Segments
This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, our host, Rev. Welton Gaddy, speaks with his successor at the organization, Rabbi Jack Moline, the new executive director of Interfaith Alliance.
Welton will speak with Duke University’s Bruce Lawrence about a “Christian” backlash that led to the cancellation of a planned campus call to Muslim Friday prayers from the chapel tower.
We’ll also hear from Holly Hollman of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Aaron Sarver of the Campaign for Southern Equality about important cases in the current session of the Supreme Court.
An Eye on the Supreme Court
Nationwide marriage equality at last? The Supremes have agreed to hear four cases that analysts say could lead to just that. The Campaign for Southern Equality is the plaintiff in a current Fifth Circuit appeal on the issue, and Communications Director Aaron Sarver joins Welton to discuss possible outcomes. What about the religious freedom cases on the high court’s docket – is there a Hobby Lobby 2.0 on the way? Holly Hollman, General Counsel at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joins us to look at them, and analyze the unanimous guns-in-beards Holt v. Hobbs decision.
Outcry in Durham
The announcement of a planned three-minute broadcast of the Muslim call to Friday prayers on the campus of Duke University was met with ugly fearmongering and bigotry. Franklin Graham, who has a long history of divisive anti-Muslim rhetoric, even called on Duke alumni to withhold support from Duke over the inclusive gesture. Welton is joined by Rev. Dr. Bruce B. Lawrence, who has been at Duke for 40 years and founded the Islamic Studies Center at the University.
Meet Interfaith Alliance’s New Executive Director
Welton is joined by Rabbi Jack Moline, the new executive director of Interfaith Alliance. Jack will be a regular presence on the show, and this week we’ll focus on his background in interreligious activism as well as congregational ministry. Rabbi Moline recently represented Interfaith Alliance at the White House during the President’s State of the Union address, so we’ll get his firsthand impressions on both the tone and substance of a speech that included an encouraging focus on religious freedom.