Beliefs

This week on Beliefs, we return to a conversation with one of our favorite guests, scholar and writer Susan Jacoby. Secularism and atheism finds a full-throated defense in this episode. Jacoby takes us on a journey of where we were just one year ago: presidential politics on the rise, the rise of secularism, no pandemic in sight, and a world less complicated. Jacoby brings together the threads of various moments in history to identify her view that religion and politics have never comfortably coexisted.  

From Our Archives:  We revisit a conversation from our first season with the Rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim. She describes the clarity she feels from what she calls the unfinished business of America. Reparations for slavery, the rights of women to control their bodies, and opposition to xenophobic oppression; all a part of the central moral character Rabbi Timoner feels is her purpose. As a rabbi, as a Jew, and as a social justice activist.  

Speaker, Pastor and Scholar Dr. Christopher A. House resigned from Liberty University recently in protest of President Jerry Falwell Jr’s deleted tweet featuring both blackface and KKK characters. To speak to us about the moment when belief becomes action, Beliefs producer Jay Woodward asked Dr. House for a conversation.    

Writer and historian Jemar Tisby, Pastor Tyler Burns of New Dimensions Christian Center in Pensacola, Florida co-host the podcast Pass The Mic for their organization The Witness - A Black Christian Collective.  We gratefully thank Religion News Service reporter Adelle Banks for leading the conversation.   

  The steady call to reopen churches –amplified by Presidential encouragement- is thrilling to some and alarming others. How do we return to worship when the act of group singing, chanting, and praying can be so dangerous?  How can churches be told to cease their primary function?  Beliefs producer Jay Woodward spoke with RNS opinion columnist Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, and RNS Editor-In Chief Bob Smietana to assess the tensions facing churches across the country. 

A ministry of song and service, with devotion to the most invisible among us.   The husband and wife singer-songwriting team of Al and Andi Tauber, Urban Mennonites:  They seek and value the simple life – in much the same way as their Amish and Quaker spiritual cousins, but their calling returns them to urban spaces; to pressing societal concerns.  This episode of Beliefs was produced by Monique Parsons in collaboration  with KALW's The Spiritual Edge, the University of California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, and Religion News Service. 

We all have Beliefs on where our soul goes upon death.  What remains is just that – remains.  How do we honor the vessel that held the person we used to know? From earth to water, and even to the sky, delivering the body back to dust contains deep ritual for many faith traditions.   Bill Baker speaks with Hamilton College Professor S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate  to find guidance on the comfort of the ritual of passing. 

To understand who we are,  and what our numbers signify, we turn to the math, to the staticians.  Some among us combine psychology, algebra, opinion, and faith to read the rivers of American opinion.    Greg Smith is associate director of research at Pew Research Center.  He helps to coordinate the Center’s domestic polling on religion.  As the world gets stranger, we look for answers - from the divine, and from the numbers...  

For decades, the political influence of faith has been seen in the might and the dominance of the Religious Right.   A new book from Religion News Service political correspondent Jack Jenkins called American Prophets, The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country charts the so-called Religious Left.   Beliefs producer Jay Woodward and I spoke with Jack about his new book and the emergence of a powerful new political identity. 

Houses of worship across the world are adapting to the challenges of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Keeping congregants feeling tied to their faith, themselves, and one another has been a challenge felt by all. But what if faith isn't at the center of the congregation? How are humanist, atheist and agnostic spiritual communities handling the isolation caused by the pandemic?    James Croft, a clergyman at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, spoke with Beliefs producer Jay Woodward this week to share insight on how his congregation has handled the past several weeks.

On Feb. 3, 1943, the U.S.A.T. Dorchester  - carrying 902 service men, merchant seamen and civilian workers was sunk in the cold Atlantic.  Among those lost were four Army chaplains whose rescue efforts became the foundation of post-war interfaith activism.     Our guest today is Eboo Patel,  Founder and President of the Interfaith Youth Corps. He sees the beginnings of a new interfaith understanding coming with the trauma and international struggle against the novel coronavirus.     Religion News Service Editor-In-Chief Bob Smietana spoke with Eboo Patel for Beliefs.

Last episode we spoke to Father James Martin to ask simple questions about God, suffering, and the pandemic. His episode is the anchor of a daisy chain of conversations taking us around the world – faith to faith, place to place.   Father Martin nominated our next guest, Sister Norma Pimintel, the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. Her position servicing immigrants and refugees in the borderlands gives her unique perspective. If the pandemic can come for anyone from Prime Ministers to Louisiana Parishioners... what will we learn about human equality in the face of such a threat? Sister Pimintel spoke to Beliefs Producer Jay Woodward from her office in Texas.  This episode is part of a series of interviews speaking to the moral, ethical and spiritual takeaways from the global pandemic experience. 

It’s a personal note from me this week. Not usually appropriate for news the way I prefer it, but these are very different times. My friend Father James Martin wrote a short piece that ran in the New York Times called, ‘Where Is God In A Pandemic’. Like so many other people, I wanted to know what this man – whom I admire – would say to me, to us, during a moment of universal human suffering. We spoke, as everyone must these days, on the phone.    

Asking how ethics occur naturally, or emerge through faith takes us to speak to Professor Christine Firer Hinze.  Hinze is a professor of Christian Ethics at Fordham University and the director of the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies.  

     This week's guest, Martin Doblmeier, is a documentary filmmaker specializing in content touching on faith, religion, and spirituality. He joined me for a discussion on his recent PBS film: "Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story”.       'Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story' traces Dorothy Day's journey from a young communist journalist, to a Catholic convert, to the co-founder of The Catholic Worker newspaper and the first "houses of hospitality," which sheltered New York City's homeless during the Great Depression.

Bishop John Michael Botean is the head of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio. Botean's diocese, which permits priests to marry, is the only one of its kind outside of Romania. This week on Beliefs, host Bill Baker interviews Botean at his cathedral in Ohio.

Jana Riess is a senior commentator and author of the popular column, Flunking Sainthood for Religion News Service. Sharing her personal experience with writing critical commentary on an aspect of her Church’s teachings, Riess stumbled into a strong backlash and an opportunity to re-think her opinion. Then she did what sometimes seems unthinkable in the public sphere – she apologized and reconsidered.  Jana Riess spoke with Beliefs producer Jay Woodward to sort through the experience. 

Spiritual advisor to President Trump Paula White was recently filmed in her church giving a sermon that employed idiosyncratic and fiery rhetoric. What is the new language of spiritual warfare? Where is it coming from and where is it taking us?  Andre Gagne is Associate Professor in the Theological Studies Department of Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. His work focuses on the Christian right, charismatic Dominionism, fundamentalism, religious violence and the interpretation of the Bible.  This week on Beliefs, Gagne discusses spiritual warfare rhetoric through the lens of Paula White's recent sermons.  

Stephen Johnston has narrated and sold more translations of the Bible than any other person in history. He graduated from college with a BA in Radio and Television and planned to become a news announcer. In 1976 he was approached about narrating the New Testament on cassette. The rest is scripture. He has international reputation as a narrator; receiving many awards including an Emmy, the New York Film Critics Award, the National Silver Microphone Award and the Army Commendation Award. Stephen joins Beliefs from his home in California.

The Rev. Mary Bredlau officiates 350 to 500 funerals a year. For Bredlau, an Episcopal priest and former Roman Catholic nun, there’s nothing more important than this painful ministry. Bredlau is a thanatologist, certified by the Association of Death Education and Counseling. Beliefs producer Jay Woodward sat down with her in her adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Author and minister Rebekah Simon-Peter presents a bold vision for houses of worship seeking to embody the heroic spirit of Jesus. Her ambitious model for deepening the spiritual engagement of entire congregations has produced her recent book, ‘Dream Like Jesus’. Her message is one of big, bold visions of empowerment, strength and dynamic worship. I spoke with Reverend Simon-Peter in Atlanta to explore her roadmap for enthusiastic and heartfelt engagement with faith.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival in America of Paramahansa Yogananda – widely considered to be the father of yoga in the West. Yogananda devoted his life to traveling and speaking across America, bringing a message of spirituality and unity between religions. He introduced millions to the practice of meditation and Kriya Yoga. His influence was vast. His book, Autobiography of a Yogi was deeply influential in the lives of figures from George Harrison to Elvis Presley. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers arranged for every attendee at his funeral to receive a copy – a book he is said to have read every year.   To learn more about Paramahansa Yogananda, Beliefs producer Jay Woodward went to the Self Realization Fellowship International Headquarters on top of Mount Washington overlooking downtown Los Angeles.  Our guests were Sister Draupadi, Brother Prafullananda, Brother Bhumananda, and Brahmachari Andy of the Self-Realization Fellowship. 

Around 9am on January 27th, 1945, the Red Army liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in south-western Poland.  Over 1 million Jews and tens of thousands of others were killed at this sprawling complex of 48 concentration and extermination camps.   The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust has mounted a groundbreaking exhibition  - bringing together more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs from around the world.   Beliefs Producer Jay Woodward visited the exhibit - “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away” and spoke with Museum president Jack Kliger.  

India: a nation of 1.3 billion souls in an area a third the size of America. An ancient civilization with ancient traditions, deities, and beliefs. Often, amid the Western media political stories of Hindu nationalism and anti-Muslim discrimination in India, a background picture of Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bias lurks. Many Hindu-Americans are caught between narratives, feeling themselves misunderstood or poorly depicted in these stories. To understand this dynamic, Beliefs producer Jay Woodward talked with Hindu-American scholar, activist and writer Indu Viswanathan. Viswanathan is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College. Her research focuses on the transnational consciousness of second-generation Indian-American teachers.indu-Americans are caught between narratives – both emotionally fraught. To understand this dynamic from absolute square one, Beliefs producer Jay Woodward talked with second generation Hindu-American scholar-activist and writer, Indu Viswanathan. She is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College. Her research focuses on the transnational consciousness of second-generation Indian-American teachers.

Observations on religion and faith on an international stage. Finding the ways that religion has served people through history, but also finding ways that religion makes itself irrelevant. That's what our guest is exploring this week. Since retiring from a career in international financial consulting based in New York City, Robert Henrey has devoted time to writing and travel in Asia and the Near East, as well as to community involvement. An ordained Catholic deacon, he served over a decade as a hospital chaplain. More recently he has embarked on a series of lectures sharing his experiences and reflections with community groups on a number of his lifelong interests. These include the richly paradoxical histories of the major religious traditions and the impact of different languages on culture. His most recent book Bloodshot Mountain published in the UK recounts the profound social and economic impact on early colonial Latin America of the discovery in the remote Andes of the world’s richest silver mine. He is currently working on a writing project involving early linguists who set out to explore and find common ground with faraway cultures.   He is a graduate of Oxford University where he studied language, history and literature.

The practice of circumcision is as ancient as Abraham himself. Established as Covenant between God and Abraham, it is mandatory for Jews, almost universally practiced by Muslims, and adopted as common practice in many other communities, both religious and secular. In the Jewish tradition, circumcisions are performed by a Mohel. To discuss the ritual and significance of circumcision, Beliefs producer Jay Woodward spoke with Dr. Leslie Solomon. In addition to being an Emergency Room doctor, he is both a rabbi and mohel. This interview was recorded on New Year’s Eve of 2019.

Nativity Church in Bethlehem in the West Bank is the oldest Christian Church in the world and believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. For a glimpse into the Holy Land at Christmas, Bill Baker speaks with Greek Orthodox Priest, Father Issa Thaljieh, of Nativity Church to get the history and feel of this famous, sacred ground.

On Beliefs we like to share the work of others who work with Religion News Service and other organizations to educate and report on religion, ethics, and belief. One such person is Michael O’Loughlin who joins us from Chicago. Michael is the journalist behind the the new Podcast miniseries from America media, ‘Plague: untold stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church.’

We are entering the holiday season, and while that means many different things to many different people, there is one universal commonality – food! Ritual and food and worship are deeply intertwined and make up a critical part of the story of faith, worship, and observance. Beliefs producer Jay Woodward speaks with food anthropologist and archaeologist Professor Maureen Costura of Culinary Institute of America.

This November marks the 550th birthday of the founder of Sikhism: Guru Nanak.  T   he belief system he developed is based on oneness, open-hearted love, and justice. To reflect on the birth of this remarkable prophet, Beliefs sits with Simran Jeet Singh  – author, scholar, Religion News Service contributor and Senior Fellow at the Sikh Coalition.   

Tom Junod was assigned to write a profile for Esquire magazine on beloved kids television icon Fred Rogers, and the two became close friends. That friendship became the subject of a movie about the remarkable inner journey Tom made as a result of this unexpected pairing. The film, ‘A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood’ starring Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys opens in theaters this week.  

Our guest this week is Austen Ivereigh, here to discuss his second book on Pope Francis, called Wounded Shepherd, Pope Francis and His Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church.   Struggling with both broad respect and popularity, but also deep institutional suspicion, Pope Francis enjoys adoration and resistance in equal measure. Ivereigh’s book distills the contradictions and successes of Francis’ pontificate. 

Much has been made of the increasing number of people who don’t identify with an organized religion. Statistics behind millennial flight from church and religion is also a big topic in the news. But what’s behind these numbers? To explore some of the less measurable influences – Religion News Reporter Emily McFarlan Miller joins Beliefs producer Jay Woodward.

Our guests this week are Naz Georgas, Executive Director of Cordoba House, and Rabbi Josh Stanton of East End Temple in New York. These two faith leaders have forged a unique bond and faith partnership of shared values, convictions, and commitment to empathetic compassion.   Beliefs producer Jay Woodward met with them at East End Temple in Manhattan. 

By all accounts, the trends are clear. Religion is in decline in modern American society. The rise in the number of people who declare themselves as unaffiliated to a religious community, or self-identify as belonging to no religion at all, is a trend that is reinforced with every passing poll. Here to discuss the length and breadth of Belief in America is Alan Cooperman, Director of Religion Research at Pew Research Center. Alan recently appeared at a symposium at Fordham University’s Center On Religion And Culture.

How can one know a pope? Even now, in an age when every word spoken is recorded, every homily delivered archived, and every act of penitence or fury witnessed, it’s still possible to find we know nothing about Pope Francis.     Pope Francis guides the practice, dreams, and consciences of over XXX million Catholics worldwide. Our guest, Father Patrick Ryan S.J., has written the foreword to the book: “In Your Eyes I See My Words” official homilies of Jorge (Hoar-Hay) Bergoglio, Pope Francis from his days in Buenos Aires. He joins me to discuss the underpinnings of the man who would become Francis.

Our guest is a philosopher, professor, and author James K.A. Smith.  On the front line of the human hunger for meaning. Liberty and freedom are woven into a modern story of the human experience. But is liberty a good ingredient for happiness? Our guest is a philosopher, professor, and author of the recently published’ “On The Road with Saint Augustine: A Real World Spirituality for Restless Hearts”  James K. A. Smith spoke to me about emerging tensions in a modern age before a talk at Fordham University's Center for Religion and Culture.  

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest country in sub-saharan Africa. The area has struggled with outbreaks of both ebola and measles, and the province of Kivu has seen broad conflict and the UN’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission that's been in operation since 2010.  When government and social systems fail, it's often the church that steps in to save the people. This is an example in one of the world's poorest places.  Host Bill Baker met Bishop Djomo in New York to learn about the role the Catholic Church plays in supporting the stability of Congo. 

Our guest this week serves in an unexpected ministry – volunteer chaplain at a reproductive health clinic. Scholar, activist, and Presbyterian minister Reverend Marvin Ellison is professor emeritus in Christian Ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary.  He has spent a career working for a more nuanced understanding of of the awesome power of human reproduction.   Beliefs producer Jay Woodward met with Rev. Ellison at his home in Portland, Maine. 

Tracking the path of religion through childhood, relationship, and parenting.      Naomi Schaefer Riley is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on issues regarding child welfare, as well as a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. She also writes about parenting, higher education, religion, philanthropy and culture.   Naomi and I met to look back across her work and research to explore the relationship between children, partners, and religion. 

Faith and Politics – Debate Prep with RNS National Reporter Jack Jenkins      The third round of Democratic party debates on September 12th shrinks the field of candidates down to ten. To break down how faith and religion is affecting the debates we’re speaking with RNS reporter Jack Jenkins, about what voters of faith are seeking in their candidates, and what candidates are trying to say to voters. 

A new national reporter, Alejandra Molina, is joining the newsroom at RNS. Molina will be reporting on Latinx religion in the U.S. Molina most recently served as Journalist in Residence at the University of Southern California and as Equitable Cities Fellow at Next City. In 2018, she was named one of the 15 most influential Latina journalists by Latino Journalists of California.  

Achieving Discomfort – An Interfaith Agenda of Change and Disruption    Our guest is interfaith activist Tahil Sharma. Tahil is an interfaith activist based in Los Angeles who was born to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother. He currently serves as one of three Interfaith Ministers in Residence for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and is a member of the NextGen Task Force for the Parliament of the World's Religions.   

A community in service of the value of every human and the profound significance of respect. Our guest is Mary McDougall, the Spiritual Life Coordinator for L’Arche Community in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. L’Arche is an intentional community that develops homes, programs, and support networks with people who have intellectual disabilities.  

Our guest is Adelle Banks, national reporter for Religion News Service. Her series of articles on the anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the historic settlement of Jamestown puts a religious lens on the abduction, enslavement, and struggle for civil rights of African-Americans over the last 400 years.  RNS reporter Adelle Banks joined Beliefs producer Jay Woodward from her home in Maryland. 

Rev. Angela Denker is a sportswriter - turned Lutheran pastor, writer, and speaker. She is a contributor to various publications, including Religion News Service, The Washington Post, and Sports Illustrated. Denker’s also the author of the forthcoming book,  “Red State Christians: Meet the Voters who elected Donald Trump” available August 6th from Fortress Press.   

  Susan Jacoby is an independent scholar specializing  in the history of reason, atheism, secularism, and religious liberty. Her best-known books include Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism and the New York Times best-seller, The Age of American Unreason in a Culture of Lies.   At turns passionate, ardent, funny, and defiant, Jacoby lives her truth and embodies the vibrance of her beliefs. 

In 2011 Chip Skowron was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit securities fraud.  It was a spectacular fall for a hugely successful hedge fund manager and medical doctor. As he prepared for prison, he found comfort in the Bible. Surrounded by supporters and skeptics, financiers and felons, Skowron has embraced a new way of living, and a late-blooming faith.  Skowron has embraced a new life, even as he misses the past. And it’s not the life of a Greenwich, Connecticut titan of capital he misses. He misses the simplicity and fellowship of life in prison. 

As we look back on our first six months of Beliefs, we’ve noticed some themes in the stories and topics we’re bringing you...We’ve covered origins and practices, abuses and pain, and hate speech and bigotry.  One bright theme we’ve seen is the enduring commitment in all religion to social justice and community. This week on Beliefs, we’re returning to three compelling moments that speak to the way religion asks us to help and protect each other.   Political activist and social justice advocate, Rabbi Rachel Timoner from Congregation Beth Elohim is our first guest on the inherent responsibility she feels toward social justice she feels as a rabbi and Jew.  Continuing our review of community and social justice is our conversation with the senior minister of the 350-year-old First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, speaking with guest host Karen Hayward about a Puritan approach to modern society.  Our last conversation is with a respected and thoughtful voice in the Catholic Church. Fr. James Martin is a Jesuit priest, scholar, author, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine “America.”  He has turned his attention to a social justice issue that has moved to the front of many faith’s consciousness in recent years. Methodist, Episcopalian, and Evangelical Covenant Churches – just to name a few recent examples - have wrestled with LGBTQ inclusion. Fr. Martin is the author of the book, “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.”   

A priest from Montana who became Archbishop of Seattle during the height of the Cold War, made his mark challenging our government's atomic and military policy and the Church's support for the poor and marginalized.  Raymond Hunthausen died last year after leaving his mark on our society and the Church he loved and served, which often didn't support him.  Scholar Frank Fromherz joined us from Portland, OR to discuss his new book, "A Disarming Spirit, The Life of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen" 

Independence Day gives us another opportunity to reflect on the ideological tug-of-war of religious freedom in America. The Declaration of Independence is our topic today. What can we make of the four references to god in the text? Should we listen?  Our guest is author and academic Ira Stoll. He's the author of the books - Samuel Adams: A Life, and JFK, Conservative. He's also the managing editor of Education Next - An education policy journal published by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.   Ira Stoll joined Beliefs producer Jay Woodward from his office in Boston.