This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, Ray Kirstein sits in for Welton Gaddy and takes a look back at the troubling and chaotic week in politics. Our go-to political analyst, Greg Lebel, will walk us through the leadership crisis that broke out in the House of Representatives in recent days. Rev. Martin Copenhaver, president of Andover Newton Theological School, describes an ambitious new campaign to reduce gun violence. And we take a look back at how our show has wrestled with the issue of firearms in the past to see if anything’s changed. Download Icon

What Kind of Week Has It Been?
Whenever the political scene is just too complicated for us to comprehend, we call on Greg Lebel, Assistant Professor of Political Management at George Washington University. Well few weeks have been this unnerving, from the collapse of the leadership in the House of Representatives to the Russia’s advancing in Syria, so we had to turn to Greg. He and Ray will walk through the chaotic search for a new Speaker of the House, the controversy over the House’s Benghazi committee, and preview next week’s Democratic presidential debate.

So Many Mass Shootings, So Many Victims to Remember
As we get ready to celebrate State of Belief’s tenth anniversary, we’ve been going back through our archives. Nothing has been harder to hear than the segments where, time and time again, we’ve been forced to confront our nation’s plague of gun violence. But hopefully as we grapple with the tragedy at Umpqua Community College, by confronting our history, we might learn something this time. This week we’ll look back on an interview with Dr. Julie Ingersoll about her article “Gun Ownership: An Obligation to God.” Even though the segment is several years old, the dangerous nexus between faith and firearms rings true today.

Subverting the Gospel of Guns
It’s a cliché that throughout much of the U.S. our relationship to guns are a religion. But at least one religious leader thinks confronting gun culture like gospel might help move the conversation forward. This week, we’re joined by the Rev. Martin Copenhaver, president of Andover Newton Theological School, to talk about an upcoming summit the school will be hosting. Entitled “Subverting the Gospel of Guns,” this event will mobilize religious thinkers and advocates to confront our nation’s troubling relationship to guns and gun violence. Tune in to hear about this important and inspiring work.

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