Beliefs Podcast

Host Bill Baker sits with RNS Editor-in-Chief Bob Smietana for a conversation regarding the history and future of religion reporting in America and why religion journalism matters now. Transcript This transcript has been edited for clarity. How did you get started in this religion journalism world? There are two answers to that. One is: I […]

Shot by more than 40 filmmaking teams around the world, the film Sacred immerses the viewer in the daily use of faith and spiritual practice. At a time when religious hatreds dominate the world’s headlines, this film explores faith as primary human experience, and how people turn to ritual and prayer to navigate the milestones and crises […]

The Interfaith Center of New York is nationally recognized innovator in sparking collaboration among faith leaders. Their mission is to tackle and overcome prejudice, violence, and misunderstanding.  To understand the challenges that face an organization with this kind of mandate, especially in these politically charged days, Dr. Baker sat with Reverend Breyer to talk with […]

The wreaths, the masses, the dates…  even St. Nicholas himself. Where our liturgical traditions came from, with the scholar and cleric Reverend Monsignor Alan Detscher of the St. Catherine of Siena Church in Riverside, Connecticut.

It’s been another foundation-shaking year in the Catholic Church as revelations of sexual predation and abuse by its most senior clerics are seemingly unending. Author Michael Sean Winters writes for the National Catholic Reporter and The Tablet. Host Bill Baker and Winters sat down to puzzle out some of the paths forward for the Church […]

Qasim Rashid is a critically acclaimed author, attorney, activist and host of the Religion News Foundation podcast, Re-Sight Islam. Drawing on the recent events in Texas involving an attempt to oust a local Republican Party operative specifically because of his Muslim faith, Beliefs producer talks with Qasim about the vibrancy of this public religious discrimination and the pernicious […]

Acclaimed religion reporter for the New York Times, Peter Steinfels recently authored an article in the publication Commonweal. In it, he makes an impassioned, meticulously developed case that a recent grand jury report on sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was, quote, “Inaccurate, Unfair, and Misleading”.    Steinfels claims the report was surrounded by journalistic laziness, misrepresentation of the efforts made […]

Charismatic Christians are spiritually related to Pentecostals through certain spiritual practices, including divine healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues. Pew Research Center estimates there are just over 300 million Charismatics worldwide.    Religion News Service reporter Jack Jenkins has been following Charismatics as their rituals and beliefs evolve into a modern political/spiritual hybrid.  Jenkins joined producer […]

The Fordham Center on Religion and Culture was established to confront the questions arising at the intersection of religious traditions and contemporary culture. Director David Gibson came to the helm of the Center last year after a long and distinguished career as one of the nation’s top religion reporter.   Beginning with his first beat working in […]

Norman Vincent Peale was one of the most famous ministers of the 20th century as one of the first radio, and later television, preachers.  His program “The Art of Living” aired for 54 years.  Peale was very much at the intersection of religion and politics.  He was a close friend of Richard Nixon, was awarded […]

Will the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis ever end?   In her new podcast Deliver Us, Maggi Van Dorn speaks as a Catholic committed to healing the church from the inside. Van Dorn and her producer Eloise Blondiau talk with our host Bill Baker on the origins of the podcast and what they hope to accomplish. 

The United Kingdom is weeks away from a forced exit from the European Union that will bring unknown changes to the economy, politics, logistics, and everyday life. In advance of the Church of England General Synod in London, producer Jonathan Woodward speaks with Bishop Martin Warner of the West Sussex Diocese of Chichester.   Why do […]

A pattern of abuse by clergy widens. A series of articles in the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reveals an investigation showing over 700 victims of sexual assault and abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention over the past 20 years.   The predators were deacons, pastors, youth pastors and other church leaders. Lead reporter Robert Downen […]

Rabbinical activism and Jewish identity. Senior Rabbi of Brooklyn’s Congregation Beth Elohim Rabbi Rachel Timoner weighs in on the crosswinds and squalls for American Jews during the Trump Administration.

Christchurch, New Zealand. 49 people shot dead at two mosques in a terrorist attack. A man has been charged with murder, having streamed the killings live on Facebook and having published a racist manifesto online.   This week on Beliefs we are turning the show over to our friends and colleagues at the Religion News […]