Latest Show June 15, 2013

This weekend, tune in to State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, to hear a leading rabbi’s take on the future of Judaism, to learn how one minister thinks we should settle the conflict between science and religion, and to find out: what’s a “Twible”?

“Reanimating” Judaism
Among Jewish leaders, there seems to be serious cause for concern over the future of the Jewish faith. While the Western Wall in Jerusalem is meant to be a space for spiritual healing, it has also long been a site of chaos and conflict as conservative voices loudly oppose the equal presence of women in active ritual. Meanwhile, a significant percentage of young American Jews seem increasingly detached from the ancient Jewish traditions. Deeply involved in both of these issues, Rabbi Sharon Brous joins Welton on the show this week to discuss what it means to be “reanimating Jewish life through soulful religious and spiritual practice that is rooted in a deep commitment to social justice.” Rabbi Brous is the founding rabbi of IKAR in Los Angeles and is the first woman to be named “America’s Most Influential Rabbi” by the Daily Beast.

God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age
Are you on Team Science or Team Religion?  Whether it’s efforts to inject religion-based “intelligent design” curriculum into science classrooms, or resist social progress in the name of a conservative set of faith values, there’s a mighty struggle going on in our culture between belief and knowledge. But Dr. Galen Guengrich, author of God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age, believes that we don’t have to pick sides in this epic battle between religion and science. Dr. Guengrich is on this edition of State of Belief to discuss how we can — and must — reconcile our physical reality with ancient scripture. Dr. Guengrich is a senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Church, a historic congregation located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.

The “Twible”
Many attribute our short attention spans, lack of communication skills and need for instant gratification to the evils of technology. But can it bring a new perspective to that most ancient of texts – the Bible? Jana Riess, a writer, editor, scholar and Twitter-aficionado would argue that technology can be used for spiritually uplifting, educational and humorous purposes. Over the past three years, Jana has compressed the Old and New Testaments into 140 character tweets, altogether comprising the “Twible.” She will share her story with us this week on State of Belief.

Latest News

Tweeting the Bible, A New Generation of Judaism, and God Revised: Next State of Belief Radio!

By Ray Kirstein on June 16, 2013

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On the next State of Belief Radio – Tweeting the Bible. Jana Riess did it, 140 characters at a time. It took three and a half years, but she lived to tell about it. Which is exactly what she’ll do on this weekend’s show!

Also, The Daily Beast named her as America’s most influential Rabbi. Sharon Brous serves as the founding rabbi of IKAR, an innovative community in Los Angeles tasked with “reanimating Jewish life through soulful religious and spiritual practice that is rooted in a deep commitment to social justice.” She’s on State of Belief to talk about that, and about her work with the Women of the Wall in Jerusalem.

And the author of the new book God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age. Galen Guengerich will explain how he sees that as being necessary, and more importantly, as being possible!

That’s all coming up this weekend on State of Belief! Here’s how to listen.

LGBT Families and Immigration Reform; Faith Leaders Without Faith; and The Case for Children: Next State of Belief Radio!

By Ray Kirstein on June 6, 2013

Welton with Bend the Arc's Hadar Susskind

Welton with Bend the Arc’s Hadar Susskind

On the next State of Belief Radio – is there room for bi-national gay couples in Comprehensive Immigration Reform? Hadar Susskind of Bend the Arc will be here to talk about the chances of – and the need for – an inclusive policy for same-gender families, and the chances of language from the Uniting American Families Act making it into an amendment to the legislation currently before the Senate.

Also, an organization dedicated to helping faith leaders who have lost their faith. You’ll meet Catherine Dunphy, former Catholic chaplain and today Executive Director of The Clergy Project.

And the always-entertaining Rabbi Simcha Weinstein. His new book is The Case for Children: Why Parenthood Makes Your World Better.

Be sure to tune in, for religion and radio – done differently!

Here’s how to listen.

A long-sought victory: FBI to start tracking bias crimes against Sikhs, other minority religious groups

By Ray Kirstein on June 6, 2013

It would be great if we didn’t need to compile statistics about hate crimes motivated by religious bias. But as long as such crimes are happening, it’s essential to know who’s being targeted.

On Wednesday, according to Jaweed Kaleem, writing in The Huffington Post,

“…an FBI advisory board voted to expand standard hate-crime incident reports used by thousands of police departments across the country to include crimes motivated by bias against the two religious groups, as well as Arabs. [...] The FBI currently tracks reports of hate crimes against Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and atheists/agnostics.”

For an explanation of why this move is so important, here’s our recent interview on the subject with Amardeep Singh of the Sikh Coalition.

We taped this in late 2012, when Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois convened a hearing on behalf of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights to look into domestic extremism and hate crimes. Interfaith Alliance was honored to be invited to contribute written testimony for the hearing.