Multifaith Matters

The QAnon conspiracy said that an underground Satanic pedophile ring of liberal Democrats was preying on our children. But such fears didn't start with them. In the 1980s, America was gripped by widespread panics about Satanic cults. Conspiracy theories abounded about groups who were allegedly abusing children in daycare centers, impregnating girls for infant sacrifice, brainwashing adults, and even controlling the highest levels of government. As historian of religions David Frankfurter at Boston University listened to these sinister theories, it occurred to him how strikingly similar they were to those that swept parts of the early Christian world, early modern Europe, and postcolonial Africa. He began to investigate the social and psychological patterns that give rise to these myths. Thus was born Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse, a riveting analysis of the mythology of evil conspiracy that is the focus of this podcast.

The growth of The Nones in American society has been dramatic. In 1972, just 5 percent of Americans claimed "no religion" on the General Social Survey. In 2018, that number rose to 23.7 percent, making The Nones as numerous as both evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. Every indication is that The Nones will be the largest religious group in the United States in the next decade. They represent a seismic shift in the understanding of American religion and the Christian Church. Ryan Burge is the guest in this edition of the podcast to help us understand this phenomenon. Burge is an Assistant Professor of Political Science as well as the Graduate Coordinator at Eastern Illinois University. He is also the author of The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going. In the book he details a comprehensive picture of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation. He gives readers a nuanced, accurate, and meaningful picture of the growing number of Americans who say that they have no religious affiliation. This book explains how this rise happened, who The Nones are, and what they mean for the future of American religion. Finally, Burge is a pastor in the American Baptist Church, having served his current church for over thirteen years.

In this podcast Thomas K. Johnson discusses his new books Humanitarian Islam, Evangelical Christianity, and the Clash of Civilizations, as well as The Protester, the Dissident and the Christian: Essays on Human Rights and Religion. (Free PDF copies have been made available on the Multifaith Matters recommended books page.) Johnson is Senior Theological Advisor to the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which represents and connects over 600 million Christians in 140 countries. Additionally, he currently serves as WEA Special Envoy to the Vatican and as Special Envoy to Engage Humanitarian Islam. He has long been a foremost international Protestant voice on human rights and religious freedom, including consulting with diplomats and religious leaders from around the globe. Johnson has authored nine books and more than 250 articles, essays, and book chapters in several languages. He has edited 25 books on religion in society, along with editing and translating numerous reports on human rights, religious freedom, and intrafaith and interfaith relations. If you find this podcast helpful please consider becoming a Patron.

In The Politics of Vulnerability, Asma Uddin, American Muslim public intellectual, religious liberty attorney, and activist, provides a unique perspective on the complex political and social factors contributing to the Muslim-Christian divide. Unlike other analysts, Uddin asks what underlying drivers cause good people to do, or believe, bad things? Why do people who value faith support measures that limit others', especially Muslims', religious freedom and other rights? Uddin humanizes a contentious relationship by fully embracing both sides as individuals driven by very human fears and anxieties. Many conservative Christians fear that the Left is dismantling traditional "Christian America" to replace it with an Islamicized America, a conspiratorial theory that has given rise to an "evangelical persecution" complex, a politicized vulnerability. Uddin reveals that Islamophobia and other aspects of the conservative Christian movement are interconnected. Where does hate come from and how can it be conquered? Only by addressing the underlying factors of this politics of vulnerability can we begin to heal the divide. If you find this podcast helpful, please consider supporting it with your Patronage.

Michael T. McRay is a Nashville-based writer, facilitator, and story-practitioner, and the award-winning author of I Am Not Your Enemy. In the pages of this book, visits divided regions of the world and interviews activists, peacebuilders, former combatants about their personal stories of conflict, justice, and reconciliation. In Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa, he hears from grieving parents who partner together across enemy lines, a woman who meets her father’s killer, and a man who uses theater to counter the oppression of his people, and many more. In a time of heightened alienation and fear, McRay offers true, sacred stories of reconciliation and justice, asking what they can teach us about our own divided states. Must violence be met with violence? Is my belonging complete only when I take away yours? Will more guns, more walls, more weapons keep us safe?  Michael works with organizations around the world as a story consultant and produces and hosts Tenx9 Nashville Storytelling. Michael writes and speaks on issues of story, conflict, and reconciliation. He lives in Nashville with his family. You can follow him at http://www.michaelmcray.com and @michaeltmcray on Facebook and Instagram. If you find this helpful, please consider supporting this podcast with your Patronage for just a few dollars a month.

Religion informs our disagreements over social and political issues, and how to care for the environment and climate change is at the top of the list. Bron Taylor,  professor of religion and nature, environmental ethics, and environmental studies at the University of Florida and author of Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, joins with Loren Wilkinson, retired Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies & Philosophy at Regent College, and editor of Earthkeeping in the Nineties: Stewardship of Creation, as they come together to discuss the issues. Wilkinson's work is also featured in the film Making Peace with Creation. If you find this helpful, please consider supporting this podcast with your Patronage for just a few dollars a month.

I was a guest on Phil Wyman's The Wild Theology podcast via Facebook Live where we discussed our practice of befriending those in other religions. We shared our stories, the responses of those in other religions, the harsh criticism we've sometimes received from fellow evangelicals, and related theological questions and concerns.

In this episode, we discuss the book The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently with co-authors Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler. Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Department of Jewish Studies. She has also taught at Swarthmore College, Cambridge University, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. She is the author of many books, including The Misunderstood Jew and Short Stories by Jesus, and she is the co-editor of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. Brettler is the Bernice and Morton Lerner Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Duke University. He has also taught at Brandeis University, Yale University, Brown University, Wellesley College, and Middlebury College. He is the author of many books, including How to Read the Bible and The Creation of History in Ancient Israel, and is the co-editor of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. Also mentioned in this discussion is The Bible and the Believer: How to Read the Bible Critically and Religiously. If you find this helpful, please consider supporting this podcast with your Patronage for just a few dollars a month.

To the dismay of religious leaders, study after study has shown a steady decline in affiliation and identification with traditional religions in America. By 2018, twenty-six percent of adults identified as unaffiliated–up more than seventeen percent since 2009. Even more startling, more than thirty percent of those under the age of thirty now identify as "Nones"–answering "none" when queried about their religious affiliation. Is America losing its religion? Or, as more and more Americans choose different spiritual paths, are they changing what it means to be religious in the United States today? Elizabeth Drescher helps us explore this topic. Her research, teaching, and writing focuses on religion, spiritual, and nonreligion as it is practiced by ordinary people in the contexts of everyday life. She holds a PhD in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union, and an MA in Roman Catholic Systematic Theology from Duquesne University (2000). Dr. Drescher is the author of several books, including Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of American Nones (Oxford University Press, 2016). She has published popular articles on American religious and spiritual life, new media and religion, and the challenges of religious leadership in America, The Atlantic Wire, AlterNet, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, Religion Dispatches, Christianity Today, Sojourners, and other national publications.    If you find this helpful, please consider supporting this podcast with your Patronage for just a few dollars a month. 

Buddhism has been in America for quite some time, yet few evangelicals know much about it. In this conversation on American Buddhism, we talk to George Draffan. George is a Seattle-based teacher and coach who is passionately interested in bringing together diverse Buddhist and Taoist practices to benefit people. He began studying Buddhism at the University of Wisconsin in the 1970s. Since then he’s received instruction and participated in many retreats with teachers in the Tibetan, Theravadin, and Zen Buddhist traditions. George has been a volunteer with the Northwest Dharma Association for more than 25 years, organizing events and at various times serving on the board and as executive director. If you find this helpful, please consider supporting this podcast with your Patronage for just a few dollars a month.