Since Tuesday’s special Senate election in Alabama, many have been discussing what it means to be an evangelical. Eighty percent of white evangelical Christians voted for losing Republican candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexually assaulting and harassing underage girls. This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s radio show and podcast, we will take stock of the Religious Right and its continual push for power.
When we talk about church-state separation, many assume it’s all about protecting government from religious influence, but it’s also for protecting religion from government influence. Feminist scholar and Catholic theologian Dr. Gina Messina will join host Rev. Welton Gaddy for a closer look at what politicizing faith is doing to Christianity. Messina is a professor at Ursuline College and the author of Jesus in the White House.
It’s become an important annual tradition here at State of Belief. Toward the end of each year, the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute releases a sweeping profile of the nation and the beliefs of its inhabitants. Dr. Robert P. Jones, PRRI’s CEO, will join Welton to discus the findings from this year’s edition, which is entitled One Nation, Divided, Under Trump: Findings from the 2017 American Values Survey.
Too often these days it can feel like the world’s religions are at war with each other, often because political leaders pit religious communities against one another. This engineered conflict is nothing new, and it turns out neither are attempts at cooperation across religious lines. Michael Wolfe will be on State of Belief this week to share an untold story of interfaith collaboration and what we can learn from it today. He’s the president of Unity Productions and the executive producer of the new film The Sultan and the Saint, which tells the story of Francis of Assisi and the Sultan of Egypt during the Crusades.
