This weekend marks the start of Pride Month, a celebration of the diversity, dignity, and visibility of LGBTQ+ people. It also brings with it Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of Black Americans from slavery. None of us lives in a bubble, and in order to create a more just world for all of us, we must tackle systems of oppression targeting BIPOC and queer Americans. This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we will look into how activists are doing just that with the Colors of Pride campaign.
For Pride Month 2021, a coalition of faith and activist groups – including Interfaith Alliance – are leveraging the occasion for practical organizing, training and action through the Colors of Pride initiative. The Rev. Dr. Roland Stringfellow, senior pastor and educator at the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit, and board president of Inclusive Justice will join Rev. Welton Gaddy, host of State of Belief, to discuss the new initiative.
Looking at the greatest moral initiatives of our time – the Sanctuary Movement, LGBTQ+ equality, economic justice, reproductive rights – it doesn’t take long to find noteworthy contributions from the next guest. Welton will sit down with the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, prolific author, inspired preacher, and a powerful voice for justice and moral inclusivity, to discuss her stepping down after 15 years as senior minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York.
The outrageously partisan response since the attack on the Capitol and the peaceful transfer of power on January 6th ought to terrify every patriotic American. But for a growing number of nationalists – often spurred on by their extreme understanding of Christianity – chaos, upheaval and bloodshed are long-term goals on their way to a fractured and submissive America. Fred Clarkson, senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, will join Welton to discuss the coalescing of far-right, anti-democratic forces in the American northwest he examines in his Religion Dispatches report, Convergence of far-right, anti-democratic factions in the northwest could provide a model for the rest of the nation.
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