Segments
More than 250 lives ended in a violent coordinated massacre at churches and hotels across the Southeast Asian country of Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we’ll hear from a faith leader and expert on interfaith efforts in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the attack.
The horror of a religious ideology being associated with an attack of this scale – or any violence, for that matter – cannot be overstated. It seems that each month, we mourn acts of violence committed against people of faith, whether in Sri Lanka; Christchurch, New Zealand; Oak Creek, Wisconsin; or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Survivors of these attacks have no choice but to move forward and pick up the pieces. The Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhant, president of the Omnia Institute for Contextual Leadership, will join State of Belief host Rev. Welton C. Gaddy to discuss these intricate and delicate subjects.
A prominent leader in the American Jewish community, Nancy Kaufman has led the National Council of Jewish Women as its first-ever CEO for the past eight years. In that time, our country experienced unprecedented political and cultural transformation and upheaval. NCJW works at a unique intersection of women’s issues and the Jewish community, and under Nancy’s leadership, has rallied women nationwide on a range of issues including supporting religious freedom, advocating for the appointment of fair judges in our courts and protecting Title X funding. She will sit down with Welton to share her insights and observations on the status of women in America and where she sees the organization going from here.
This past week was National Parks Week. We find ourselves in a time when political commitment to the environment seems at a low in our country, while many activists, particularly among younger generations, are identifying climate change as their top voting issue. Brad Lyons, co-author of a new book titled America’s Holy Ground: 61 Faithful Reflections on Our National Parks will join Welton this week to discuss celebrating the priceless inspiration gained from our environment and natural territories. Brad is also the publisher at Chalice Press, and we’ll get some details on the challenges facing a specialty book publisher in the digital age.
