This week on the interfaith Voices Podcast is the Hope Lives Annual Celebration featured musician, Shelene Zarate-Lopez!
Shelene is a singer, dancer and actress from Mexico City. She has a B.S. in Communications with specialization in Media Arts with a background in Musical Theater. Her singing experience has roots in traditional Mexican music and opera. Her passion for artistic expression started at the age of three when she first discovered dancing. She has studied different styles of dance including belly dance, hip hop, African, jazz, salsa, merengue and reggaeton. Her family and culture instilled a deep understanding of expressing oneself through music.

Shelene has worked as on air talent, producer and actress in radio, television and other audiovisual platforms. Currently she works as a bilingual specialist consultant, interpreter/translator, voice actor, video talent, script supervisor and as a singer. She hosts a bilingual show “Conectados” on the VMO show on WVMO 98.7 FM every 3rd Friday of the month at 12:00 pm and her interviews are available in video on the Monona Community Media Youtube page and the Monona Go App. In her free time she loves advocating for her Mexican and Latino community, fitness dancing, yoga, sewing, cooking, worshipping, crafting and spending time with God, her Family and her friends!

For more information on the Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice Hope Lives Annual Celebration, please go to www.wifaithvoices.org/hope-lives

Cecelia Klingele was a panelist for our May Interfaith Intersections event on Justice. She is well qualified for the topic as a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she teaches courses in criminal law, Constitutional criminal procedure, policing, and sentencing and corrections. She also teaches courses for law students and undergraduates on Catholic Legal Thought and the Social Encyclicals. Since 2024, she has served as Director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy, and is a faculty associate of the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Integrated Liberal Arts Studies program (ILS).

For more information on Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and Interfaith Intersections please go to  www.wifaithvoices.org

The Internal Revenue Service said July 7 it no longer will enforce the Johnson Amendment that prevents churches and other nonprofits from endorsing political candidates. While some are praising the move that effectively ignores a 1954 law passed by Congress, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and our National partners Interfaith Alliance see it as a dangerous precedent.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzimmons serves as the vice president of programs and strategy at Interfaith Alliance, where he directs the organization's integrated advocacy campaigns and movement building. He is also an MSNBC columnist and the author of Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity (Broadleaf Books, 2020).

For more on interfaith Alliance go to www.interfaithalliance.org
For more on WI Faith Voices for Justice go to www.wifaithvoices.org

Author, Speaker and Activist Brian McLaren joins the show this week to discuss the importance of Interfaith connection in challenging times and also shares the  inspiration behind his new book The Last Voyage.

For more on Brian or to order the book go to www.brainmclaren.net
For more information in Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice go to www.wifaithvoices.org

Todays podcast features Dr Sergio Gonzalez. Sergio is an assistant professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of the 2017 book Mexicans in Wisconsin and his latest release called Strangers No Longer Latino Belonging and Faith in 20th century WI came out in 2024.

Click HERE to purchaser Strangers No Longer
Click HERE to register for the July 17th Webinar Sanctuary and Sacred Resistance in Uncertain Times

For more information on Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice go to www.wifaithvoices.org

On this episode, you will have the opportunity to listen to a portion of the most recent Interfaith Intersections event which was held at the Madison Islamic Center.
Our moderator as usual was WFVJ board member and former UW Madison professor Charles Cohen. The panelists you will be hearing from are Vaqar Adhami, who is Muslim, Alan Garfield who is Jewish, and Cecilia Klingele  who is Catholic.

For more information in Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and to find out about upcoming events go to www.wifaithvoices.org

Michael Kinnamon is a novelist. His most recent book A rooftop in Jerusalem draws on his extensive experience in the Middle East. Prior to his career as a novelist, he was a widely respected professor of Theology, author of numerous books on ecumenical and interfaith relations and general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the US.

For more on Michael go to www.michaelkinnamon.com
To order A Rooftop in Jerusalem click HERE

For More on Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice go to www.wifaithvoices.org

How do our faith traditions address the Youth Mental Health Crisis?
This episode features the three panelists from our April Interfaith Intersections event in Eau Claire WI.

Tim Nyseth represents the Baha'i faith.
Lynn Buske is an ELCA Lutheran.
Lama Yeshe is a Buddhist monk

Keep in mind that our panelists do not speak on behalf of their faith tradition but simply from their own lived experience.

for more information in WI Faith Voices for Justice and Interfaith Intersections go to www.wifaithvoices.org

President and CEO of Interfaith Alliance Paul Brandeis Raushenbush joins the podcast today to discuss his journey to interfaith work culminating in his current role with Interfaith Alliance. We also discuss the Save Act and why it is a threat to our democracy.

For more on interfaith Alliance go to www.interfaithalliance.org

To sign up for the upcoming Interfaith Intersections Event on May 15th go to https://www.wifaithvoices.org/interfaith

Rev Luis Velasquez is a statewide organizer with Voces de la Frontera working diligently to protect the rights of our immigrant brothers and sisters.

For more information on Voces de la Frontera including information on the May 1st and 2nd marches in Milwaukee and Madison go to www.vdlf.org

For more information on WI Faith Voices for Justice and Interfaith Intersections go to www.wifaithvoices.org