Multifaith Matters

Commentary: Will a Biden-Harris administration deliver on its interfaith promises?

In a new podcast feature, the commentary, we interact with a recent opinion piece at ReligionNews.com titled "The campaign is over. Will a Biden-Harris administration deliver on its interfaith promises?," by Eboo Patel, Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, and Mary Ellen Giess. Their essay discusses the potential for the incoming administration to provide a lasting legacy through interfaith initiatives. In this commentary we interact with the opinion essay and provide some further thoughts.

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Conversation with Pastor Mark Shetler of RiverCity Christian on ministry to Muslim immigrants

This podcast is an interview with Pastor Mark Shetler of RiverCity Christian church in Sacramento, California. He shares the story of their congregational engagement with the local Muslim immigrant community.

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An Interview with Douglas Johnston on faith-based diplomacy

An interview with Douglas Johnston on faith-based diplomacy. Johnston is the founder and former president of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy out of Washington, DC (www.icrd.org). He has produced several books including Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft, and Religion, Terror and Error: US Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement.

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Ron Sider on "Nonviolent Action: What Christian Ethics Demand But Most Christians Have Never Really Tried"

A conversation with Ron Sider about his book Nonviolent Action. From the book's promotional description:

There are numerous examples throughout history of effective nonviolent action. Nonviolent protesters defied the Soviet Empire's communist rulers, Gandhi's nonviolent revolution defeated the British Empire, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful civil-rights crusade changed American history. Recent scholarship shows that nonviolent revolutions against injustice and dictatorship are actually more successful than violent campaigns. In this book, noted theologian and bestselling author Ron Sider argues that the search for peaceful alternatives to violence is not only a practical necessity in the wake of the twentieth century--the most bloody in human history--but also a moral demand of the Christian faith. He presents compelling examples of how nonviolent action has been practiced in history and in current social-political situations to promote peace and oppose injustice, showing that this path is a successful and viable alternative to violence.

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Interview with Pastor Steve Stone on Christian hospitality to Muslims

An interview with Steve Stone, former Pastor of Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tennessee. He discusses his congregational relationship with the local Muslim community, and how this became a national media story, which after appearing on CNN, positively impacted Christians and Muslims around the world.

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Interview with Os Guinness on religious freedom and diversity

An interview with Os Guinness on religious freedom and diversity. Guinness' book on this topic is The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity (InterVarsity Press, 2013). From the book: "How do we live with our deepest differences, especially when those differences are religious and ideological, and very especially when those differences concern matters of our common public life? In short, how do we create a global public square and make the world safer for diversity?" (p. 13).

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Hidden in Plain Sight - Religious Pluralism and the Culture Wars

In the wake of the most recent terror attack France is wresting with secularism, pluralism and freedom of speech issues. America faces its own challenges as Christian hegemony wanes and minority religious and secular voices seek their place in the public square. What is the best way forward in this situation, particularly in light of increasing polarization and intergroup conflict and the loss of trust and social capital? Charles Randall Paul and John Morehead discuss the issues and suggest promising pathways out of the abyss. For more on the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy visit www.religious-diplomacy.org, and The World Table at www.theworldtable.co.

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Conversation with Paul Louis Metzger of Multnomah University and Kyogen Carlson of the Dharma Rain Zen Center

An interview with Paul Louis Metzger and Kyogen Carlson on Christian-Buddhist relationships. Metzger is Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture at Multnomah University and Multnomah Biblical Seminary. Carlson is a Soto Zen priest and abbot of Dharma Rain Zen Center. This conversation was recorded on September 17, 2014. Kyogen Carlson passed away the following day. This was his last work in religious diplomacy. We are privileged to have known him, to have had him as a friend, and to have worked with him in religious diplomacy and peacemaking.

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David Livingstone Smith on Dehumanization

Dehumanization is a significant but neglected facet of multifaith and interfaith work. When evangelicals and other Christians use the metaphors of disease, warfare, and demonization to talk about religious others, we are drawing on dehumanization. How is it defined? How has it taken place historically, and in the present, by Christians and others? And how can we take steps to combat it within our ranks? We answer these questions in a conversation with David Livingstone Smith, author of On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It (Oxford University Press, 2020)

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David Shenk on Relationships with Muslims

David Shenk has years of experience in relationships and conversations with Muslims. He is the author of a number of books, including A Muslim and Christian in Dialogue, Christian. Muslim. Friend., Journeys of the Muslim Nation and the Christian Church, and Teatime in Mogadishu: My Journey as a Peace Ambassador in the World of Islam. He has also contributed a response to Do Christians, Muslims, and Jews Worship the Same God?: Four Views, where with Joseph Cumming, he explores the implications of this question specifically for Christians wanting to minister among and build relationships with Muslims.

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