Artificial Intelligence and the Religious Studies Classroom Ask E.B. Tylor what religion is and he would say it is, “belief in Spiritual Beings.” Ask William James and he will tell you it is the “feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude.” Ask Catherine L. Albanese, and she would say it is “a system of symbols (creed, code, cultus) by means of which people (a community) orient themselves in the world with reference to both ordinary and... Read more
One of AI’s promises is to help us step back from the emotional weight we bring into conversations about faith—by educating us and helping us clarify what we mean to say when things get difficult. Faith, by its nature, involves belief in something that cannot be proven or measured—it asks us to trust in the unseen. Faith Shapes How We See the World Conversations about faith aren’t easy. Faith runs deep. It shapes how we see the world—our values, decisions,... Read more
Faith and Inclusion After DEI: Media’s Role in Religious Representation In recent years, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives have served as a beacon of hope for marginalized communities, providing platforms for underrepresented voices to be heard and fostering environments of equity and belonging. Among those who benefited from these efforts were religious communities, particularly those facing discrimination and misrepresentation in media and public life. However, with the growing pushback against DEI programs and the dismantling of such initiatives by... Read more
Diversity Equity & Inclusion: The New Taboo & Curse Words As the Senior Vice President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Hollywood Bureau, my work is deeply rooted in my faith. Islam teaches me the importance of fairness, equity, and inclusivity. God tells us in the Quran (Islam’s scripture), that He could have created us all the same but instead, the Almighty says, “O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female and made you peoples... Read more
The Risk of Making Religious Freedom a DEI Issue As an executive at a large company, I struggled to feel at home. I couldn’t quite understand why until I took a personality test. I’ll never forget when the HR manager looked at my results, paused, and asked, “Did you grow up in a Southern religious home?” I was surprised—there hadn’t been any questions about religion, or so I thought. I said yes, and she walked me through my answers—inclusiveness, empathy,... Read more
Why is the Administration Cancelling Religion? The Trump administration is eliminating Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from government agencies. DEI critics have a point. They contend that DEI initiatives sometimes emphasize superficial diversity over merit, resulting in hiring and promotions that prioritize identity over qualifications. At the same time, President Donald Trump set up a White House Faith Office. The office is charged with protecting communities of faith. This includes identifying “any failures of the executive branch to enforce... Read more
Ringing in Faith & Mutual Understanding into the New Year: a Georgetown Interfaith Delegation to Japan At the center of a 16th-century Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan lies an ancient Catholic bell, possibly the oldest preserved Jesuit bell in all of Japan. Its mere existence, through hundreds of years – including the era of Christian persecution by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the World War II era led by the Imperial Army – is a testament to interreligious dialogue and reverence... Read more
When Persecution Becomes Politically “Inconvenient” Evil exists in the world. We know this, yet it’s hard to understand when we see it up close fully. The cruelty feels too extreme, too inhuman to make sense of. Fear Permeates All Aspects of Jewish Life The Bibas boys were kidnapped by Hamas and murdered by Gazan citizens. Hamas placed their bodies on display before being handed over to the Red Cross—a level of brutality that defies words. Yet, half the world stayed... Read more
Covering, and Questioning, Anti-Christian Persecution If you report on religion long enough, you’re bound to be called an anti-Christian bigot at some point in time. In my 14 years of reporting, I’ve been labeled an atheist agent for my coverage of a book on how Jesus may have been a vegetarian, denounced as a prejudiced partisan as I covered instances of clergy abuse in Houston, Texas, and much worse for my writing on neo-Nazi ideology and racism among Lutherans in... Read more
Most of last week I spent in meetings in and around Washington DC where the intermingling of politics and religion was on high display. U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke at the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit and President Donald Trump addressed the National Prayer Breakfast. I pursued my doctorate in the sociology of religion in part to understand why the relationship between politics and religion is often uneasy. For example, New York Catholic archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a... Read more
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