From Charleston to Pluto: Looking To The Heavens and Close To Home
This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show
and podcast, Interfaith Alliance Executive Director Rabbi Jack Moline
is filling in for Welton Gaddy as host. We’ll check in with PICO
National Network’s Pastor Mike McBride about his organization’s broad
response to the tragedy in Charleston. We’ll hear from Celene
Ibrahim-Lizzio about a new training program for the next generation of
interfaith leaders. And Jack and Rabbi Elliot Dorff will reflect on
NASA’s mission to Pluto and our spiritual connection to the stars.
Finally, Jack leaves us with some thoughts about the American flag and
the historical role of religion in American public life.
Faith in Times of Tragedy
When tragedy struck Chattanooga, Tennessee this week, too many of us had
still not healed from last month’s tragic shooting at Emanuel AME
Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Miraculously, though, the struggle
to move forward has manifested itself not in hatred, blame, or anger,
but, instead, in a new sense of community and support. We have taken the
Confederate battle flag down from the South Carolina statehouse and
approached the discussion of racism across the country with new, more
understanding, eyes. Today the Director of PICO Network’s LiveFree
Campaign and pastor of “The Way” Christian Center in West Berkeley, CA, Pastor Mike McBride,
joins us to discuss PICO’s activism since Charleston, the meaning of
activism, and how to bring faith-based messages to more secular
The Necessity and Future of Diversity in Belief
Exciting interfaith initiatives have sprung up all over the world as we
grow to more fully respect the diverse beliefs in our global community.
Nowhere is this newfound necessity more clearly understood than in
programming at Newton Andover Theological Seminary and Hebrew College in
Boston, Massachusetts. We’re joined today by Islamic
Scholar-in-Residence, Celene Ibrahim-Lizzio, to talk
about the history of collaboration between these two institutions, and a
new interreligious leadership degree program that seeks to meet the
need for a new generation of interfaith community.
How and Why We Decide Who and What to Believe In
This week marked an exciting discovery as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft
became the first mission to reach the dwarf planet, Pluto. In light of
this new innovation in the scientific community, we ask ourselves what
it is about the sky and stars that inspires so much belief and
questioning. We’re joined by Rabbi Elliot Dorff,
professor of Jewish Theology at the American Jewish University, to ask
what we really are looking for when we look up to the sky, the celestial
aspects of Jewish teaching, and the relevance of new space discoveries
to faith leaders and scholars.
American Christianity: Our State Culture, If Not Religion
In the final part of our show, we will reflect on Christianity in
America. Though it is officially stated that, “the Government of the
United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian
religion,” there is no denying the presence of a Christian culture in
American society. However, how does that change when America’s openness
towards new definitions of equality, freedom, and accessibility
translate into openness towards new, diverse sets of faith in our
culture? Rabbi Moline will discuss Christian culture in America’s
history and why it is so important to celebrate the diversity of faith
