Jeanne Lewis reflects on how faith-rooted work differs from the organizing of previous eras and rejects the notion that the progressive movement has lost religion.

Kristin Kobes Du Mez talks about the role of Christian pop culture in reshaping evangelical attitudes about gun rights, gender, and demographic changes sweeping across the country.

A college student shares what it is like to be a religious Jew who rejects Zionism

Our guests, a physician and a hospice chaplain, discuss the importance of attending to the spirit as well as the body at the end of life.

In a soundscape of surf, sand, and spirituality, Father Christian Mondor recounts how he began riding waves at age 70. In water, he finds a metaphor for the holy trinity. And in the surf, he finds a kind of baptism.

An elder remembers indigenous life back before Shasta Dam was built. The legality of the proposal to raise Shasta Dam is considered. Meanwhile, Chief Caleen Sisk considers a new strategy to fight back: turning an adversary — the Westlands Water District — into an ally.

All of the episodes of A Prayer for Salmon can be found on The Spiritual Edge website.

Liam Adams, the religion reporter for The Tennessean in Nashville, introduces us to the complex religious landscape of the city, and talks about the response of the faith community to the Covenant School shooting. Many faith leaders are calling for gun reform – including leaders within conservative Christian faith traditions, and Governor Lee is listening.

Liam Adams. Religion reporter at the Tennessean in Nashville. Before, he freelanced stories about religion for Christianity Today, Religion News Service, and National Catholic Reporter

In his latest book, The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War, Journalist Jeff Sharlet outlines a new era of martyrs and civil war.

Bob Otis is the founding pastor of Sacred Garden Community Church. He outlines its core beliefs, its practices, and the somewhat long path to membership. Then Don Lattin, author of “God on Psychedelics,” describes how worship communities based on psychedelic plants are popping up from Massachusetts to Washington State.

Pastor Bob Otis describes his own personal faith journey that brought him from a Christian home in Tennessee to a psychedelic church in Berkeley.

Chief Phillip Scott is a teacher in indigenous medicine with Lakota ancestry. He has consulted with Sacred Garden Community Church on their use of what he calls “sacred plants."

The story continues as Judy Silber explores how the Winnemem Wintu view water and land as sacred entities that must be in balance and believe they were put on Earth to protect and steward their homeland.<br />

Judy Silber, producer of A Prayer for Salmon, talks about building trust with the Winnemem Wintu tribe as a journalist,

Dr. Toni Pressley-Sanon's latest book, Lifting As They Climb: Black Women Buddhists and Collective Liberation explores how a growing number of Black women have integrated Buddhist practices into their spiritual lives.

We present A Prayer for Salmon: A documentary series from The Spiritual Edge telling the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their clash with the raising of Shasta Dam.

To say that planning a Model Seder and Iftar was a learning experience would be an understatement. In this conversation, Orthodox Jew Deena Grant shares how surprised she was to discover many similarities between her tradition and those in Islam.

Pardeep Kaleka shares what he has learned about himself, how his faith has evolved, and how escalation in mass shootings demands a reckoning with the deeply held values of the nation.

Anwar Khan is the President of Islam Relief USA and is a board member of global and national humanitarian organizations working to alleviate hunger and human suffering.  He describes their counterparts in Turkey and how the organization’s disaster response efforts are targeting the most vulnerable after the devastating earthquake on February 6th. 

Dr. Tricia Bruce, a sociologist from Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religion in Society recently published a paper studying discordant benevolence as it relates to attitudes about abortion in America.

In 2005 Dr. Amina Wadud made waves when she led Muslim prayers in New York City.

Stephen Prothero talks about Eugene Exmam who was responsible for publishing some of the most important religious books of the 20th century.

In his book, God, the Best Seller, Stephen Prothro tells the story of  Eugene Exman, responsible for the religious book department at Harper and Brothers from 1928 to 1965.

Dr. Linda Mercadante a Distinguished Research Professor, Emerita,  at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. and founder of HealthyBeliefs discussed her journey from being "spiritual but not religious" to becoming a scholar of religion.

Harley Rustad recounts the life of Justin Alexander Shetler, an American man who vanished in India’s Parvati Valley in 2016. Shetler, described as a sort of “lost boy” by his friends, was on a spiritual quest, one that caused him to push himself to greater and greater extremes and eventually, fatal danger.

Mike Merryman-Lotze joins us to share the struggles facing humanitarian workers in Gaza.

Finding new inspiration in this ancient story to stand with oppressed women in the #MeToo era.

Jan Williams witnessed and describes President Carter’s spiritual legacy which included working to support women’s access and inclusion in all spheres of church life.

In the 2014 religious biography Redeemer, Randall Balmer describes how the controversial president’s rise and fall coincided with the decline of Christian progressives and the Religious Right.

In 2014, our founder Maureen Fiedler interviewed President Jimmy Carter shortly after his book A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power.

In his 2021 book, “Learning to Pray,” Jesuit priest and bestselling author Father James Martin charts an approach to prayer that is not just for Catholics, but is for everyone.

Martyn Oliver, says fasting most likely predates organized religion. And we explore how individuals and communities are embracing the ancient ritual of abstaining from food, water, intimacy, and comfort as a response to modern life.

Then, the 19-Day Fast in the Bahá’í tradition begins at sundown on March 1, 2023.  The fast marks the last month of the Bahá’í calendar before the new year. It involves abstaining from food or drink from sunrise to sunset. The multigenerational Ewing-Boyd family of Washington DC invites host, Ambereen Khan, to join a breaking of the fast and share how they do their best to use this time of fasting as an opportunity to slow down, gain discipline, and reconnect with each other.

Five years ago she left her church and found a more profound sense of connection and belonging outdoors.&nbsp; Valerie Luna Serrels shares her journey and offers a glimpse at how members of her local Church of the Wild gather and find meaning.&nbsp;

Bob Smietana's new book Reorganized Religion takes a closer look at the state of the American church and the way congregations and their leaders are adapting, shifting, or resisting.

Springtide Research Institute’s former executive Josh Packard explains why data and survey research offers more nuance and insights into GenZ’s approach to values, meaning-making, and answering the big questions.

Two years ago on the campaign trail, President Biden promised to end the inhuman border policies that barred migrants seeking asylum from entering the United States. Instead of ending the use of Title 42, faith leaders describe how new proposed rules and laws will expand its use. 

The Israeli military is using artificial intelligence and the targeting of low-level members of Hamas in their homes at a time when civilian casualties would be high.

The leader of the New York Immigration Coalition Murad Awawdeh is undeterred in his advocacy for migrants.  The oldest coalition of immigration groups in New York is leading efforts to secure housing, shelter, and support for new arrivals.

Jovana Nieto is the coordinator of the Migrant Accompaniment Network and she is on a mission to recruit volunteers to support newcomers on their journey to making the US home.

One of the major themes to emerge from the new PBS documentary "The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song" is the often-overlooked roles Black women play in strengthening that institution.

Dr. Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University's Divinity School, describes how women keep the institution of the Black church strong and growing, despite being often unwelcome in the pulpit.

We talk to filmmaker Joshua Seftel to learn about his Academy Award-nominated film "Stranger at the Gate" and the backstory that lead him to make it.

Award-winning author Sofia Samatar was raised Mennonite, but, with brown skin in a Germanic faith, she sometimes felt she did not fit in. Then she discovered the obscure story of a group of 19th-century Russian Mennonites who made a difficult and deadly migration to Uzbekistan.

Rev. Earl Smith, Jr is the chaplain for the San Francisco 49ers and Golden State Warriors.   It’s a pastoral job that demands a different approach.

Dr. Lewis V Baldwin, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University, discusses his new book, “The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,” which he was inspired to write, in part, by the battle over truth that characterized the presidency of Donald Trump.

Award-winning Palestinian-American journalist Daoud Kuttub writes for the Religion News Service that the rise of Israel’s far-right orthodox parties in the new coalition government could threaten democracy and democratic norms.

Kalpana Jain offers context, history, and analysis of the biggest global stories likely to appear in the headlines in 2023.

Joy Ashford is the new religion reporter at the Dallas Morning News, supported by Report for America.  They join us to share some of the stories Joy has been covering in North Texas.

Dilshad Ali shares her top picks of stories that began in 2022.

Christian Chronicle editor Bobby Ross Jr. and producer Kimberly Winston discuss the biggest stories in the US based on feedback from religion reporters around the world.

Lauren Markoe is the news editor at the Forward. This American Jewish weekly publication monitors the rise in anti-Semitism and the various responses from civic and government leaders.