Podcast: What do Cats Have to do with Interfaith Work?
If You’re Sad About Charleston, Do Something
Recently someone asked me: “What would your community look like if it loved black people?” A few answers came to me, but the first and last answer was, “I don’t know and I want... Read More
Laudato Si’ – Becoming Painfully Aware
This is the first in a multi-part series exploring the Laudato Si’ Encyclical Letter on the environment by Pope Francis. “Our goal is not to amass information or to satisfy curiosity, but rath... Read More
Inclusion in the Orthodox Jewish Community
This article is adapted from the thesis I wrote for my Master’s in Religious Studies from NYU, dealing with how to more fully include gay and lesbian Orthodox Jewish people into Orthodox congreg... Read More
Romantic Distance vs. Vexing Proximity: the difficulty of real up-close interfaith encounters
My research on interreligious dialogue and engagement has reinforced an old cliché: absence makes the heart grow fonder. When two people are distant from each other, it is easy to idealize each other... Read More
Charleston: #BlackLivesMatter This Ramadan
I logged onto Facebook Tuesday night, about to post a “Ramadan Mubarak!” wish for all my Muslim friends. And then, scrolling down my news feed, I saw it—the news that a white man had entered a b... Read More
The First Step is the Hardest: A Review of “But I Don’t See You as Asian: Curating Conversations About Race”
The days after the recent grand jury verdict in Ferguson, Missouri, many preachers were faced with a choice: do I talk about Ferguson or not? For many clergy that choice was complicated by a lingering... Read More
On Irreconcilable Differences: My Interreligious Dialogue with Mormon Missionaries
Since I’m conducting field research on interfaith dialogue in Rome, I thought it would be an important part of my participant-observation to embark upon a dialogue. I met some Mormon sisters conduct... Read More
There and Back Again: An Observation on the Rise of the Nones
If you’re a practicing Christian, regardless of your particular affiliation or denomination, chances are you’ve probably heard about the latest Pew Forum Data on America’s Changing Religious Lan... Read More
Pluralismo Vivo: The Interfaith Roads of Rome
It’s not easy to find clear examples of “interreligious violence” in Rome. The closest thing Rome suffers to religious violence are distant shrieks from ISIS across the Mediterranean Sea... Read More