To comply with a flurry of Executive Orders issued in January, many colleges throughout the country have been renaming, restructuring, or altogether eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming. These DEI initiatives have been divisive for years. Their proponents see them as essential to ensuring fair treatment for minority students and rooting out prejudice in the academy. Their detractors see them as stifling free speech and academic debate. Emma Green, journalist at the New Yorker...
May 09, 2025•55 min•Ep. 9
Journalist Jon Rauch’s smart new book from Yale University Press, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain With Democracy , offers three provocative and insightful essays. Though an outsider to Christianity—as he tells his long-time friend Pete Wehner of the Trinity Forum, Jon is a “gay Jewish atheist born in 1960”—Jon’s new treatise follows a dozen books, and hundreds of articles, covering topics from free inquiry to gay marriage, political realism to happiness, and the constitution of kno...
Mar 04, 2025•54 min•Ep. 8
In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Brad Fulton, professor of Nonprofit Management and Social Policy at the O’Neill School of Public Affairs at Indiana University, alongside Amber Hacker, Chief of External Affairs at Interfaith America. Our guests discuss the role of religious giving in philanthropy and the surprising trends that emerge from the underlying data. Out of the $557 billion dollars given annually in the United States to charities, twenty percent of the funds come from foundations. ...
Oct 23, 2024•45 min•Ep. 6
In this episode, we are joined by Jaweed Kaleem of The Los Angeles Times alongside Knox Thames, author of the new book Ending Persecution: Charting the Path to Global Religious Freedom . Knox reflects on his long career advancing the cause of religious liberty around the world, including in the some of the world's most repressive contexts. Our guests assess the current state of religious freedom across different contexts, from India to Israel and Gaza, and reflect on how the eroding of religious...
Sep 26, 2024•44 min
In this episode, New York Times opinion columnist David French sits down with Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold of The New Yorker to discuss her brand new book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church. These two journalists with firsthand familiarity and longstanding expertise in covering religion embark on a fascinating exploration of the book's coverage of Philadelphia's Circle of Hope, a little-known yet influential progressive evangelical movement, ...
Aug 27, 2024•38 min
On this episode, we are joined by Elizabeth Oldfield to discuss her newly-released book Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times . After beginning her career covering religion for the BBC, Elizabeth for a decade ran a London-based think tank called Theos, which seeks to stimulate the debate about the place of religion in society, challenging and changing ideas through research, commentary and events. Under her leadership, its staff increased tenfold—and still supports podcast she host...
Jul 23, 2024•45 min
Building on the legacy of Michael Cromartie (1950-2017), who founded Faith Angle Forum a quarter-century ago, MCF brings together a select group of exceptionally talented, early-career journalists for a three-day conference in the nation’s capital, focusing on the intersection of faith, culture, and journalism today. This year’s forum explored new narratives in American history, reconsidered the relationship between spirituality and vocational journalism, and examined the interplay between race,...
Jun 14, 2024•38 min
In this episode, recorded at Faith Angle Miami 2024, we are joined by Brad Wilcox and Isabel Sawhill for a fascinating, timely conversation about marriage patterns, family structure, shifting gender norms, and poverty rates. In a time of deep polarization, are certain approaches better than others when it comes to exploring the benefits of marriage for children? How does marriage compare with cohabitation, and how do we avoid getting caught in culture war cul du sacs when discussing gender roles...
May 09, 2024•48 min
In this episode, we are joined by John Inazu, who is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law & Religion and Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. This week, he published his fourth book: Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect . John sits down to discuss differences, respect, bridge-building, and the unique role of journalism in all this, with Matt Kaminski, editor-at-large of POLITICO, and the ...
Apr 02, 2024•50 min
In this episode, we are joined by Sarah McCammon, National Political Correspondent at NPR, to discuss her book Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church. In it, Sarah tells a compelling, personal story about family, marriage, politics, and church—and she concisely boils down insights from scholars like David Gushee, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Christian Smith, and others you’ll hear her reference. If the great de-churching currently happening in American society is most a...
Mar 11, 2024•46 min
In this episode, we are joined again by Tim Alberta of The Atlantic and Michael Wear of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, to discuss Michael's brand new book The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life. Michael has been engaging the condition of American politics for more than 15 years, after serving in the White House, helping to launch and lead the AND Campaign, and advising leading policymakers, journalists, practitioners at the intersection of...
Jan 23, 2024•53 min
On today’s episode, we are joined by The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig for an Advent reflection with Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, assistant pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Rev. Isaac is an evangelical pastor whose life and ministry have been rooted in Bethlehem in the West Bank, where he is a theologian, Bible college dean, a leader of the peacebuilding initiative Christ at the Checkpoint, and part of the ancient but fast-dwindling community of Christians in the Holy Land...
Dec 22, 2023•39 min
On this episode Tim Alberta and Michael Wear dig deep into Alberta's new book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism . Their discussion covers the shaping of the religious and political expression of American evangelicalism in the latter half of the 20th century until today, including the movement's most influential leaders. They explore how Tim's personal experiences as a pastor's son give his journalism and coverage a unique urgency, and they highl...
Dec 08, 2023•51 min
Author McKay Coppins sits down with Peter Baker of The New York Times to discuss Coppins' best-selling biography Romney: A Reckoning , which offers an intimate look into the life and career of Senator Mitt Romney. Coppins explains the unique process of creating the book, which reads like an authorized biography, but over which he retained editorial privileges. Coppins explains how Romney's faith influenced his political and personal life, and the thread of rationalization toward self-interest th...
Nov 21, 2023•53 min
In this episode, Luke Russert discusses his new book Look For Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself, a reflection on grief, family legacy, religious exploration, and the loss of Luke's father, legendary journalist Tim Russert. Luke is joined by Carl Cannon, Washington Bureau Chief and Executive Editor of RealClearPolitics , who shares from his own experience with family bonds, faith, loss, and his personal friendship with Luke's father. Guests Luke Russert Carl Cannon Additional Resources...
Nov 08, 2023•43 min
Best selling author and columnist David Brooks sits down with noted psychiatrist Curt Thompson to discuss Brooks' latest book, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. Brooks' aim is to help foster deeper connections at home, work, and throughout our lives, and he and Thompson cover a lot of ground. From thoughts on friendship, depression, what it means to really listen, and how we reflect God, there's a lot here. It's a generous conversation, and one that we ...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Christine Emba's recent piece for The Washington Post, "Men Are Lost. Here's a Map out of the Wilderness.," says something haunting about the state of gender dynamics in the country and something both our guests remind us matters equally to men and women alike. On this episode, Christine joins noteworthy scholar Richard Reeves, who recently launched the American Institute for Boys and Men. Not only do they explore their timely scholarship and writing on this topic, but they also engage the nuanc...
Sep 29, 2023•53 min
In 2009, Newsweek magazine called David Saperstein the most influential rabbi in America. For over 40 years, he was the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He also served as the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom, becoming America's chief diplomat on religious liberty issues. He was the first chairman in 1998 of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Joining Rabbi Saperstein is a brilliant journalist for The Atlantic , McKay Coppins, who writes...
Sep 15, 2023•57 min
In this episode, we have the privilege of hosting two brilliant thinkers on the state of race in America, and how a faith angle fits into that. Ekemini Uwan is a writer, public theologian, and activist who hosts the excellent podcast Truth’s Table. She co-wrote a book by that title, featuring Black women’s musings on life, love, and liberation. Joining Ekemini is Eugene Scott, who has been a prior guest journalist on Faith Angle’s podcast, and is currently the senior politics reporter at Axios. ...
Sep 01, 2023•46 min
This episode explores how the arts can help us transcend some of the worries in contemporary society, from polarization and entrenched tribalism, to our massive decline in public trust, to informational rabbit holes, to other discouraging and sometimes heartbreaking news. How do stories help us renew? This conversation was originally featured at Faith Angle West 2023 in Seattle, WA. and the full-length talk is linked below. Alissa Wilkinson has covered film and culture since 2016 for Vox, and sh...
Aug 14, 2023•48 min
Time and again in American life, technology has made room for new, better things that ease human burdens and free up RAM—think just of dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, and airplanes. Of course today, Silicon Valley represents this new frontier perhaps better than anyplace else in the world. It’s there that Carolyn Chen – a sociologist and Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, where she’s co-directs the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion – has discovered something compelling...
Jul 11, 2023•47 min
Professor Joshua Ralston is a scholar and theologian who teaches Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Edinburgh. His three books look at Sharia law from a Christian perspective, at the impact of global migration on the church, and at Europe’s rich religious diversity. He is engaged in the work of bridging divides between Christians and Muslims—each vast, diverse communities who often fundamentally misunderstand one another. Joining him is Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and ...
Jun 06, 2023•52 min
Yuval Levin is the kind of thinker, policy analyst, public servant, and scholar you really want in DC. The talk you’re about to hear is one he gave to a group of 15 Michael Cromartie Forum journalists, a highly promising group of early-career journalists. The topic is declining trust in our politics, in religion, and in American journalism—and it’s a deeply insightful and challenging talk that we hope you’ll feel just as stirred by as our group did. Guest Yuval Levin Additional Resources A Time ...
May 24, 2023•30 min
At the moment, 193 countries in the world hold membership in the United Nations, and, of that group, 50 are currently Muslim-majority countries. This is a data-point referenced by each of this episode's guest scholars, in their thinking about how Islam and liberalism intersect and in their reflections on the future of Islam in the modern era and on Muslim life in America. First up is Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses...
May 04, 2023•50 min
Miroslav Volf teaches theology at Yale University, where he also directs the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He is the author of 17 books, and his 1996 book Exclusion and Embrace was named by Christianity Today as one of the 100 Most Influential Books of the 20th Century. This new book, rooted in a popular Yale undergraduate course, is Life Worth Living : A Guide to What Matters Most, co-authored by Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, both fellow teachers. Joining Miroslav for this conv...
Apr 03, 2023•43 min
In this episode, we are joined by Shaun Casey, former director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, and Rachel Donadio, a Paris-based journalist, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a former European Culture correspondent for The New York Times . Our guests discuss Shaun's new book, Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom , which makes the case that understanding the role of religion in global politics is crucial for effective diplomacy. Guests Shaun Casey Ra...
Mar 03, 2023•54 min
In this episode, Ryan Streeter of the American Enterprise Institute and Tevi Troy of the Bipartisan Policy Center join us to discuss the history of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, as well as to provide a roadmap for the office's potential growth and impact under future administrations. Guests Ryan Streeter Tevi Troy Additional Resources " The False Choices Facing the Republican Party ," by Ryan Streeter " The Life and Times of the Faith-Based Initiative ," by Tevi Troy...
Feb 10, 2023•49 min
This episode is lifted directly from one of the most fascinating sessions of November’s Faith Angle Europe, where Dr. Peter Frankopan opened a two-and-a-half-hour session available in its entirety below. Peter is the Professor of Global History at Oxford University’s Worcester College, and alongside Theresa Fallon, the founder of a Brussels think tank focusing on Russia and China, he spoke with 18 transatlantic journalists about trade, culture, and the easily-misconstrued history of the Eastern ...
Jan 16, 2023•34 min
Recently, President Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act , requiring all US states and territories to recognize same-sex and interracial civil marriages. But that isn’t all the new law does: it also fortifies religious liberty protections. As today’s guests describe, it’s perhaps because the Respect for Marriage Act does both things that it garnered bipartisan congressional support. In this episode, we're joined by Tim Schultz, president of the 1st Amendment Partnership, a DC advoc...
Dec 19, 2022•43 min
In this episode, we are joined by Rev. Russell Levenson, Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, TX. In conversation with Kelsey Dallas of Deseret News, Levenson discusses his new book, Witness to Dignity , about the life and faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush who attended St. Martin’s for over fifty years. Guests Russell Levenson Kelsey Dallas Additional Resources Witness to Dignity: The Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush , by Russell Levenson " People of faith, pessi...
Nov 30, 2022•46 min
