useful delusion” as an untruth we allow ourselves to believe so we can get through the day or accomplish some greater goal.
Dr. Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, describes the main findings of their research survey work examining attitudes, affiliations, and beliefs of QAnon supporters.
This week, a conversation with Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, who was killed five years ago at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Emily McFarlan Miller has been following the investigations into abuses at residential boarding schools for indigenous peoples run by the governments of Canada and the U.S.
Steve Rabey talks about the links between Christian pro-family groups and Republicans who support and promote the false and misleading claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
We look into some of the biggest headlines of the last few months from the perspective of religion.
Recently, The Associated Press’s David Crary wrote a primer about Zoroastrians, one of the oldest faiths that has, until recently, experienced ever-dwindling numbers. A new focus on young Zoroastrians may change that.
Harley Rustad recounts the life of Justin Alexander Shetler, an American man who vanished in India’s Parvati Valley in 2016.
We speak to Harley Rustad about his book, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Death in the Himalayas. Then Barbara Bradley Hagerty considers the "mid-faith crisis."
There are times when people of faith feel, for a while, far from God. Former NPR religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty sits down with two spiritual scholars to talk about their experiences with "the dark night of the soul".
Alex Kronemer shares behind-the-scenes insights about Syrian-American rapper Mona Haydar and her husband, educator, and Muslim convert Sebastian Robins.
As Haydar and Robins travel historic Route 66, they encounter Muslims and hear their untold stories of Islam’s contributions to American history and culture.
Alex Kronemer lays out the history of Muslim representation in Hollywood media, and charts how negative perceptions of off-screen Muslims are influenced by on-screen Muslim characters.
The PBS limited series, The Great Muslim American Road Trip is on a mission to break stereotypes.
Summer camps are not just about fun and games They are, more broadly speaking, immersive and unique experiences that quickly create an ethos and culture that allow for the transmission of tradition, morality, and beliefs.
Devi Parvati who identifies as a practitioner of all traditions describes how her life changed when she attended a retreat at an Ashram in the Poconos in 1968 and her journey to becoming a Swami.
Baptists are a diverse group and that is in some ways most evident in the advocacy around issues of church and state.
As a conservative Supreme Court majority overturns long-standing precedents, we look at the implications for church and state with an eye on history.
The lamentation took place outside the Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, when the nation’s highest court overturned Roe v. Wade.
AP Religion Reporter Deepa Bharat shares observations and highlights from the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual gathering in Anaheim, California.
Reverend Corey Passons of Interfaith Works in Washington State oversees Faith Explorations, a summer camp that offers age-appropriate activities for 8-12-year-olds that explore different religious beliefs and wisdom traditions.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a historian and the best-selling author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation talks about the role of Christian pop culture in reshaping evangelical attitudes about gun rights, gender, and demographic changes sweeping across the country.
Michael Austin, Christian ethicist and author of Gods, Guns and America shares reflections and insights from contemplating whether a Christian can find a theology that supports gun ownership? And why it's so difficult to discuss so-called “common sense” gun laws in white evangelical spaces.
Guns and God continues. This week we take a closer look at the way gun culture has been cultivated and intertwined with evangelical faith over the last 75 years.
Data shows that the two most likely predictors of gun ownership in America are religion – evangelical Christianity, in particular – and political affiliation – Republicans own more guns than Democrats.
For ten years religion reporter Michael O’Loughlin covered the Catholic beat. This led him to question an unexamined chapter of church history: the Church’s role at the height of the AIDS crisis.
In this first episode of the limited series podcast Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church, we meet David Pace who shares his first memories from the early days of the AIDS crisis.
Journalist Michael O’Loughlin digs into the history of the AIDS epidemic and the Catholic Church in his podcast Plague, and the companion book Hidden Mercy.
Sabila Khan found herself in the surreal position of watching her father’s burial on her cell phone. When she did not find the support she needed, she co-founded a Facebook group for people that have lost family and friends to the Pandemic.
Shortly before Memorial Day, Americans marked a grim milestone - one million deaths from COVID-19. How can we comprehend such a loss? How can we commemorate it? And how can we make sure this never happens again?
Dr. Pauline Boss has spent decades studying ambiguous loss — a loss in which there may be no body to bury, no clear explanation of death, no real answer to the question, “Why did this happen?”
Lawyer Allan Parker of the Justice Foundation describes his work representing women who have had abortions and his legal ministry working to overturn the laws that legalize abortion.
Before she became the leader of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Rev. Katey Zeh was a seminary student who volunteered to provide spiritual support to women having abortions.
Rev. Katey Zeh of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice describes her preparations for an anticipated overturning of Roe v Wade, and Lawyer Allan Parker describes his legal ministry to overturn it.
The spiritual journey of activist and author Chenxing Han led to one persistent question: "Where are all the Asian-American Buddhists in American Buddhism?"
We review the various political reactions to the unprecedented leak of a SCOTUS draft opinion made public on the evening of May 2, 2022, and how some religious voices and leaders are preparing to respond with national religion correspondent Emily MacFarlan Miller of the Religion News Service.
Historian Mary Ziegler, visiting professor at Harvard University explains why so many Americans are confused by the legal history, timeline, and rhetoric of the abortion battles taking place in the states and courts. Then sociologist Dr. Tricia Bruce describes the findings from an expansive 2020 research study that created a safe space to explore how Americans feel about abortion.
We examine the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court that outlines a legal argument for reversing a 49-year legal precedent that legalized abortion.
Phylicia Jimenez, a Black woman and an LDS convert discusses the progress – or lack thereof – towards racial equity in the LDS Church.
The Washington D.C. Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is normally reserved only for church members. But after a four-year renovation, the doors are open to the public.
After four years of renovation, the Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is open to the public. We look back to the founding of the church.
We take an audio tour of the Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Latter-day Saints,
We look at the sacred sounds people of faith are making during the COVID-19 pandemic and what those sounds—music, prayer, chants, songs—tell us about our future.
As a consultant to the Smithsonian’s “Discovery and Revelation” exhibit, Dr. Myrna Sheldon - wanted visitors to understand the direct impact science and religion have on individual lives.
Dr. Adam R. Shapiro discusses how the interplay between science and religion has changed in the last decade,
Dr. Peter Manseau, the curator of American religious history at the National Museum of American History, discusses the purpose of the Smithsonian’s new exhibit, “Discovery and Revelation: Science, Religion and Making Sense of Things.”
Science and religion are often portrayed as the bitterest of enemies, or, as Stephen Jay Gould termed them, “non-overlapping magisteria.” But the reality is often much more complex.
Rev. Lynn Casteel Harper discusses her book On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia and What it Means to Disappear, a call for communities of faith to rethink the value of people coping with memory loss.
Sofie Lovern is a Latina convert and comedienne who learned the difficulty of trying to merge two very different cultures in a marriage, even when their religions were the same.
This week we are featuring a radio documentary from KALW’s The Spiritual Edge. Host and Reporter Hana Baba explores the motivations and challenges of converts as they carve out a uniquely American path for being Muslim in the United States.
The Spiritual Edge podcast brings us stories that explore the motivations and challenges facing converts to Islam in the United States.
Raul Gonzalez lives in the Chicago area and converted to Islam twenty years ago. He has been trying to answer the question of how to reconcile his identity as a Latino — and Muslim — ever since.
Honor is a riveting novel that transports readers to an India where interfaith marriage between Muslims and Hindus animates deep religious polarization.
This week we look at the morals, emotions, and ideas about order and justice that have shaped just war thinking and public rhetoric with Dr. Valerie Morkevičius.
Instead of leaving Ukraine for the United States when the conflict erupted, Pastor Benjamin Morrison explained this is home and his calling is to minister and support those in need.
On Sunday, February 27th, 2022, Father Hitchens was overwhelmed to see the wider community's solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
As Russian President Vladamir Putin ordered Russian troops to the border with Ukraine, he sought to reframe the way the world sees Ukraine. Religion was at the heart of that effort.
In the face of invading Russian forces, a young democratic nation’s resistance has galvanized world attention and support. We take a closer look at the religious context behind the conflict
Phil Zuckerman outlines the goals of OnlySky, one of which is to erase the stereotype of atheists and other non-believers as angry white men. How will OnlySky attract voices of color?
Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera studies people like him – atheists, agnostics, “Nones” and other non-believers of color. He says non-believers of color have extra challenges in “coming out”.
Founder Shawn Hardin believes OnlySky will be a one-of-a-kind media platform because of its secular orientation.
January saw the debut of OnlySky Media. The new media outlet offers news, commentary, criticism, podcasts, video, and more, all from a secular perspective.
Though the Founding Fathers were Christian, many of them held beliefs out of step with most American Christians of their time – and ours.
Thomas Jefferson bought a Quran from an English publisher. But why? Did he read it as a sacred text? As a window into Muslim law?
Both Union and Confederate leaders invoked God to advance their causes during the Civil War. But Abraham Lincoln refused to claim the divine on his side.
From George Washington to Donald Trump, we explore the often surprising religious history of the presidency and the Constitution's promise of religious freedom.
Susan Katz Miller explores the possibilities, benefits, and challenges of interfaith marriages — and we hear from listeners who describe their own interfaith families..
For Buddhist lay minister Caroline Yongue - the journey to change the way we think about death, dying, and the impermanence of suffering began decades ago.
Religion Reporter Kelsey Dallas talks about the ways religion is showing up at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The interplay between culture, politics, and personal practice at the Olympics and in a new movement that includes approaching death and dying differently.
Dr. Michael Altman co-leads a collaborative platform Uncivil Religion that offers visitors an immersive experience navigating curated content with analysis from a bench of public scholars in the humanities.
Dr. Benjamin Parks explains why an obscure spiritual figure from Mormon sacred texts has become a political symbol and what it says about the challenges facing the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We take a look at a new initiative of public scholars of history, religion, philosophy, and sociology to contribute to the civic discourse around January 6, 2021.
Playwright, commentator, and author Wajahat Ali discusses his memoir, "Go Back to Where You Came From and Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become an American."
We explore the inspiration behind Dr. Jemar Tisby's new book, How to "Fight Racism: A Young Reader's Edition".
We speak with Sister True Dedication, who has edited a collection of the great Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn’s thoughts on the natural world.
This week we are diving into the top religion news stories of the year as chosen by the members of the Religion News Association.
Religion reporters like to say “religion is always in the room,” meaning there is a religion, faith, or spirituality angle to all of the big news stories of the day.
Religion journalists across the country picked the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as the top religion story of the year.
We’ve assembled a cadre of top religion journalists to dive into the top religion news stories of the 2021.
We take a look back at our first-ever live show, we explore the beauty and chaos that comes with having a diverse family.
We remember Interview with a Vampire author, Anne Rice, and we dive into the sounds of the season with the podcast Hark!
On December 11th, 2021, best-selling vampire novelist Anne Rice passed away. We listen back to interviews Rice gave to with Mark Oppenheimer and our founder Sr. Maureen Fiedler, SL.
If you have ever wondered about the backstory of holiday carols and Christmas hymns - you are not alone. We talk with Maggie Van Dorn about what she learned hosting the podcast Hark!
From a graduate degree program in a maximum-security prison in Illinois to humanizing incarcerated people on death row - people of faith are advocating for those behind bars.
Inside an Illinois maximum-security prison -- theology professor Michele Clifton-Soderstrom found a new calling.
Historian David Garrow and Liz Cavell, an attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, parse the possible outcomes of the recent arguments abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizations.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow traces the evolution of today’s battles over when a fetus becomes a person with rights.
Jamie Manson, the new leader of Catholics for Choice, outlines the ways Catholic attitudes towards abortion access have changed.
We stand on the steps of the Supreme Court as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health is heard - a major challenge to Roe v. Wade - and ask, “How did we get here?”
No matter your race, class, gender, or faith, we all have to eat. We explore what food says about who we are and what we believe.
The leader of an Adventist community organization collecting donations, and partnering with other organizations to help new arrivals fleeing war and violence.
As people seek ways to do good, researcher and food security advocate Kate Martin offers ways to minimize harm and remove the stigma and shame people feel when receiving charity
Host and Executive producer, Ambereen Khan's interview with Dr. Bruce Chilton contained a wealth of fascinating information. Far more than we could fit in this week's show. For all of the history geeks out there, here is their uncut interview.
In 1989 Sister Dianna Ortiz survived torture in Guatemala and became a voice for victims.
Dr. Bruce Chilton chronicles the intrigue-filled dynastic exploits of Herod the Great and his family in The Herods: Murder, Politics, and the Art of Succession.
A remembrance of the life of Sister Dianna Ortiz a survivor of torture who became a voice for victims. And the intrigue-filled exploits of Herod the Great and his family.
Thrity Umrigar returns to the Diwali celebrations of her Indian childhood for Binny’s Diwali, a picture book for children that explains how her family celebrates this important but little understood Indian festival.
Dr. Massimo Faggioli is an expert on American Catholicism looks at the subtext of President Joseph Biden’s recent meeting with Pope Francis -- only the second time in history a sitting Catholic president has met with a sitting Pope.
A children’s book about Diwali and a discussion of what is at stake as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops considers denying communion to politicians who support abortion.
From a study of spirituality in the horror genre to the celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, we explore how people find meaning in rituals we may not fully understand.
Reporter Kimberly Winston explores the links and intersections between religion and horror with Dr. Jonathan Greenaway.
Dr. Mathew Sandoval maps the evolution of an obscure syncretic holiday into a pop culture mainstay.
We meet up with a Washington D.C. area pagan group, the Firefly House, which is trying to counter the stereotypes and stigmas swirling around paganism.
We talk with Gabriela Herstik, a witch and writer living in Los Angeles, writes the “Ask a Witch” column for NYLON, a lifestyle website that caters to young women.
It's not devil worship. It's not make-believe. Modern-day pagans are taking part in a diverse array of spiritual practices and reviving traditions of long ago. (Originally broadcast in September 2018.)
Wiccans and druids — and other practitioners of paganism. It’s a diverse group with an array of spiritual practices and beliefs.
We speak with Sister True Dedication, who has edited a collection of the great Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn’s thoughts on the natural world.
Family members of those killed in the attacks of 9-11 have organized to promote peace and prevent the memory of their loved ones from being manipulated to justify war and violence.
The national conversation on racism has shifted. Americans are participating in a reckoning with the legacy of slavery. This week’s episode features a conversation with Black Christian leader, activist, and historian Jemar Tisby.
We begin this week’s episode by revisiting the origin story of Interfaith Voices. The very first pilot episode took place exactly one week after the 9/11 attacks. Then we talk with Dalia Mogahed, a hijab-wearing, Egyptian American mom having to deal with a new reality of Islamophobia.
Distinguished American Studies scholar Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik reflecting on the 9/11 anniversary, and how the last twenty years have led to greater introspection and reflection about identity, race, gender, and ethnicity among U.S. Muslim communities.
This week we begin a three-part special reflecting on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the origins of Interfaith Voices. Dalia Mogahed and Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik share their insights.
Counter-terrorism expert Abdul Basit has spent almost two decades studying the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and ISIS in Afghanistan and beyond.
The world watched in disbelief and concern as the last of the U.S. armed forces left Afghanistan.
Two guests with ties to Afghanistan share their fears and hopes for the country.
Sher Jan Ahmadzai—an Afghan American—expresses the great fear, disappointment, and sorrow he feels as he watches from afar.
Reflections from children's book authors who write about fostering understanding and overcoming adversity. (Segments of this show were originally broadcast in November and December of 2020.)
Beyond the headlines of abuse, underage marriages, and polygamy, the award-winning podcast UNFINISHED: SHORT CREEK, explores how this community is wrestling with its history.
Shankar Vedantam examines how self-deception helps us succeed at things like parenting. Then Robert Griffin explores beliefs about the 2020 presidential election. (Original broadcast July 2021)
Summer camps are not just about fun and games according to Dr. Shana Sippy. They are, more broadly speaking, immersive and unique experiences that quickly create an ethos and culture.
This year will be Radhika Amin’s last summer attending the Hindu Heritage Summer Camp in upstate New York.
Summer is not yet over for campers attending the Hindu Heritage Summer Camp in Rochester, New York.
Devi Parvati breaks all kinds of stereotypes. Today the mystic who identifies as a practitioner of all traditions describes how her life changed when she attended a retreat at an Ashram in the Poconos in 1968.
Host Ambereen Khan talks with two clergy activists, Rev. Timothy McDonald, and Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner about the struggle to preserve voting rights. (Originally broadcast in June 2021)
Three guests with first-hand experience of the destruction addiction causes to individuals, families, and communities discuss what can be done to erase the stigma of addiction.
Rev. Steve Lane is both an Episcopal priest and a recovering addict, a two-sided identity that gives him special insight into addiction recovery.
An audio tour of the 48-hour marathon in the statehouse sets the stage for Texas Democrats retreat to Washington, DC in an effort to prevent the Republican majority from passing restrictive voting laws.
In her book "On Juneteenth", Annette Gordon-Reed offers a hybrid history and memoir that gets personal and is timely as Texas lawmakers battle over voting rights.
Annette Gordon-Reed and Bee Moorhead provide context for the showdown over voting rights in Texas.
The leader of the oldest interfaith network in Texas is calling on advocates and activists to make their voices heard.
Getting arrested in the United States Capitol and lobbying their Senator to end the policy of detaining children is what two Chicago-based nuns would describe as an exciting day but not extraordinary.
This week we take a closer look at three women who are supporting immigrants through direct service and advocacy.
As co-chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, Peniel Ibe is working with advocates and activists to create a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented American residents.
Robert Griffin, research director at The Democracy Fund, describes the main findings of a June 2021 poll about voter confidence
Shankar Vedantam examines how self-deception helps us succeed at things like parenting, and serves as a survival tool. Then Robert Griffin explores beliefs about the 2020 presidential election.
Shankar Vedantam explains how self-delusions help make us better parents, better spouses, better citizens, and when they find their way into religion, better believers.
Host Ambereen Khan talks with two clergy activists, Rev. Timothy McDonald, and Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner about the struggle to preserve voting rights.
This week, a story from the Sacred Steps podcast. We hear from a former Israeli soldier who wrestles with identity and his faith. Then, reflections on "The Black National Anthem", Lift Every Voice.
A former Israeli soldier starts to question violence towards Palestinians and finds himself under fire by his own government.
A 120-year-old anthem is enjoying a new life in Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country. Producer Kimberly Winston looks at the history of the song.
Toni Newman grew up in a strict, southern Christian household. But when Toni came out as a gay man in college, family and church relationships were strained. And then, Toni came to realize she was really a transgender woman, not gay. She says she lost her friends in the gay community and felt the whole world turn away.
In our special series, we hear the personal stories of transgender people of faith and where they are finding spiritual homes among America's religious traditions.
In the past decade, public opinion on LGBT issues, like same-sex marriage, has changed drastically. But the growing acceptance of the L, the G, and the B has not necessarily extended to the T.
We head out of doors in search of the sacred and the spiritual in nature—from cicadas to forest bathing.
Depending on your point of view, cicadas are miraculous or migraine-inducing; a wonder or a whopping pain.
Washington-DC-based author and certified Forest Bathing therapist Melanie Choukas-Bradley takes host Amber Khan on a guided tour at the Woodend Sanctuary at the Audubon Naturalist Society headquarters.
According to the Rev Dr. Mae Elise Cannon the bureaucratic efforts that allow the Israeli government to seize Palestinian homes and forcefully remove residents have been ongoing and represent a violation of human rights.
When Ahmet left the United States in early May to spend the last week of Ramadan with his family in Gaza, he had no idea what was to come. The long-awaited reunion turned into a struggle to survive.
A growing chorus of voices and coalitions of people of faith are calling on the Biden Administration to take a different approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians — to forge a just peace.
Filmmaker Martin Doblmeier talks about his 2021 Gabriel Award-winning film "Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story" and the life of this powerful social activist.
The spiritual journey of activist and author Chenxing Han led to one persistent question: "Where are all the Asian-American Buddhists in American Buddhism?"
Deseret News national religion reporter, Kellsey Dallas walks us through the first 100 days of the Biden Administration, and how faith-based advocates and organizations have responded.
We meet students and teachers at two Islamic schools where students attend full-time Hifz programs to learn how to recite from memory the 114 Chapters of the Qur’an.
We visit two Hifz Islamic schools where a new generation is committing the entire Quran to memory. Then we take a look at how the Biden Administration is fairing after 100 days in office.
We talk with volunteers registering residents in Montgomery County, Maryland waiting for a food distribution event to begin at the Hughes United Methodist Church.
A new report from the Public Religion Research Institute sheds light on the role of faith-based efforts in combating vaccine hesitancy.
Diane Wingeler-Royo was a nurse and public health promoter in Nicaragua. She uses that experience as fueling her efforts to help her neighbors overcome vaccine hesitancy.
While the Biden Administration celebrates 200 million vaccines, we look at the religious groups who are resisting, and why public health appeals may be missing the mark.
Professors Amy DeRogatis and Isaac Weiner were collecting recordings of traditional religious practices when COVID struck. They had to quickly pivot their work, called the American Religious Sounds Project.
The pandemic has prompted composers to create new sacred music of all kinds — hymns, liturgical music, prayers, praise music, and more.
We talk to Solomon Hoffman, a rabbinical student and composer, and Keely Garfield, a Buddhist and choriographer— about their collaboration on Harofei, or “the one who heals.”
We look at the sacred sounds people of faith are making during the COVID-19 pandemic and what those sounds—music, prayer, chants, songs—tell us about our future.
This week's rebroadcast is part of our 'Chaplains' series. We follow a Zen Buddhist monk and see how mindfulness nourishes patients and doctors.
Education and community outreach have decreased the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among African Americans, but among white evangelicals, conspiracy theories have taken hold.
As a growing number of white Evangelicals express vaccine hesitancy, a new question emerges, how to reach this religious group.
Melissa Rogers seeks to encourage local and state governments to mindfully navigate church-state boundaries as they form relationships with faith leaders.
As a member of the Kingdom Fellowship AME Church, Dr. Dawn Holt found support from her congregational leaders including senior pastor Reverend Matthew L. Watley.
We are listening back to our show from one year ago – From poetry to spiritual practices, people of faith and goodwill are turning to new ways of connecting with their spiritual communities.
The Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar was Inspired to answer the need for poetry in these uncertain times. In three days, her poem Pandemic had gone viral.
In this segment, we bring listeners a selection of clips from sermons that streamed online from houses of worship and diverse traditions around the country.
Part Two of our exploration of sermons, meditations, and wisdom, from diverse traditions around the country that can be found online.
Chenxing Han skillfully curates conversations about how privilege, culture, and identity intersect in the American Buddhist landscape.
In the wake of the massacre in Atlanta, a volunteer network for Asian-American Christians calls for Christian leaders to repent and work to combat racism.
Professor Dr. Julie Ingersoll describes the tenents and ideology behind the modern purity movement that grew to prominence in the 1990s.
Asian American Christian Collaborative leaders call for solidarity in response to the wave of anti-Asian hate crimes–and author Chenzing Han's novel challenges assumption about American Buddhism.
Reporter Colm Flynn shares reflections after accompanying Pope Francis on a three-day trip to Iraq.
As the Syrian war enters its 10th year, a new book from best-selling author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon brings the incredible story of the Kurdish women fighting ISIS.
Journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is on a mission to tell the story of the Kurdish women who fought to protect their communities from ISIS. And then, the Pope’s historic trip to Iraq–a conversation with reporter Colm Flynn.
Interfaith activist Jack Gordon was raised Jewish but migrated to the Bahá'í faith in his early adulthood. Currently in the middle of a 19-day period of fasting, prayer, and study, he talks about how the Bahá’i tenet of the oneness of all human beings and the value of all faiths speaks to the pandemic and this time of loss. This year Gordon is hosting a series of 19 virtual Instagram Live conversations after breaking the fast at sunset. He has invited interfaith collaborators to reflect on the meaning of a passage from the Hidden Words, a book of verses written in 1858 by the faith’s founder, Bahá’u’llah. Host Ambereen Khan joined Gordon on Sunday, March 7th on the @interfaith-ish live feed.
In his new book, “Learning to Pray,” Jesuit priest and bestselling author Father James Martin charts an approach to prayer that is not just for Catholics, or even for Christians, but is for everyone. He describes the solace prayer can bring in tough times, like our current pandemic, and acknowledges that prayer, like anything, takes commitment, practice, and perseverance.
[Episode 2109] We explore the benefits of prayer, fasting, sacrifice, and reflection with best-selling author and Father James Martin, and Jack Gordon, host of the radio show “Interfaith-ish.” Both men made spiritual migrations in their lives -- Father Martin from a corporate desk to the Jesuit brothers and Gordon from Judaism to the Baha’i faith. And both share their insights into the current religious observances of Lent among Christians and the fast during the month of Ala among Bahá'ís.
Dr. Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University’s divinity school, describes how women keep the institution of the Black church strong and growing, despite being often unwelcome in the pulpit.
Stacy Holman and Shayla Harris describe how they got involved with "The Balck Church" and what they hope its four hours impart about the most powerful institution in Black culture.
One of the major themes to emerge from the new PBS documentary "The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song" is the often-overlooked roles Black women play in strengthening that institution.
Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis Three, describes how 17 years on death row for a series of murders he did not commit led him to the practice of “magick.”
Nahid Fattahi was born in war-torn Afghanistan. Those early formative experiences inform her work and advocacy today encouraging Muslim leaders to learn how to support members struggling with mental health.
How are faith communities engaging in the national discussion on our growing mental health crisis? We speak with Wellbeing Trust CEO Tyler Norris, and mental health advocate Nahid Fattahi.
The leader of a philanthropy dedicated to advancing mental and spiritual health is calling on the Biden Administration to address the growing mental health crisis in America.
Congresswoman, Madeleine Dean and her son Harry Cunnane discuss their new double-memoir, “Under Our Roof: A Son’s Battle for Recovery; a Mother’s Battle for Her Son.”
Representative Madeleine Dean and her son Harry Cunnane discuss Dean’s newly proposed END Stigma Act,
U.S. House Representative Madeleine Dean and her son Harry Cunnane discuss their new double-memoir, “Under Our Roof” about addiction, faith, and recovery.
Inconvenient Denial: 75 years after Auschwitz, anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories emerge
75 Years Later: Remembering the Holocaust, Confronting Anti-Semitism and Exploring Trauma Across Generations
January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This week we explore the roots of denial and the legacy of trauma.
Father Frederick Edlefsen reads an excerpt of his public call for a new way of engaging in our civic life and talks about the need for political charity and the role of faith and civic leaders moving forward.
Villanova University Professor of Religious Studies Massimo Faggioli traces the evolution of American political Catholic life, and how Biden navigates his personal faith in the public eye and in political life.
A closer look at the faith of President Biden, the seismic shift in American Catholicism’s relationship to the Vatican, and the likely divide to come.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says accountability is critical to unifying the nation–and multi-faith activist Valerie Kaur is organizing the People’s Inauguration.
Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver sharing his concerns about the rise of religious extremism, the dangers of what he calls “Trumplicans,” and the critical issues facing our imperfect union.
We begin by discussing this week's domestic terror attack on the United States Capitol with religion reporter Jack Jenkins. Then we look at an emerging trend in the West, conservative Christians moving to Idaho.
Tracy Simmons brings us a conversation that puts a face to a growing trend taking place in the West: Conservative Christians seeking to avoid pandemic public health restrictions and life in blue states by moving to Idaho.
Producer Tracy Simmons shares how she discovered Pastor Dan and why she believes more stories that humanize people we don’t understand is an important step in bridging divides.
We discuss this week's domestic terror attack on the United States Capitol with religion reporter Jack Jenkins.
As we turn the calendar page on 2020, we asked clergy, a university chaplain, a theologian, and a spiritual director–all from different faith backgrounds–to tackle some big questions.
Our six guests reveal what life in the pandemic has taught them about community, prayer, religious identity, resilience, and more.
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From breathing techniques to vesper services, hiking to confession, our panelists share prayers, rituals, spiritual exercises, and practices that they hope will bring renewal in 2021.
In this exploration of theodicy–the problem of evil in a world created by a benevolent creator–our roundup guests tackle the age-old question anew as the global death count from COVID-19 approaches two million.
The 2020 elections are not over in Georgia. Emory University Assistant Professor of Political Science Audra Gillespie explains why the attacks by Kelly Loeffler’s campaign are pernicious.
The future of the Senate will be decided by two run-off elections taking place in Georgia on January 5th. We look at how the faith of Rev. Warnock has come under attack and how clergy from around the country are fighting back.
We meet the Rev Ryan Ellers, the founder of the New Moral Majority, and learn how he decided to start a faith-based political action committee and what they hope to achieve in the coming years.
To Rev. Dr. David Key the level of manipulation and attacks on the prophetic tradition of the black church go too far. Now he’s speaking out and he’s not alone.
This week we feature selections from the December 8, 2019 Sounds of Faith concert at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
We hear music from Cantor Arianne Brown, Afro Blue, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the thoughts of Dr. Peter Manseau, Dr. Hussein Rashid, and Cantor Brown on religious music.
We hear selections by Orfeia and Cantor Arianne Brown from the Sounds of Faith concert at the National Museum of American History–along with an interview with Dr. Peter Manseau.
Sikh characters in children’s literature are the rarest of the rare. But Simran Jeet Singh, a New York-based writer, teacher, and advocate, set out to change that with his picture book “Fauja Singh Keeps Going”, about the centenarian marathoner.
One Journey, a nonprofit organization based in Virginia is promoting the creative endeavors of refugees by hosting a virtual holiday marketplace this year.
This pandemic holiday season, we look at ways consumer dollars can make a difference. From a children’s book about Sikh centenarian marathoner, Fauja Singh – to a virtual marketplace to foster connections with refugees.
Dr. Nathan Bjorge responds to Damien Echols’ version of magick and traces its history to the early 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley.
Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis Three, describes how 17 years on death row for a series of murders he did not commit led him to the practice of “magick.”
Damien Echols talks about his daily practice of magick and how it involves the summoning of angels and archangels, which he calls “putting on the armor of God.”
Shikhar Shah practices Jainism, which prohibits the consumption of meat, eggs, honey, and even root vegetables. The practice is derived out of a belief of non-violence.
Ravi Singh, a Sikh man living in Los Angeles, decided to take this tradition of langar on the road, to better serve the homeless and others most in need of a meal.
No matter your race, class, gender, or faith, we all have to eat. We explore what food says about who we are and what we believe.
We discuss arguably the biggest feast in America, Thanksgiving, and how it went from a regional day of prayer and gratitude to the standardized, commercialized, civil holiday we celebrate today.
Volunteers across the country are “gleaning” -- the ancient practice of picking crops for the poor after the harvest is completed. Many belong to faith-based organizations.
This Thanksgiving week we look at faith-based responses to hunger, and we have a conversation about the myths surrounding the First Thanksgiving.
One in six Americans will be hungry this Thanksgiving. What can people of faith contribute to a solution?
Post-election analysis with Robert P. Jones, a new YA book explores food, family, and interfaith friendship, and we honor the life of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
This week our 2020 post-election analysis begins with Robert P. Jones from the Public Religion Research Institute.
An influential thought leader in the Jewish and interfaith worlds, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was a public scholar, religious leader, and prolific communicator. In this segment, we revisit an excerpt from his conversation on Interfaith Voices from 2015.
Stephane Wrembel explains how he moved from Catholicism to a more expansive spirituality through music, which he shares with us. And we check in with Interfaith Voices founding host Maureen Fiedler.
As more Americans identify as not religious, secularism is still, in many quarters, a dirty word. Jacques Berlinerblau traces our changing attitudes towards secularism from its heyday in the mid-20th century to its current reputation as an enemy of religion.
We continue our discussion with Jacques Berlinerblau. On the eve of the 2020 election, Berlinerblau looks at what American secularism may be in for in a Biden-Harris administration or a second Trump Administration.
Professor Jacques Berlinerblau explains the U.S. brand of secularism and why so many people seem to fear or hate it. And with tensions high after the election, we return to Interfaith Voices founding host Maureen Fiedler’s discussion with jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel who describes how music nourishes his spirit.
To understand the strategies used by activists we turn to the numbers. Dr. Ryan Burge from Eastern Illinois University is a professor of political science and a pastor who researches political trends.
In an election like no other, we look at the appeals to values voters across the political spectrum.
With limited organizing opportunities, advocacy groups and faith-based political organizations use social media advertising and digital rallies to reach faithful voters.
It would be hard to envision former CIA Director John Brennan meditating in a Buddhist temple, after all the Irish-Catholic who served six presidents is the first to acknowledge he has a hot-temper. But he did. - And he has much to say regarding the current administration.
In this conversation with religious studies professor Matthew Schmalz, we learn how the charismatic movement first arrived in the United States, and how it catalyzed the formation of “intentional” communities like the People of Praise in Indiana - an organization that once listed Barrett as an active member.
We take a closer look at the Pentecostal movement inside Catholicism and the nation’s former top spy opens up about his spiritual journey.
America’s founding documents proclaim religious equality, but Khyati Joshi, a professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University, argues in her new book that white Christian privilege is ubiquitous.
From the fringes of the dark web to Christian influencers on Instagram - why are some followers of QAnon motivated to run for office while others are stockpiling weapons and ammunition preparing to fight the Deep State?
The cosmic war between good and evil, a hero in the White House, and the threat of election day violence -- why we cannot ignore the spread of the conspiracy network QAnon.
A growing number of Christians are dealing with QAnon and struggling to understand what it is and why so many were falling under its sway.
Katherine Franke wrote an amicus brief in support of Scott Warren. She offers context on religious freedom as it applies to aiding migrants at the US border.
What happens when the religious mandate to help those in need clashes with the government's interpretation of the law? Scott Warren faced decades in prison for following his conscience and aiding migrants in the Arizona desert.
When migrants fleeing violence turn to dangerous crossings at the US southern border they risk injury, dehydration, and death. Volunteers dropping off water and food have become targets of Customs and Border Patrol.
We continue Scott Warren's story and get an update from producer Jude Joffe-Block on how the pandemic and current closings of ports of entry, have led to an increase in migrant crossings through the treacherous borderlands.
Rev. Lynn Casteel Harper, a minister of older adults at The Riverside Church in New York City, discusses her book “On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia and What it Means to Disappear,” a call for communities of faith to rethink the value of people coping with memory loss.
We look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s attempts to build relationships with faith communities to overcome mistrust and suspicion.
Damien Echols talks about his daily practice of magick and how it involves the summoning of angels and archangels, which he calls “putting on the armor of God.”
Dr. Nathan Bjorge responds to Damien Echols’ version of magick and traces its history to the early 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley.
Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis Three, describes how 17 years on death row for a series of murders he did not commit led him to the practice of “magick.”
The story of how a Christian preacher became a social justice activist and is calling for a revolution of values in our nation’s priorities.
We talk with documentary filmmaker Martin Doblmeier about his latest film, Revolution of the Heart about Dorothy Day – social activist and founder of the Catholic Workers Movement.
America’s founding documents proclaim religious equality, but Khyati Joshi, a professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University, argues in her new book that white Christian privilege is ubiquitous.
Reverend Sandhya Rani Jha a peace activist reflects on how her work with people of different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds informed her devotionals and how listening more closely across boundaries can bring about peace, justice, and a deeper relationship with God.
Aysha Khan national reporter for the Religion News Service shares her insights on American Muslim science women fiction writers, election challenges, and the silver linings of worshipping remotely.
Rev. Lynn Casteel Harper, a minister of older adults at The Riverside Church in New York City, discusses her book “On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia and What it Means to Disappear,” a call for communities of faith to rethink the value of people coping with memory loss.
The national conversation on racism has shifted. Americans are participating in a reckoning with the legacy of slavery. This week’s episode features a conversation with Black Christian leader, activist, and historian Jemar Tisby.
This week's rebroadcast is part of our 'Chaplains' series. We follow a Zen Buddhist monk and see how mindfulness nourishes patients and doctors.
Koshin Paley Ellison is one of a small but growing number of chaplains in the United States who are Buddhists. In fact, Koshin is a Zen Buddhist monk. He works in hospice.
We speak to a palliative care physician and a Buddhist chaplain about contemplative care-- a mindful approach to the patient-caregiver relationship.
Kate Braestrup is an unusual chaplain. She ministers to game wardens- people who come to the aid of hunters, fishers, and hikers who've had mishaps in the wilderness.
Shagufta Ahmed, who spearheads interfaith outreach for the U.S. Census, Bureau inherited her passion for the census from her immigrant father.
We look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s attempts to build relationships with faith communities to overcome mistrust and suspicion.
Rev. Norma Gann. shares how she found clarity and comfort as a Two-Spirit person in the traditional belief of her Cherokee ancestors. Then we explore the effect of the recent Supreme Court decision on LGBTQ rights.
We hear the reactions to the Supreme Court's recent ruling and it's effects on LGBTQ rights. Then we explore changing attitudes among religious Americans.
Rev. Norma Gann shares the story of how she found clarity and comfort in her Two-Spirit identity and traditional belief system of her Cherokee ancestors.
A 120-year-old anthem is enjoying a new life in Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country. Producer Kimberly Winston looks at the history of the song.
Tulsa’s historic Greenwood neighborhood prepares to celebrate Juneteenth in the shadow of a Trump rally, forgiveness in the Black Christian experience, and an old song finding new life in the time of Black Lives Matter.
In honor of this year's Juneteenth observance, we revisit a 2015 segment about the slaying of nine African American members of the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.
When President Trump announced the first indoor reelection rally would be on Juneteenth in Tulsa, there was a swift backlash.
We take a closer look at how a photo-op at a church draws both condemnation and celebration and how faithful love feasts are returning in the time of COVID.
A centuries-old Christian tradition with roots in the early church is enjoying a revival among United Methodists with churches shuttered during the pandemic.
Andrew Whitehead, a religion sociologist from Clemson University, talks about Christian nationalism. Why is it so embedded in some people’s idea of the United States?
Host Amber Khan takes to the streets to talk to clergy about the protest s following the homicide of George Floyd and the message Trump’s actions in its wake.
We start a special series looking at how people of faith from across traditions are confronting racism. We begin in Minnesota's Twin Cities, where the senseless death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police reignited the fight for justice.
In a preview for the rest of our series, we asked some scholars from a variety of different faith traditions: Is it okay to be trans in the eyes of God? But as we'll learn, the answer is far from simple.
In our special series, we hear the personal stories of transgender people of faith and where they are finding spiritual homes among America's religious traditions.
In the past decade, public opinion on LGBT issues, like same-sex marriage, has changed drastically. But the growing acceptance of the L, the G, and the B has not necessarily extended to the T -- transgender people.
Toni Newman grew up in a strict, southern Christian household. When Toni came to realize she was really a transgender woman, she says "Not only did I lose my natural family, my church family, I lost my gay family."
Ali Noorani, talks about a new campaign targeting a constituency that has opposed immigration policies and reforms: evangelical Christians.
Dina Kesbeh and Malika Bilal – of The Take podcast – talk to Muslims about observing the month of fasting during a quarantine.
National religion reporter Jack Jenkins seeks to confirm what many have wondered: is there a religious left?
We explore the religious left, and fostering understanding about immigrants. Then we reflect on celebrating Ramadan under quarantine.
We look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s attempts to build relationships with faith communities to overcome mistrust and suspicion.
Shagufta Ahmed, who spearheads interfaith outreach for the U.S. Census, Bureau inherited her passion for the census from her immigrant father.
Demographer William Frey talks about the importance of an accurate census count and how attempts to insert a citizenship question threatens that accuracy.
Folksinger Carrie Newcomer and best-selling author Parker Palmer explain their project to help people become their better selves.
The leader of a Texas-based qawwali group calls its music, which is rooted i n Sufi poetry, "South Asian gospel."
How can music bring out our better selves? How can music forge connections between people in the same room -- and across worlds? Originally aired on July 18, 2019.
We talk to documentary filmmaker Martin Doblmeier about his latest film, Revolution of the Heart about Dorothy Day – social activist and founder of the Catholic Workers Movement.
We explore the growing practice of a Japanese inspired forest “bathing” and how this modern tradition has roots in ancient Shinto rituals.
A Catholic woman from Mississippi travels to Hungary to find the story of family killed in the Holocaust.
In honor of Yom Hashoah, the Day of Remembrance for Holocaust victims, we talk to people who place remembering those we often overlook at the center of their work.
How Pope Francis’s call for honoring forgotten laborers with a universal basic wage fits into Catholic social justice history.
The children of Holocaust survivors describe how their parents’ trauma became their own.
Four Jewish thinkers describe the lessons they draw from this year’s Passover in a time of real plague.
Two religion professionals on New York’s coronavirus front lines discuss self-care strategies for spiritual responders.
Religious leaders and practitioners discuss how the coronavirus pandemic affects them on the front lines and behind the scenes.
A Baptist minister describes social distancing as both a moral obligation and a spiritual practice.
In this third week of social distancing more people are turning to yoga, and, meditation. We talk with meditation and yoga teacher Ashely Litecky Elenbaas.
On this week’s show, we explore self-discovery and renewal through yoga, one author’s rediscovery of her family’s Kabbalistic heritage, and a new interpretation of the Resurrection.
When Sigal Samuel sees her grandmother meticulously peeling the egg on the Seder plate, she begins a journey that reveals her family’s Kabalhistic heritage.
Easter images and messages center on the resurrection story of Jesus. John Dominic Crossan asks, is it the right one?
From poetry to spiritual practices, people of faith and goodwill are turning to new ways of connecting with their spiritual communities.
Montgomery County, Maryland has made representatives from two dozen local faith groups an integral part of its crisis response program.
Los Angeles’ First United Methodist is a church without walls. Rev. Mandy Sloan McDow describes how they protect the most vulnerable in their community.
David Robinson offers lessons and some cautionary tales for those on frontlines working to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
This week we learn how faith leaders and government officials learned to work together during an Ebola outbreak. Then we see what houses of worship are doing to protect their congregations.
Are the underlying assumptions that religious tension is to blame for recent violence in India the whole story? Not according to scholar Ayesha Jalal. She traces the roots of division to British colonial rule.
When Gerry and Adam Krell agreed to make a documentary about the Sikh faith, both were quick to acknowledge how little they knew. It was that lack of knowledge they credit with helping them tell the story.
Most Americans know little about Sikhism and virtually nothing about its founder – Guru Nanak Dev Ji. A new documentary film seeks to change that.
Most Americans know little about Sikhism, and virtually nothing about its founder – Guru Nanak Dev Ji. A new documentary film seeks to change that.
From George Washington to Donald Trump, we explore the often surprising religious history of the presidency, and the Constitution's promise of religious freedom.
The story of how a Christian preacher became a social justice activist and is calling for a revolution of values in our nation’s priorities.
We explore Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s political doctrine that serves both cultural and economic ambitions. Then, we meet an American Uighur activist making the case for Uighur human rights.
We talk to Uighur Americans working to free three million Uighur and other ethnic minorities being held in secret prisons by the government of the Peoples Republic of China.
We explore Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s political doctrine that serves both cultural and economic ambitions. Then, we meet an American Uighur activist making the case for Uighur human rights.
We meet a reporter who launched a start-up using an online platform to challenge the assumption that folks are not interested in religion.
In a polarized nation, we take a closer look at the intersection of football, pastoral care and the ways we come together.
We meet a reporter who launched a start-up using an online platform to challenge the assumption that folks are not interested in religion.
When a religious studies professor discovered a way to bring his academic scholarship to his passion for sports -- he found a niche.
As the San Francisco 49ers prepare to meet the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami for the Super Bowl LIV we talk to Team Pastor Earl Smith.
This week new research from the Pew Center for Religion revealed the ignorance of Americans regarding the Holocaust. Listen as we remember and survive.
Take a moment to think of the most famous women of the civil rights movement. Coming up short? Our guest says the African-American experience has been “flattened” by history.
Many American Christians are remembered as anti-racist activists and abolitionists. But American Christianity as an institution has done much to buttress racism… even before the country was founded.
As we commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we learn about the role American religion has played in both reinforcing and combating racism.