Voices of Interfaith America – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Jenan Mohajir interviews Dr. Da'Tarvia Parrish, an award-winning and energetic professor at Livingstone College, proud AME Zionite, and author of Jailbirds Don't Fly. Born in prison to an incarcerated parent, Dr. Parrish shares how her faith and community shaped her dedication to civic engagement. She also discusses the role of Historically Black colleges and universities in safeguarding voting rights and engaging young voters. Highlighting the historical challenges of voter suppression, Dr. Parrish emphasizes the need for unity and inclusivity in the democratic process.

Visit Interfaith America to learn more about the organization and the Voices of Interfaith America Podcast Network. 

Pick up a copy of Dr. Parrish's powerful book, Jailbirds Don’t Fly to really understand the impact her life has had on others.  

Learn more about how you can support your community this election season with Interfaith America's Faith in Elections Playbook. 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with new episodes, interfaith stories, and our programs.

In this episode of Faith in Elections, Adam Phillips talks with Patricia Ruiz-Cantu, an evangelical leader from Milwaukee, who discusses how her Christian faith inspires her to promote civic engagement within the Latino community. Reflecting on her journey as an immigrant and her conversion from Catholic to Evangelical, she explains challenges Latino voters face, including misinformation. Patricia highlights her initiative, Renaces (You Are Reborn), which focuses on civics education for Latino Evangelicals, and underscores the importance of bringing joy and optimism to election work, even in divisive times.

Guest Bio: Patricia Ruiz-Cantu, as a Community Outreach Manager at the City of Milwaukee, has over eight years of experience in developing and implementing innovative programs and initiatives that foster authentic human connections and civic engagement among diverse communities. She collaborates with various stakeholders, including faith leaders, media outlets, non-profit organizations, and elected officials, to build trust, collaboration, and awareness on various issues and opportunities that impact the city and its residents. 

In addition to her role as a Community Outreach Manager, Patricia also serves as an Election Commissioner and a Certified Coach, Trainer, and Speaker with The John Maxwell Team. These roles allow her to leverage her skills in conflict resolution, workshop facilitation, and leadership development to empower individuals and groups to achieve their goals and create positive change. As a bilingual and bicultural professional in Spanish and English, she has a unique perspective and ability to communicate effectively across cultures and contexts.

Find out more about Civics 101 and Renaces  by following Patricia on X @Pruizcantu. 

The identity of “evangelical” contains a wide range of people from across America and the world. We believe they have an important role to play in America’s Diverse Democracy. In collaboration with Christianity Today, Interfaith America has launched a new essay series that equips Christians to live faithfully and neighborly in a world we don’t control. Featuring leaders in the evangelical tradition—like John Inazu, Karen Swallow Prior, Matthew Kaemingk, and Russell Moore—this series offers thoughtful and diverse perspectives on how Christians can build bridges across differences in their communities. To read the series and learn more about our work with evangelicals, visit Evangelicals in a Diverse Democracy.

Visit Interfaith America to learn more about the organization and our podcast. 

Learn more about how you can support your community this election season with Interfaith America's Faith in Elections Playbook. 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with new episodes, interfaith stories, and our programs.

Eboo Patel is joined by American theologian, writer, and editor of Sojourners, Jim Wallis, to discuss his new book The False White Gospel. Wallis shares his belief that white Christian nationalism is an enemy of democracy and pluralism due to its exclusionary theology and emphasis on dominance. They discuss a vision for creating a new, multifaith American church that partners across differences and revitalizes religious communities in addressing social issues.

Guest Bio: Jim Wallis is the inaugural holder of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and the Director of its new Center on Faith and Justice. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and is the author of multiple New York Times bestselling books, including God’s Politics; his latest book, The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy, was released on April 2nd, 2024, and is available wherever you buy books. In 2022 and 2023, Washingtonian magazine named Wallis one of the 500 most influential people shaping policy in DC. Wallis is also the founder of Sojourners.

Najeeba Syeed and Eboo Patel explore the ethics and future of interfaith work amid deep divides across religious communities. They focus on the impact of global wars and crises on religious communities and discuss the role of institutions in promoting interfaith understanding through open-mindedness and deep listening.

Guest Bio: Najeeba Syeed is the inaugural El-Hibri endowed Chair and Executive Director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been a professor, expert practitioner, and public speaker for the last two decades in conflict resolution, interfaith studies, mediation, restorative Justice, education, and social, gender, and racial equity.

She has facilitated conflict resolution processes for conflicts in many schools, communities, and environmental and public controversies. She served as the co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Religion and Politics Section and was a member of the Academy’s Religion, Social Conflict, and Peace Section.  She was elected by the body of the American Academy of Religion to serve on the governing body of the Program Committee. She is a past board member of the National Association for Community Mediation, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation and serves on the Higher Education Advisory Council for Interfaith America, and Advisory Council for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Tanenbaum Center and past chair of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women. She served on the Teaching Team for the Luce American Academy of Religion Summer Seminar on Religious Pluralism and Comparative Theologies.

Widely known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom The Office, Emmy Award nominee Rainn Wilson talks about his new book 'Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution,' the future of religion and spiritual themes in Hollywood, and the spirituality of his famous character Dwight Schrute.  

Guest Bio: Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, writer, and director — widely known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), for which he earned three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. 

Other film credits include lead roles in the comedies The Rocker (2008) and Super (2010), as well as supporting roles in the horror films Cooties (2014) and The Boy (2015). In 2009, he provided his voice for the computer-animated science fiction film Monsters vs. Aliens as the villain Gallaxhar and voiced Gargamel in Smurfs: The Lost Village. He has played a small recurring role of Harry Mudd on Star Trek: Discovery (2017) and Star Trek: Short Treks (2018), as well as a supporting role in The Meg (2018). He is also the voice of Lex Luthor in the DC Animated Movie Universe. Outside of acting, Wilson published an autobiography, The Bassoon King, in 2015 and co-founded the digital media company SoulPancake in 2008. 

You can tune in to all episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday at 5 a.m. CST. 

Ayad Akhtar, American playwright, novelist, and screenwriter, joins Eboo Patel at the Chicago Humanities Festival to discuss art, creativity, and cultural sensitivity. They emphasize the need to engage with and respect different identities in a diverse democracy rather than resorting to simplistic labels like "victim" or "racist." 

Bio: Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright. His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

Akhtar is the author of Homeland Elegies (Little, Brown & Co.), which The Washington Post called "a tour de force" and The New York Times called "a beautiful novel…that had echoes of The Great Gatsby and that circles, with pointed intellect, the possibilities and limitations of American life." His first novel, American Dervish (Little, Brown & Co.), was published in over 20 languages. As a playwright, he has written Junk (Lincoln Center, Broadway; Kennedy Prize for American Drama, Tony nomination); Disgraced (Lincoln Center, Broadway; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony nomination); The Who & The What (Lincoln Center); and The Invisible Hand (NYTW; Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, Olivier, and Evening Standard nominations). 

Prominent law and religion professor John Inazu discusses the political flip-flop of conservative Christians in America, the role of evangelical Christians in creating safe spaces, and the importance of navigating differences with empathy and respect.  

Guest Bio: John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion and holds a joint appointment in the Washington University Law School and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. 

Inazu's scholarship focuses on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion and related legal and political theory questions. Inazu is the special editor of a volume on law and theology published in Law and Contemporary Problems, and his articles have appeared in several law reviews and specialty journals. He has written broadly for mainstream audiences in publications including USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. 

You can tune in to all episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday at 5 a.m. CST. 

Danielle Allen is a political scientist, professor, and director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. Allen explains the Declaration of Independence's error about democracy, how she navigates a cluttered world of power, and the opportunities she sees to marry religious ideologies with civic identities. 

Guest Bio: Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. She is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy. She is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, tech ethicist, distinguished author, and mom.  

You can tune in to all episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday at 5 a.m. CST. 

Jonathan Eig, an American journalist, and biographer, gives us a deeper insight into MLK Jr.'s life as a civil rights activist and the lessons we can still learn from his work about the role of religion in activism. He also discusses MLK's hopes for our nation and why young people today are skeptical of the Church. 

Bio: Jonathan Eig is the bestselling author of six books, including his most recent King: A Life, which The New York Times hailed as a "monumental" new biography of Martin Luther King Jr., and is a National Book Award nominee. 

Jonathan's previous book, Ali: A Life, won a 2018 PEN America Literary Award and was a Mark Lynton History Prize finalist. His works have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He served as consulting producer for the PBS series "Muhammad Ali," directed by Ken Burns. The Esquire magazine named Ali: A Life is one of the 25 most excellent biographies of all time. Joyce Carol Oates called it "an epic of a biography" that "reads like a novel." His books have been listed among the best of the year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. 

You can tune in to all episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday at 5 a.m. CST. 

Amanda Ripley is a New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and co-founder of Good Conflict, a media and training company that helps people reimagine conflict. As the violence abroad and at home escalates, Ripley and Patel discuss “high conflict” – what it is, how it impacts individuals and society, and ways to resolve high-conflict situations.

GUEST BIO: 

Amanda has spent her career trying to make sense of complicated human mysteries by following survivors of all kinds. Her most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, winner of a 2022 Christopher Award. Her previous books include The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why, which was published in 15 countries and turned into a PBS documentary, and The Smartest Kids in the World—and How They Got That Way, a New York Times bestseller which was also turned into a documentary film. 

Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Guardian, the Harvard Business Review, and the Times of London. Her stories helped Time win two National Magazine Awards. Previously, she served as an Emerson Collective Senior Fellow and the host of the weekly Slate podcast How To!

You can tune in to all episodes on our website, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday at 5 a.m. CST.