The State Of Belief

Interfaith Alliance

Every week, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush hosts lively, funny and poignant conversations with inspiring religious and civic leaders; as well as artists and activists from across the country. Listeners get a potent mix of spiritual wisdom, political strategy, and hopeful commentary from national and local leaders who are rising up to meet this urgent moment in America. With the tagline: “Where Religion and Democracy Meet,” State of Belief is a celebration of our nation’s diversities and an invitation to join together to, in the words of the great James Baldwin, "achieve our country.” read less
Religion & SpiritualityReligion & Spirituality
Creating Change Through Film
Nov 18 2023
Creating Change Through Film
In today’s digital age, people find themselves immersed in a vast ocean of media. From scrolling through social media feeds to streaming videos and engaging with the 24-hour news cycle, the consumption of media has become an integral aspect of daily life. Imagine a world where the majority of the content consumed is designed to foster empathy, challenge hate, and promote inclusivity. Media, when wielded responsibly, has the potential to be a motivational force for social transformation. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we explore the power of responsible organizing through media to build inclusive societies free from hate. “A six-year-old Jewish boy placed a menorah in his window for Hanukkah. A brick was thrown through the window and it landed on his bed; and people knew that things were becoming more dangerous. What can we do? And they said, they can't possibly attack every Jewish home if we're all Jewish, so let's all put menorahs in our windows. And that year, 10,000 people put menorahs in their windows for Hanukkah. And the white supremacist organizing stopped.” - Patrice O'Neill, founder and co-director of Not in Our Town, a movement of people across the country working to build safe, inclusive communities. A filmmaker and CEO of the nonprofit strategic media company The Working Group, she works to galvanize community action against hate through film. Pardeep Singh Kaleka is the author of Gifts of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness After Hate. A tireless anti-hate and interfaith leader, he is the son of Satwant Singh Kaleka, the leader of the Oak Creek Gurdwara who was murdered, along with five others, at the Sikh temple in 2012. The tragedy of Oak Creek and its aftermath are examined in the 2013 Not in Our Town documentary Waking in Oak Creek, which is just one of the projects projects Patrice and Pardeep discuss with Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, host of The State of Belief, this week. NIOT films are available for free viewing on their website, along with educational materials for classroom and congregational use. “This is really the one movement we should have been dealing with from the beginning of the beginnings, because religion is the movement that touches all the movements.” - Mario Cader-Frech, a pioneering social impact media strategist who has worked for over 20 years in roles including senior vice president of public affairs and social responsibility at Viacom International. Mario is now a student at Harvard Divinity School and a media and entertainment fellow at Harvard Religion and Public Life, where he developed an organization dedicated to bringing religious literacy to Hollywood called DeeperDive.org.
Diwali with Sushma Dwivedi; Sharon Salzberg on Openness and Freedom
Nov 11 2023
Diwali with Sushma Dwivedi; Sharon Salzberg on Openness and Freedom
There are so many ways to lean into living authentically and celebrating the moments that bring us the most joy, especially in times when our world seems dark. And that can provide the resilience we all need to handle the dark part. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush celebrates Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, with Purple Pundit Project founder Sushma Dwivedi. And Sharon Salzberg is back with two new books illuminating the meditation practice and wisdom that she has spent three decades promoting and teaching. “If you trace Diwali back to its roots, it is often referred to as the Hindu festival of lights. And the light factor has both physical connotation in terms of lighting candles, as well as the more spiritual factor of a victory of light over darkness, good over evil.” - Sushma Dwivedi. Sushma is a Hindu pundit and a marriage equality pioneer. She is also the President of Ghetto Gastro, a culinary collective with a racial and social justice lens. Sushma and Paul talk Diwali, community-building, and building a life that reflects one’s deepest values. “I think we live in a time, in general, where there's a real degradation of an understanding of love. I've often wrestled with the saying of the Buddha, which was echoed, of course, in slightly different language formed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When the Buddha said: ‘Hatred will never cease by hatred. Hatred will only cease by love. This is an eternal law.’ It's wrestling! You come to some situation, you think here? Here, too?” - Sharon Salzberg. A central figure in meditation and a New York Times bestselling author who brings Buddhist wisdom to contemporary challenges, Sharon co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and is the author of numerous important books, most recently Real Life: The Journey From Isolation to Openness and Freedom and Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life. Sharon is back with us to talk about how her practice is helping her through the threats of the moment we live in, as well as the teachings that have sustained her through the decades. To expand our reach, State of Belief  is now being distributed via the Religion News Service family of podcasts. Be sure to subscribe to the next generation of State of Belief today via Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or at http://www.stateofbelief.com/newpodcast.
American Values Survey with Robert P. Jones; Diane Winston and Reagan’s Evangelical Vision
Nov 5 2023
American Values Survey with Robert P. Jones; Diane Winston and Reagan’s Evangelical Vision
The last several decades have seen the parallel rise of both evangelicalism and white nationalism in our mainstream media and politics. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush looks at disturbing trends revealed in the annual Public Religion Research Institute American Values Survey, and delves into ways the religious right committed to reelect Ronald Reagan, presaging Donald Trump’s appeal to white evangelical Christians - right down to the Make America Great Again slogan. “This is a question I never thought I'd really write as a social scientist, but here's the question that we asked people, do they agree or disagree: ‘The government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex-trafficking operation.’” - Dr. Robert P. Jones, President and Founder of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of the New York Times best-selling book The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future. PRRI recently released its 2023 American Values Survey, examining the intersection of religion, culture, and politics. “Reagan’s biggest success, or one of his biggest successes, was mainstreaming this evangelical vision to the larger public. Now, when he said Shining City on a Hill, that meant one thing to religious conservatives. To many secular people, it was a harmless phrase. And in that way, the media helped circulate the message.” – Dr. Diane Winston, Associate Professor of Journalism and the Knight Chair of Media and Religion at the University of Southern California, and author of Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision. The book examines how religion and media affect how we think about our leaders and ourselves as individuals and as citizens of the United States. To expand our reach, State of Belief  is now being distributed via the Religion News Service family of podcasts. Be sure to subscribe to the next generation of State of Belief today via Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or at  http://www.stateofbelief.com/newpodcast.
The Faith Fight Against Belief Bans
Oct 29 2023
The Faith Fight Against Belief Bans
Over the past few years, a coordinated national censorship campaign – with deep ties to the Christian nationalist movement – is targeting books about and awareness of minority faiths and ethnicities, LGBTQ+ identity, racism, and history. Thankfully, people of faith and conscience are organizing in their communities and taking a stand for our freedom to read. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we’re bringing you highlights from our recent Capitol Hill briefing titled, Banned Beliefs: How People of Diverse Faiths are Fighting to Protect Our Public Schools and Libraries, featuring honorary host Rep. Jamie Raskin and diverse advocates for free speech. The event was moderated by The State of Belief host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. “I think that we need more politicians reading books, and fewer politicians banning books. The censorship of books, censorship of curricula, censorship of teachers, censorship of ideas and free speech and free discourse are always an exercise of power. They're nothing that leads to the moral or spiritual improvement of society.” - Rep. Jamie Raskin. Congressman Raskin, a former professor of constitutional law, represents Maryland's 8th Congressional District. “We cannot have freedom of religion without freedom of speech. We cannot have freedom of religion without defending the right to read.” - Tracie D. Hall, former executive director of the American Library Association. With a background ranging from librarian to working at the Joyce Foundation and with the City of Chicago, Tracie has seen the power of words, literacy, and books from many angles, and is deeply concerned about how book bans threaten both free speech, and freedom of religion. “There's a direct correlation between allowing individuals, especially young kids, to have the knowledge, to have access to the knowledge and the different perspectives, to shape our narrative and to really understand who communities are, who and how they came into this country, how we live, how we contribute to society, and to, again, fight that ignorance and bring down some of these statistics that we're seeing.” - Anisha Singh, executive director of the Sikh Coalition. Anisha is a powerhouse leader, organizer, and activist who has led impactful campaigns at the Center for American Progress and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.  “Censorship is about the status quo. It's about free expression. It's about what is acceptable and what is not. Who dictates the narrative? Who controls what the status quo is? And right now, that status quo is one that is very restricted, that is keeping many people marginalized because of identity, because of faith, because of these inherent characteristics that we have as humans that certain people just simply disagree with.” - Cameron Samuels, executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT). A student activist from Texas, Cameron has been at the forefront of the youth movement to combat book bans. To expand our reach, State of Belief  is now being distributed via the Religion News Service family of podcasts. Be sure to subscribe to the next generation of State of Belief today via Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or at http://www.stateofbelief.com/newpodcast. photo: Ralph Alswang
Unharden Our Hearts: Religious Leaders on the Violence In the Middle East
Oct 21 2023
Unharden Our Hearts: Religious Leaders on the Violence In the Middle East
In the days since the outbreak of brutal violence in Israel and Gaza, communities across the country and around the world have been drawn into conflict, grief, and uncertainty. Even before the violence started, religiously-motivated hate crimes in America had spiked, reaching their highest levels since 2001 – and we’re seeing how current events in the Middle East have already contributed to a concerning rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia here at home. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush checks in with three leaders with important insight into how we can forge alliances across differences and root out hate.   “There's a real risk in this kind of pain, which is that we harden our hearts, just like Pharaoh in Egypt. And we harden our hearts to the suffering of the other people on the other side of this border. And no matter what we believe in terms of politics, I don't want to harden my heart to the suffering of others." - Rabbi Dr. Jay Michelson, commentator for CNN and a columnist for Rolling Stone. Jay is a meditation teacher and the author of ten books, including The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path, and is affiliated professor at Chicago Theological Seminary.   “It's a collective human failing that we can have so many people murdered and in such precarious situations. It's not a moment to be polarized. That's deeply painful for me, just from my own religious ethics. Human life is human life; human dignity is human dignity. It's not dependent on somebody's ethnicity or creed.” - Dr. Celene Ibrahim, religious studies scholar with a focus on Islamic intellectual history and applied ethics. Celene is a member of the advisory council at the Miller Center for Interreligious Leadership at Hebrew College, and an affiliate faculty member at the Boston Islamic Seminary.   “Everyone on both sides of this conflict is human. Now, that does not mean that we don't have to restrain and condemn really bad human behavior; but it's human behavior, and that these are human beings that are being killed and maimed and tortured, and who suffered. And in my tradition, human beings are made in the image of God, full stop.” - Rev. Fred Davie, strategic advisor at Union Seminary and former member of the Obama administration’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Fred is currently vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and senior advisor for racial equity at Interfaith America.
LGBTQI+ Faith Activism: Jon Cohen, Darcy Hirsh, and Allen Morris; Also Jewtina founder Analucía Lopezrevoredo
Oct 7 2023
LGBTQI+ Faith Activism: Jon Cohen, Darcy Hirsh, and Allen Morris; Also Jewtina founder Analucía Lopezrevoredo
Across faith and place, Americans know that religious and cultural diversity is one of our nation’s greatest strengths. It is because of our beliefs, not in spite of them, that we are committed to building a country where all people are valued and can live with full dignity and respect. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we’ll discuss how to achieve our shared vision of an inclusive democracy in the face of a wave of discriminatory policies advanced by Christian nationalists and their allies across the country. All eyes have been on Congress as some members worked to avert a government shutdown, while a small minority of exploited the impasse by trying to insert anti-LGBTQ+ provisions – “riders” - into the federal budget. In response, Interfaith Alliance and our allies in the faith fight for equality took to Capitol Hill to urge members to vote down these harmful amendments. Darcy Hirsh, Interfaith Alliance’s senior director of policy and advocacy, joins Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, host of The State of Belief, to recap these past busy weeks in Washington alongside two of our closest partners: Jon Cohen, director of community mobilization at Keshet, and Allen Morris, policy advisor at the National LGBTQ Task Force. Religious and political extremists have tried hard to make “intersectionality” a dirty word, but it won’t work – because we all know that finding common ground across diverse identities is how we achieve progress. Analucía Lopezrevoredo, the founder and executive director of Jewtina y Co, exemplifies how building powerful coalitions and movements can impact our democracy for the better. She joins Paul to discuss her work building bridges within the Jewish and Latine communities. To expand our reach, State of Belief  is now being distributed via the Religion News Service family of podcasts. Be sure to subscribe to the next generation of State of Belief today via Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or at http://www.stateofbelief.com/newpodcast.
Banned Books Week with Tracie D. Hall and Sabrina Baêta
Oct 5 2023
Banned Books Week with Tracie D. Hall and Sabrina Baêta
Since 2021, a coordinated campaign to censor certain literature, curricula, and ideas has spread like wildfire across American public schools and libraries. The growing movement to ban books has found startling success, and authors and characters representing marginalized communities – including minority faiths – have been disproportionately singled out. As we mark the start of the annual Banned Books Week, we welcome representatives from two leading free expression organizations on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, to discuss the evolving tactics of the book banning movement and how we can fight back together.  Tracie D. Hall has led the American Library Association since 2020. With a background ranging from librarian to working at the Joyce Foundation and with the City of Chicago, Tracie has seen the power of words, literacy, and books from many angles, and is deeply concerned about how book bans threaten our individual freedoms. She joins Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, host of The State of Belief, this week to preview Banned Books Week, the national campaign UniteAgainstBookBans.org, and lessons learned from successful initiatives to oppose book bans. Sabrina Baêta is on the Freedom to Read team for PEN America, an organization working to defend free expression at home and abroad. She has been on the front lines of the group’s campaign to document the rising number of book bans in state after state, helping to raise awareness about why these efforts undermine our public schools and our First Amendment rights. Sabrina joins Paul to discuss PEN America’s new report, Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor, data on religiously-motivated bans, and the impact all of this is having on writers and readers. Interfaith Alliance is mobilizing faith communities to defend our freedom to read – on October 18, we’re bringing together Congressman Jamie Raskin and leading advocates on Capitol Hill to discuss how we can mobilize in defense of public education and democracy.
The Gospel According to James Baldwin with author Greg Garrett
Sep 23 2023
The Gospel According to James Baldwin with author Greg Garrett
What insights essential for today's divided America can be found in the timeless writing of the great James Baldwin? And what recent developments in religion news are likely to resonate throughout our culture, in faith and secular areas alike? On this week's State of Belief, the weekly radio program and podcast from Interfaith Alliance, host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush addresses both of these topics. The great American writer James Baldwin passed away 36 years ago. But his seminal works - as well as his unvarnished social commentary - continue to inspire readers and admirers today. And his message of an unlikely but possible true bridging of racial divides in this country is but one of the prophetic calls included in Prof. Greg Garrett's new book, The Gospel According to James Baldwin. A longtime professor at Baylor University, Greg has spent years following Baldwin - metaphorically and physically - to discover some of the reasons he sees his subject as "A prophet of humanity." Religion News Service is the leading nonprofit, nonsectarian journalistic enterprise in the United States focusing on religion, and the ways faith influences every part of our society and culture. Award-winning journalists Adelle Banks, projects editor and national reporter, and Jack Jenkins, national reporter and author of the book American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country, are back on State of Belief to review some stories from the summer some of us may have missed, and preview what they expect will hold the spotlight in the coming few months.
Faith and Public Service with Texas Reps Salman Bhojani and James Talarico
Sep 16 2023
Faith and Public Service with Texas Reps Salman Bhojani and James Talarico
Since the beginning, The State of Belief has consistently pushed back against elected officials exploiting their positions of power to impose their own personal beliefs on those whom they serve. While that issue remains pervasive, other politicians have demonstrated that there is a better way – how personal faith can inspire devoted public service without crossing the line and violating Church-State separation. This week on The State of Belief, Texas State Representatives Salman Bhojani and James Talarico join host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, to discuss how they bring personal convictions to the Statehouse while respecting the important boundaries between religion and government. Rep. James Talarico is a former public school teacher first elected to serve in the Texas House of Representatives in 2018. A Harvard grad, Rep. Talarico has worked to ensure all Texas students have access to a quality education. In his first term, he helped write the most significant reform to the state’s school finance system in 20 years. He went on to pass major legislation to open up millions of dollars for student mental health and character education programs, establish the first-ever cap on Pre-K class sizes to reduce student-to-teacher ratios, and improve the quality and affordability of child care. Born in Pakistan to a large family, Rep. Salman Bhojani immigrated to the Lone Star State when he was 19 years old. Rep. Bhojani earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas and became a small business owner—purchasing convenience stores across the DFW Metroplex. He's also an attorney and the first Muslim elected to the Texas State house - as well as the first person of color ever elected to represent House District 92. Rep. Bhojani has led the charge for bills protecting the religiously diverse beliefs of all Texans on matters including the observance of holy days and expanding the faiths represented among credentialed marriage celebrants. To expand our reach, State of Belief  is now being distributed via the Religion News Service family of podcasts. Be sure to subscribe to the next generation of State of Belief today via Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or at http://www.stateofbelief.com/newpodcast.
Preview: Defending Freedom and Human Rights at the Parliament of the World's Religions
Aug 12 2023
Preview: Defending Freedom and Human Rights at the Parliament of the World's Religions
Starting on Monday, August 14th, Chicago, Ill. will play host to a unique week-long global initiative for peace and mutual understanding: the Parliament of the World’s Religions. With a history tracing back to 1893, the Parliament’s convenings attract participants from more than 200 diverse religious, indigenous, and secular beliefs and more than 80 nations. This year’s theme is A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights - and we’ll explore that theme and what we can expect in Chicago on this week’s State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance's weekly radio program and podcast. State of Belief host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is joined by three leaders who are deeply involved in organizing the 2023 convening of the Parliament. Rev. Stephen Avino serves as the Executive Director of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. On the staff of the parliament since 2012, Stephen has remained deeply committed to the success of the global interfaith movement, serving as a key organizer for the 2015 Parliament Convening in Salt Lake City, the 2018 Parliament Convening in Toronto, and the 2021 Virtual Parliament Convening. Sara Rahim a young professional with vast interfaith experience who trains others in social impact. A progressive Muslim, Sara is a past plenary speaker in the Parliament’s Inaugural Women's Assembly and has addressed the United Nations representing the Parliament and its mission. Phyllis Curott has served terms on the Parliament board across over three decades. One of the first public wiccan priestesses in America, Phyllis is chairing this year's program and founded the Parliament women's task force.
Protecting Democracy with Congressman Jamie Raskin
Jul 29 2023
Protecting Democracy with Congressman Jamie Raskin
“You’ve got to view the ban on books and the attempt to stop Critical Race Theory, by which they mean any teaching of the actual history of the country with respect to racism and white supremacy - all of these are efforts basically to condition the children of America, the young people of America, to get ready for being subjects in an authoritarian society.” Representative Jamie Raskin has established himself as one of our country's fiercest advocates for Democracy and against the extremists trying to tear it down. He notably served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and co-founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus. Congressman Raskin joins host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush this week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, to talk about the state of our democracy. An author of several books about the interplay between the Supreme Court and democracy, Rep. Raskin speaks with Paul about his own experience of having a book he authored banned in Texas schools. Across faith and place, we know that the most dangerous thing we could do is sit idly by while our democracy – and our fundamental rights – are under relentless attack. Listen in to hear Rep. Raskin discuss the challenges we face, how he’s navigated profound personal loss, what gives him hope, and how his faith informs his public service. Paul also speaks with Darcy Hirsh, Interfaith Alliance Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy. They discuss Interfaith Alliance’s support of the Freedom to Vote Act, a pro-democracy bill recently reintroduced by US Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock of Georgia in the Senate, and Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland in the House. Darcy also speaks further about the ways people of faith and conscience can participate in our democracy outside of voting, including volunteering as a poll worker or educating others on the issues they consider most important.
Elizabeth Reiner Platt, Columbia Law School Law, Rights, and Religion Project
Jul 15 2023
Elizabeth Reiner Platt, Columbia Law School Law, Rights, and Religion Project
In June, the Supreme Court delivered its ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis, a case brought forward by Lorie Smith, an evangelical Christian website designer in Colorado who said she should not have to provide services to same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs. The court decided 6-3 that the First Amendment’s free speech protection allows businesses that involve “creativity” or “expression” to deny services to LGBTQ+ customers. The ruling has created much confusion and uncertainty around what doors have been opened wide for other exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, our host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is joined by Elizabeth Reiner Platt, director of Columbia Law School's Law, Rights, and Religion Project to discuss this case and how it could lead to a wide range of discrimination. Before joining Columbia Law School, Liz was a Staff Attorney at MFY Legal Services Mental Health Law Project. A graduate of the New York University School of Law, she was also Carr Center for Reproductive Justice Fellow at A Better Balance. A year after the court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, Paul and Liz also speak about how, amid an increase in abortion bans across the U.S., religious abortion rights supporters are testing the principle of religious freedom in legal battles. In the past year alone, clergy and members of various faiths have filed lawsuits in eight states asserting that abortion bans and restrictions infringe on their religious beliefs.