Religion explored through candid conversations and original reporting. This podcast is powered by The Media Project, a network of more than 1,000 journalists worldwide. TMP acknowledges that religion is growing and becoming more, not less important in the world.

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Every billionaire eventually takes advantage of their wealth. Even Warren Buffet, famously more frugal and plain in the way he spends his money, eventually bought a private jet. Absurd money continues to enable absurd purchases. Jeff Bezos bought a super Yacht. Elon Musk bought Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg bought a 7 foot statue of his wife. But as for the Greens, the family behind the arts and crafts superstore empire Hobby Lobby, they bought tens of thousands of ancient Biblical artifacts and manuscripts. With over 1,000 stores and 46,000 employees Hobby Lobby did 8 Billion dollars in revenue last year.  Hobby Lobby famously donates half of their pre-tax income to a variety of charities every year—most of which have to do with advancing worldwide Bible access and education. But along their quest for global Biblical literacy, the Greens have engaged with politics in a way which leads some to call them Christian nationalists. One of those people is Michael Blanding author of “The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby.” Blanding’s book details the family’s business, influence, and surprising archeological scandal, and how their faith has shaped it all.

The Gospel According To Hobby Lobby

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Most practicing Jews in the United States fall into one of three categories. There are the Orthodox Jews--who are committed to following Jewish law to the letter and who uphold all the traditions set by rabbis over the centuries. Then there are the Conservative Jews, who still believe in following the law, but allow for a bit more freedom of modern interpretation of that law. And then there are the Reform Jews who emphasize the spirit of the law over the letter of the law—often appreciating the deep moral tradition of the Torah, while leaving ritual practice up to the individual.  Now, these are just umbrella terms—all of these forms of Jewish practice operate on wide spectrums--but 63% of American jews were able to identify as one of the three in a 2019 Pew Research Survey. And the majority of Jews who did not identify with one of these three categorizations also do not identify as religious. But that still leaves around 16% of American Jews as actively religious, but unable to align themselves with Orthodox, Conservative or Reform Judaism.  So, who are they? Well, the answer is, of course, complicated. There are endless reasons one might not want to ascribe to these three classifications. But, while we can’t discern the spiritual complexity of each individual, one new Jewish movement can help account for a growing number of American Jews who don’t quite identify with mainstream Jewish communities. They call themselves the Ivri, an ancient word for Hebrews—a name which is fitting for this form of Jewish practice which seeks to call back to ancient traditions and rituals, while also doing something new. On this week’s episode I spoke with Mira Fox, reporter and culture critic at The Forward, who recently wrote about the thriving new community in an article entitled: There’s a new Judaism in town — or maybe it’s very, very old.

Inside The Growing Jewish Movement Shaking Up Tradition

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As conflicts rage on in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/iran-war-trump-us-oil-hormuz-key-dates-events.html" rel="nofollow">Middle East</a>, <a href="https://www.miragenews.com/sudan-conflict-200000-newly-displaced-by-war-1729774/" rel="nofollow">Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine" rel="nofollow">Europe</a>, it seems we are living through a time of war. This reality does not distinguish us all that much from the rest of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-wars-2031197" rel="nofollow">human history</a>. Our species has always been interested in conquest and defense.But what may make our time a bit more unique in its embattlement is the average person’s ability to fight not just with weapons and warfare, but with <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/01/13/twitter-and-politicians-a-history-00070453" rel="nofollow">words and ideas</a>. While many of us will never be soldiers or law enforcement officers, we experience on a daily basis the fiery condemnations hurled across the lines of political parties, religious identities, ethnicities or socioeconomic statuses.In a time of war, the presiding question of the age is no longer: “how do we create the best society possible,” but instead “how do we survive together?” How do we solve the problem right in front of us and then how do we solve the next one?Instead of dreaming big, our impulse is to seek solutions in painfully precise increments—not wanting to upset the delicate balance required to get us to agree with one another. But what if we’ve been going about it wrong? What if the solution to our constant back and forth—what if lasting change were possible only if we do shoot for the stars?What would it look like to try to build a utopia?On today’s episode, my guests are <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/profile/david-albertson/" rel="nofollow">David Albertson</a> and <a href="https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/jason-blakely/" rel="nofollow">Jason Blakely</a>. Albertson and Blakely are co-authors of <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300278088/utopia-for-our-century/" rel="nofollow">“Utopia for Our Century.”</a> A book which investigates the 500-year-old work of Catholic Martyr <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-More-English-humanist-and-statesman" rel="nofollow">Thomas More</a> who called on Christians to take action toward building a better world. Albertson and Blakely explain what Utopia actually means, how people of all religious backgrounds can help pursue it and why many modern Christians became anti-utopia and anti-humanist despite both of these ideas having Christian roots.

Is Utopia At All Possible?

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It’s been a hot summer.  Heatwaves have persisted across North America, Australia, Asia and most notably, Europe—where an estimated 25,000 people have died as a result of the extreme heat. In fact, heat levels in July of this year tied with the levels of the hottest month in recorded history. As summer vacationers head to exotic destinations, they find that things are not as they should be—such as coral reefs having greatly deteriorated or more talk of endangered species.  At home, here in New York, I experienced thick, almost suffocating smoky air just a few weeks ago due to wildfires in Canada. We are experiencing the realities of a broken earth in real time. The temperature, the sea, the air—all are being affected greatly by our planet’s changing climate. And as we deal with the fear, confusion and discomfort of a rapidly changing environment, the impulse is to find the root of the problem and dig it out. We would like to find somebody to blame.  Is it corporate greed—big businesses draining natural resources and polluting the air with manufacturing processes? Or is it you and me—with our daily consumption of cheap goods and reliance on fossil fuels? Or is it a mix of both—have we all just been taking too much for too long without thought toward future generations? My guest on this week’s podcast, anthropologist Susannah Crockford, asks whether part of the root cause may be buried deep inside of evangelical christianity. Her new book “A Perturbed System” explores how religious language influences climate discourse, how christianity has impacted the earth negatively and how christian ideas may now be able to be a part of the solution. SHORT DESCRIPTION:On this week&#39;s podcast, anthropologist Susannah Crockford explains why she believes part of the root of climate change may be buried deep inside of evangelical christianity.

How Evangelical Apocalypticism Hurts the Planet

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The Bible is by no means a picture book. But, for its lack of illustrations, it still presents many powerful images. A burning bush. A giant fish. An angel army. A pillar of fire. A snake. A harp. A wall. A fruit tree. A lamb. A tomb. A fishing net. The Bible seizes the visceral realities of what it means to be human—in all that gore, grief and glory—by connecting its ideas and its characters to natural elements we interact with daily (even if, in some cases, those elements are acting very differently than how we typically experience them). So, to bridge this gap between the descriptions of the world found in scripture and our physical experience of it, we have artwork. Christian artwork has spanned every generation of believers, with Christ himself being depicted through a multitude of ethnicities, time periods and artistic mediums. But is “Christian” artwork the only art through which Christians can see reflections of scripture? Ben Quash, Director of The Visual Commentary on Scripture doesn’t think so. The Visual Commentary on Scripture is an online resource from King’s College London which combines theology, art history, and Biblical scholarship to pair artwork from all across the stylistic and historical map with different sections of scripture. These pairings are called exhibits and feature high-quality scans of art pieces tied together with Biblical commentary. After over a decade working on the project, Quash is taking a step back. He was interviewed on this show 6 years ago when the project was still relatively young. So we wanted to have him back on the show as his time ends to talk through what he accomplished, why the internet needs the VCS site, and what’s next. You can find the Visual Commentary on Scripture at <a href="http://thevcs.org/" rel="nofollow">thevcs.org</a>. You can also sign up for their new newsletter called Bible and Art Daily, which will send artwork and an audio scripture commentary straight to your inbox every day. You can also find them on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.

The Quest To Visualize The Bible

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Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” hit theaters a little over a week ago. The film earned an estimated $124 million on its opening weekend and, at the time of this recording, received a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.4 stars on Letterboxd. While Nolan’s mastery of his craft and a well-loved cast have certainly done their part in making the film a success, the credit must still go where it is due—to the architect of the source material: Homer. Tradition says that Homer was a blind, rambling poet. However, most historians agree that it is unlikely that one man put the epic together. Instead, The Odyssey was likely built on hundreds of years of oral tradition—with each poet adding their brick to the masterful wall that is the tale of Odysseus. And today, through this new film, our century adds its own brick to the wall. And through the centuries of this poem’s adaptation and evolution, the amalgam of worldviews the different poets brought to the story exposed the spiritual beliefs of an entire age. For readers coming from an Abrahamic faith background, the way deities are presented in the tale is both familiar and foreign. The power checks out—as does the relational element and the blessings. But the foolishness, the pettiness—the humanity of the gods—feels foreign and even blasphemous. So how does this new rendition, made by people living in a society dominated by Abrahamic faiths and secularism deal with the devout, but perplexingly hubristic character of Odysseus? Is faith treated thoughtfully and with respect? Or is it made out to be as fantastical as the strange creatures of Greek myth? To find out how religion is and isn’t represented in The Odyssey, I spoke with Religion Unplugged’s very own culture critic and frequent host of the podcast, Joseph Holmes.

Does "The Odyssey" Understand Ancient Greek Religion?

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Back in May, Brigham Young University published the results of a study about AI and religion. The study found that all major AI chatbots would not mention faith in responses to questions in which a well-rounded response probably ought to have included religious or spiritual ideas.  Questioning AI about ethics, human suffering and morality will almost never result in a response that includes a religious perspective. In addition to a lack of religious references, the study also determined that the AI models had clear biases against certain religious groups. Among the tested models, the researchers found that Grok had the strongest biases, holding a more negative view of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baha’i, and Hindus. On the flip side, the researchers found that Meta and Anthropic had the least biased models. So what do we do with all of this? At the rate AI is developing, it’s increasingly more difficult to see a world where it doesn’t affect the way we think and talk with each other—actually, there’s data to show that it already is affecting our language. And, though it is changing our speech, its foundation is still deeply human. AI models have actually built themselves on combing through our communication—our articles, our books, our encyclopedias and our social media comments. So, if AI has certain biases, is it merely reflecting the biases of the human species? Or are the developers to blame for influencing its opinions? Or, perhaps most eerily, has AI really come to certain conclusions on its own about how faith ought to operate in our societies? And, if we want to change the way AI speaks about religion, it immediately becomes difficult to conclude how we avoid giving preferential treatment to certain faiths over each other while still being intellectually honest about when certain religions may be more contextually significant to answering a question. To help wade through the messy waters of AI and religion, I spoke with Arizona State ethics professor Ben Hurlbut. Hurlbut specializes in the intersection of faith, technology and ethics and helped me better understand how we have grown to trust the internet and why bias in AI might not be as bad as it sounds.

Investigating Religious Bias in Artificial Intelligence

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Later this year, Americans will recognize September 11, 2026 as the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center back in 2001.The attack was enacted by Al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic organization. And while countless Muslims decried the violence as both a tragedy and as an anti-Islamic act, the following years saw many Muslims (<a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/resources/human-rights/2024-november/misconceptions-misidentification-sikhs/" rel="nofollow">and people suspected to be Muslims</a>) severely mistreated.Right after 9/11, there were nearly <a href="https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/ethnic-and-cultural-studies/anti-muslim-violence-us" rel="nofollow">20 times the amount of assaults</a> on muslims every year as there had been in the 90’s. And, while that figure has risen and fallen in the decades since, in certain circles, a suspicion of Muslims in the U.S. and even an all out hatred of the Islamic faith has lingered.One of the circles in which Islam has often been called into question has been the far right. Speaking of Muslims back in 2015, Trump said “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension.” He said this in connection with his plans to prevent Muslim Immigration into the United States. A plan which, when elected, he partially saw through, by banning refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the country.And it wasn’t just Trump calling out Islam. In 2019, <a href="https://muslimadvocates.org/2019/07/muslim-advocates-to-fox-news-fire-tucker-carlson-after-latest-anti-muslim-rant-against-ilhan-omar/" rel="nofollow">Muslim Advocates</a> called on FOX News to fire Tucker Carlson for what he said about Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar and her Muslim faith. In a much more grave instance, also in 2019, a man killed nearly 50 people in a Christchurch, New Zealand Mosque. In his manifesto, he named conservative commentator <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/new-zealand-mosque-shooting-candace-owens-shooter-manifesto-1364149" rel="nofollow">Candace Owens as the person who had most radicalized him.</a> Candace, of course, did not endorse these killings. But her stance on Islam at the time was certainly more negative. But in 2026, a quick look through the talk shows and podcasts of Carlson, Owens and other right-wing commentators, will paint a very different picture of how these groups feel about Muslims. The same pundits who once criticized Islam, are now defending it.To better understand the right’s evolving relationship with Islam, I spoke with Matthew Schmitz. Schmitz is the editor of <a href="https://www.compactmag.com/" rel="nofollow">Compact Magazine</a> and the Religion Editor for the Washington Post Opinion Section. He is also Cohost of the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/against-the-grain/id1823575411" rel="nofollow">Against The Grain</a> podcast. Schmitz wrote an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/05/01/rise-islamo-christian-right/" rel="nofollow">article</a> back in May about the phenomenon of conservative influencers who have radically changed the way they talk about Islam online. We talked about this trend, how Trump measures up and what it might mean for the future of the Republican Party.

The Evolution of Islam and The American Right

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Earlier this year, Pew Research published the results of a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/02/12/religious-diversity-around-the-world/" rel="nofollow">study</a> on religious diversity around the world. While the U.S. didn’t even break the top 10 for most religiously diverse when all nations studied were taken into account, it ranked #1 in religious diversity out of the most populous countries.The United States certainly has a Christian tilt and a sizable population of nones. But, go to any major U.S. city and you’ll spot kippahs, hijabs, turbans, and houses of worship for every major belief system on the planet.Despite the American ability to live alongside people who believe vastly different things than us, the U.S. has a horrid past with religious oppression—think of the <a href="https://ajhs.org/events/jews-and-the-kkk-antisemitism-vigilantism-and-resistance/" rel="nofollow">KKK’s treatment of Jewish people</a> or the <a href="https://www.muwekma.org/blog/2022/august/a-new-spotlight-on-native-americans-forced-conversion-to-christianity.html" rel="nofollow">wipeout of indigenous people</a> and their forced conversion to Christianity or the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/articles/us-muslims-and-turbulent-post-911-world" rel="nofollow">attacks on Muslims</a> and Sikhs directly following 9/11.And while many prejudices take decades to extract the mainstream, a quick study of our history reveals that there is a clear pattern of America’s ability to eventually accept religious differences.Over a century ago, the Catholics pouring in from, first, Ireland and, later, Italy, were <a href="https://www.hprweb.com/2014/08/sticks-stones-and-broken-bones-the-history-of-anti-catholic-violence-in-the-u-s/" rel="nofollow">near the bottom of the social hierarchy</a>—pushed down by the majority protestant community who had been there much longer. Today, 6 of our 9 <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/391649/religion-supreme-court-justices.aspx" rel="nofollow">Supreme Court Justices </a>are Catholic—only 2 are protestants, and one is Jewish. Pathways to success at the highest level are available to all in the U.S., even to those who, not very long ago, were seen as inferior.The U.S. has a long way to go in terms of equality and in the acceptance of all religions. But, if history repeats itself, it seems possible that even the faiths that are most discriminated against today, could also find great success here.The United States had its 250th birthday last week. And, in the last few episodes we have tried to understand the role of Christianity in America’s founding. But what kinds of Christians were the first Americans? And what role did Catholics, Jews and Atheists play in the Revolution? Were there Muslims or Hindus on U.S. soil in 1776?To answer all of these questions and better understand the nature of religion at the time of America’s founding I spoke with <a href="https://fedsoc.org/bio/kate-carte" rel="nofollow">Katherine Carté</a>. Carté is a History Professor at Southern Methodist University and wrote the book “<a href="https://uncpress.org/9781469662640/religion-and-the-american-revolution/" rel="nofollow">Religion in The American Revolution: An Imperial History</a>.”

What Was American Religion Really Like in 1776

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George Washington is a man of a mythological stature. A stalwart man of war, 6’2” with animal teeth and a seemingly endless supply of stories where he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAoYLg8rQWU" rel="nofollow">cheated death</a>, Washington’s role is so much more than just a founding father or first president. From the $1 bill to the capital to the <a href="https://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/01_08_02_GWashBrdg.pdf?ref=untappedcities.com" rel="nofollow">busiest motor vehicle bridge</a> in the world, Washington’s name and image are everywhere in the USA.Washington is famously remembered as “<a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/first-in-war-first-in-peace-and-first-in-the-hearts-of-his-countrymen" rel="nofollow">First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen</a>,” and, this sentiment still largely rings true. And 250 years after the nation’s founding, Washington is still remembered as a great leader and a great man.But was he a good man? Did he understand morality? Did he have a relationship with divine goodness or submit to a higher power?Washington’s embrace of slavery as a means to growing his wealth, his collaboration with deists and just the general historical distance we have from when he lived, have all caused historians to call into question Washington’s relationship with Christianity.As American Independence Day approaches, on this week’s episode, culture critic Joseph Holmes investigates the faith of our foremost founding father in two separate conversations. In the first part of the episode, he interviews <a href="https://wm.wts.edu/faculty/peter-lillback" rel="nofollow">Peter Lillback</a> about his national bestselling book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/George-Washingtons-Sacred-Peter-Lillback/dp/0978605268" rel="nofollow">George Washington’s Sacred Fire</a>,” in which Lillback makes a strong argument for the case that Washington was in fact a committed Christian. In the second part of the episode, Joseph speaks with Diederik Hoogstraten, screenwriter of “<a href="https://www.angel.com/movies/young-washington" rel="nofollow">Young Washington</a>,” which comes out this Friday.Religion Unplugged&#39;s reporting and analysis is brought to you by real people — like me! Not AI. If you appreciate the work we do here at Religion Unplugged, and want to keep this show ad-free, please consider making a donation. Now is a particularly good time to give, since from now through August 17 your gift will be doubled. You can donate here: <a href="https://religionunplugged.com/donate" rel="nofollow">https://religionunplugged.com/donate</a>

Was George Washington A Christian?

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In recent years, “Christian Nationalism” has become a ubiquitous term in American political discussion.It is said by many with fear and loathing, and by others with great excitement and conviction.Among the enthusiasts include <a href="https://youtu.be/WAYWbbSeIhE?si=8FRhtjJXcj8ItHVO" rel="nofollow">Doug Wilson</a>, who is the pastor of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pete-hegseths-christian-rhetoric-reignites-scrutiny-after-the-u-s-goes-to-war-with-iran" rel="nofollow">Pete Hegseth</a>, the United States’ Secretary of War. And it’s not just Hegseth who has ties to the ideology, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, <a href="https://huffman.house.gov/imo/media/doc/CFC%20White%20Paper%20--%20Speaker%20Johnson.pdf" rel="nofollow">has also been described as a Christian Nationalist</a>. And many members of Trump’s administration and the pro-Trump media have flirted with the idea that Christians and, maybe more accurately, the Bible, ought to be the guiding force behind the government’s actions.Last month, Trump hosted <a href="https://freedom250.org/celebration/rededicate-250-a-national-jubilee-of-prayer-praise-and-thanksgiving" rel="nofollow">Rededicate 250</a>, an event which sought to, in the administration’s own words, “rededicate America as One Nation under God.”But as much as Christian Nationalism has become an emotional buzz word, the belief system it describes has varied over time—and the current MAGA-adjacent evangelical iteration is only a small piece of the story of how Christianity and American society have pushed and pulled on each other for centuries.As we recognize the U.S.’s 250th birthday, the question of whether or not America is a Christian nation or whether or not it was intended to be one, continues to show its face in social media feeds, newspapers, podcasts, pulpits and schoolrooms. So, to sort through the complicated relationship between Jesus and Uncle Sam, Joseph Holmes sat down with three American Christian professors: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-parks-60b0b352/" rel="nofollow">Matthew Parks</a>, <a href="https://www.josephloconte.com/" rel="nofollow">Joseph Loconte</a> and <a href="https://www.ccu.edu/about/leadership/cabinet/david-corbin/" rel="nofollow">David Corbin</a>. The group discusses whether or not the U.S. is a Christian country, whether that’s even possible and to what extent Christian beliefs ought to influence political decisions.If you’d like to hear more from our guests today, you can listen to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@DIAToday" rel="nofollow">Democracy in America Today</a> podcast, which is hosted by David Corbin and Matt Parks. Joseph Loconte has written several books, but he is most well known for his writings on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, the most recent of which was 2025’s <a href="https://www.josephloconte.com/books/the-war-for-middle-earth/" rel="nofollow">“The War For Middle Earth.”</a>

Is America A Christian Nation

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Religion and death, for many of us, go hand in hand. It is our faith that often shapes what we believe happens when we die and, perhaps just as importantly, what we ought to do while we still live. In fact, if a belief system does not ask us to consider our death and what it means for us—if it avoids the subject and keeps mortality at arm’s length, it is almost certainly not a religion at all. The Bible is many things, and among them, it is a ledger of death and dying. And, while the Bible has far less to say about the afterlife than our cultural imagination likes to impose upon it, the reality of death rings loudly through every book in the collection. Death is the curse brought on in Genesis. It fills the following books through wars, plagues, and punishments. It operates as the enemy defeated by Jesus through resurrection. And it awaits many of his followers as they seek to spread his teachings. Today, Christians continue to grapple with their mortality—with where exactly they are going and how exactly they might get there. And, while all of us know life will end, for those Christians who know that the end is imminent, faith can take on a whole new meaning. To understand what it’s like to be a Christian while approaching death, Culture Critic Joseph Holmes spoke with actor and writer Victoria Jackson. Jackson was an SNL cast member back in the 80’s and has had a long career in film and television—including work in many faith-based films. Jackson suffers from terminal breast cancer, and, with the knowledge that her life is going to end, she recently wrote “Not Dead Yet,” which tells the story of her life, her faith, and how she is dealing with dying. As with all of our podcasts, Religion Unplugged believes in a diversity of opinions. The viewpoints presented in this episode do not necessarily represent those of Religion Unplugged, its staff and contributors.

Victoria Jackson is Not Dead Yet

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According to Pew Research Center, nearly 75% of Black Americans identify as Christian. It’s well known that many of the first African American Christians were first exposed to Christianity in the midst of enslavement. This exposure could have been used as a tactic for control by enslavers or as a genuine attempt to lead individuals to salvation by missionaries. But, whether conversion happened out of fear or joy, the African religious practices that the enslaved people would have practiced back home, all but disappeared during American enslavement. But, when emancipation occurred in the 1860’s, the newfound freedoms of the formerly enslaved included not only an autonomy of body and identity, but an autonomy, at least in theory, of what they believed, and how they worshipped. For many, this materialized in a continued commitment to Christianity. But for many others, there was now the freedom to begin engaging with their traditional African beliefs, which often looked very different than Christianity. And even formerly enslaved Christians may have begun practicing a form of Christianity that, while still committed to the gospel, had visible distinctions and different emphases from the white men who first evangelized to them.  But, while African Americans technically had the right to religious freedom, practitioners of African religion still faced persecution, especially during the era of Jim Crow, where legally free black Americans were still oppressed by their white governments for nearly a century. Even today stigma around Voodoo and similar practices has made African religion a taboo in many communities. Harvard Professor Ahmad Greene-Hayes recently wrote a book called “Underworld Work,” which explores the nuances of African American religious practice in the era between emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement. I spoke with Greene-Hayes about the complexities of Black religion during Jim Crow and the ways many Americans misunderstand African Spiritualism.

African American Religion Beyond The Black Church

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Last week, Pope Leo cautioned developers and political leaders about the potential for exploitation in Artificial Intelligence development by comparing the AI race to the depravity of slavery. His wording was so strong, that he even called for AI to be “disarmed.” In the wake of Leo’s words, Christians around the world have taken a closer look at what it might mean to engage with artificial intelligence wisely—and to consider if that is even possible. A Barna study from this spring shows that 66% of Christians believe AI will improve their lives. Yet, 57% of Christians also believe that AI is a threat. And when you look at the statistics on pastors alone, there is even more caution, with 72% believing AI could be a threat. But not all Christians have been slow adopters of the technology. Last year, I spoke with a representative from Bible Chat, an AI chatbot meant to help Christians deepen their faith. And, in a year’s time, Christian AI use has not appeared to slow down. In Nigeria, where over 40% of people identify as Christians, a developer has invented an AI tool called Pewbeam, which automatically finds biblical references that a pastor mentions while preaching and projects them onto a church’s screen. Pewbeam is just one of many AI innovations across the continent of Africa. So, to find out more about how African Christians are using AI, and how they are being cautious about it, I spoke with Joseph Maina. Maina is a reporter based in Kenya who has been a regular contributor to Religion Unplugged for almost 3 years. I spoke with Maina this week about his recent article: God In The Algorithm: Coders Are Building AI For The Church.

How African Churches Are Using AI

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“If the learned and worldly-wise men of this age were to allow mankind to inhale the fragrance of fellowship and love, every understanding heart would apprehend the meaning of true liberty, and discover the secret of undisturbed peace and absolute composure.” Those words were penned 200 years ago by Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í faith. It was for words like these and other beliefs deemed heretical that Bahá’u’lláh spent much of his life being tortured and imprisoned. The Bahá’í faith is known for being a religion of peace—teaching the oneness of all humanity, the truths found in all religions and equality of men and women. Today, the Bahá’í faith has over five million members worldwide, many of whom are persecuted, particularly in Islamic-ruled nations.  Iran, currently in the midst of its own international conflict, holds 300,000 of these Bahá’ís. Much like their leader, Bahá’ís living in Iran face imprisonment for practicing their faith. A new film entitled “Cast Aside The Clouds” tells the story of a Bahá’í woman falling in love with a Muslim man—right in the middle of turbulent Iran.  Religion Unplugged’s Culture Critic Joseph Holmes spoke with the director of “Cast Aside The Clouds,” Mary Darling about why she wanted to make the film, her own journey with the bahá’í faith and the unity and conversations she hopes will come about as a result of its release. The film is not yet available on streaming, but is being screened in New York City at the end of this week, after which it will be screened in many large cities across the U.S. For more information on how to see the film, visit <a href="http://castasidetheclouds.com/" rel="nofollow">castasidetheclouds.com</a>.

What A Bahá'í Romance Can Tell Us About Iran

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There are currently 15,000 open cases of unidentified persons in the United States. Bodies are unable to be identified for a variety of reasons including severe mutilation, significant decomposition, no history of medical care or a lack of resources.  In the vast majority of situations, DNA testing can do a great deal of heavy lifting, but sometimes even this can be unsuccessful On November 24, 1989 in Mohave County, Arizona, a woman was found dead on the side of the interstate. Over 30 years later and the woman is yet to be identified. She is known only as the Mohave Jane Doe. Her DNA test results revealed that she was 96% Ashkenazi Jew. But, they told investigators little else. Mohave is not the only instance of Ashkenazi Jews struggling to understand their ancestry through genetic testing—nor is it the only time this unique genetic makeup has interfered with what appears to be a murder case. But why? Why does someone’s heritage make them harder to understand biologically? To find out, I spoke with Hannah Feuer, a reporter at Forward. Feuer recently covered the Mohave Jane Doe case and new efforts to find her identity once and for all in an article entitled: Her body has been unidentified for decades. Her Ashkenazi DNA may explain why. As our conversation continued, Feuer and I also discussed another recent piece of hers which explored the strange and solemn innovation of using Artificial Intelligence to keep the stories of Holocaust Survivors alive in the wake of their inevitable dying out.

Why Murder Investigations Can Be Complicated By Ashkenazi Jewish DNA

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In C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity he says: “the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time” This idea—that the point of the church is to make disciples is, at its core, not a highly contested one. But ideas about the way disciples are made and the context in which discipleship happens are much more varied. And, in these conversations, the question of a church’s size looms large. On the one hand you have the small church. It could be anywhere from just a handful of members to a few hundred, but, in any case, there is a much greater likelihood for congregants to build personal relationships with those leading the church, a greater sense of a tight-knit community where everybody knows one another and oftentimes a wide variety of ages in attendance, with some congregants having attended for the bulk of their lives. On the other hand you have the large church. Maybe its attendance is in the upper hundreds, the thousands or even the ten-thousands. This substantial attendance often means the ability to acquire a large chunk of land and employ a staff of seasoned professionals for everything from worship leaders who sound like pop-stars to trained baristas for their in-house cafes. And, with these resources and this influence, there is a greater ability to quickly raise money for disaster relief or needs in the congregation. There may be more comfort for new believers to not feel like they are standing out in the crowd. And the culture might be one which more naturally attracts non-christians. Criticism from one size of church to the other is not uncommon—the small churches will say congregants don’t know their pastors at large churches. The large churches will say the small churches aren’t going to reach unbelievers. But, what size is right for a church? Is there one at all? To find out, I spoke with Karl Vaters. Vaters was a pastor for decades, and now he creates resources dedicated to helping small churches thrive. Back in 2024, he wrote a book called “De-Sizing The Church” which investigates the way many churches pursued growth in attendance above all else, often to their detriment. Vaters’ book doesn’t demonize church growth, but instead asks pastors and congregants to consider what it means to be a healthy christian community, without anchoring that health to merely the number of people in the pews.

Are Big Churches As Healthy As Small Ones?

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This week marks one year since Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV. The late Cardinal Francis George who once presided over Leo’s hometown of Chicago famously said that there would never be an American Pope until the United States went into political decline. Whether Leo’s election to the papacy confirms this decline or proves Cardinal George incorrect, the reality of an American pope came as a surprise to most of us. Following the controversial papacy of Pope Francis, efforts to predict and understand the cardinals who were most likely to take his place were plentiful. Every major news outlet submitted its predictions for who would succeed Francis. Maybe another Italian with Cardinal Pizzaballa or Zuppi? Maybe the pontiff would be an African like Cardinal Sarah or Cardinal Turkson? Or Maybe the conclave would make history in electing Cardinal Tagle as the first Asian pope?  But, on most of these lists, Robert Prevost, the American who ministered in Chiclayo, Peru, was absent. So, almost immediately after Prevost entered the central balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica, there was a scramble to find out who he was, and what his priorities would be during his papacy. And while several books have been published about Leo, it seems the definitive biography of Prevost’s life is finally here. Elise Ann Allen’s “Pope Leo XIV: The Biography” was published last week. Allen is a Vatican reporter who currently works as a Senior Correspondent at The Crux. She knew Prevost before he was pope and was the first to interview him after his election to the papacy. On this week’s episode, I spoke to Allen to find out who Pope Leo XIV is, what has shaped his ministry and what he might hope to accomplish in his years as pope.

Pope Leo XIV Before The Papacy

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This July, the United States will celebrate its 250th year as an independent nation. The Founding Fathers established the U.S. on the foundation of the ideals they believed in.  The Declaration of Independence famously says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”Here we see equality, justice and the knowledge of a creator being upheld and dignified. We see similar themes in the constitution. Its preamble reads: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Again, justice appears, as does peace, perfection and blessings. All of these ideas are deeply intertwined with religious principles. And, this remains true despite the great variety of belief present among the founding fathers. While some were certainly Christians, many were very skeptical of Christianity and several others were deists. But for the Founding Fathers, these were not principles that only religious people could respect, they were common virtues—ideas that all Americans ought to see as essential to a flourishing society. But, while this virtue is baked into the very founding documents of our nation, what does its role look like in politics today? To find out, I spoke with Stephanie Slade. Slade is a senior editor at Reason magazine and the author of an upcoming book called “Fusionism.” In her book, Slade argues that the pursuit of virtue and liberty ought to be at the center of American policymaking. She argues that there was a time when conservative politicians in particular exhibited this balance well, but that, today, politicians who openly fight for legislation that upholds both virtue and liberty are largely absent from the most powerful rooms on American soil.

Can Virtue Save American Conservatism?

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At Religion Unplugged, we talk a lot about how faith shows up in modern movies and tv shows. And, more and more, we are noticing a positive shift. Movies about religion are getting better funding, booking high profile actors and holding their own at the box office. One of the projects, that fits this category is Amazon’s House of David.  “House of David” follows the Biblical epic that is the life of King David, which has, so far, traced his journey from a nobody shepherd boy to a great warrior who slays the giant Goliath. All while the Errant King Saul rules the Israelites. The Show stars Michael Iskander as David, Ali Suliman as King Saul, and Stephan Lang as Samuel the Prophet. When the series came out last year, Religion Unplugged’s Culture Critic, Joseph Holmes, said he believed it had potential to be even better than The Chosen, which has across the board, turned heads for its radical commitment to both Biblical accuracy and excellent artistry. With the release of House of David’s second season, Joseph called it “one of the best things the faith-based film space has ever made.” One of Joseph’s most consistent praises for the show has been its ability to balance history and fantasy in a way that treats the story both as an epic Bronze Age myth and as the carefully told story of a man whose life is deeply important to millions of people all around the world. On this week’s show, Holmes interviewed Jon Gunn, Executive Producer. The two talk through this balance of myth and reverence, the evolution of faith in film, the complications of portraying romance in a time where arranged marriage was the norm, and more.

How Both Fantasy and History are balanced in House of David

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