Common Threads: An Interfaith Dialogue

The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one Deity come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In ‘Ancient Christianities,’ Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity, or rather, of early Christianities through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to...

As Christianity began as a sect of Judaism, Jainism was once considered a branch of Hinduism. These religions continue to share a great deal of theology, history and ritual. Yet, Jains do most often claim an identity separate from Hindus. In this episode Fred speaks with Monica Shah, Director of Education for the Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington. They discuss the intricacies of this ancient...

n 2024 Programs Podcast Topics Schedule Community Calendar Contact Common Threads Pew Research Center Religious survey By Fred Stella Published June 30, 2025 at 8:54 AM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Print Jonathan Evans David Hills / Courtesy Pew Research Center Jonathan Evans Fred Stella speaks with Pew senior researcher Jonathan Evans What is the state of religion in the world? For decades...

American democracy is in danger. How do we protect it from authoritarian reactionary Christianity? On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Americans stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of their political opponent’s election. At the forefront were Christians claiming to act in the name of Jesus Christ and his supposed representative on earth, Donald Trump. How can this have happened? David P....

Millions of people practice yoga, attracted to the mat by its promise of physical and mental benefits, social connection, and spiritual nourishment. Promoted as a way of healing the body and mind from wounds inflicted by the world, modern yoga may be a critique of the social order – an “anti-world” to which practitioners escape. Yet yoga can never free itself entirely from the compromises and cont...

Creating Jesus is a book for general readers on the Gospel of Mark as the earliest surviving witness of the life of Yeshua ("Jesus" in Aramaic) of Nazareth. Dennis Kennedy applies his expertise in literary and performance studies to examining Mark as a literary and historical document and describes in straightforward style how it differs from the other Gospels, what it meant in its time, and how i...

Science is studying ghosts? Really? In Life with Ghosts, a documentary film festival winner, a widow suffering prolonged grief agrees to participate in a research study that aims to reconnect bereaved survivors with their departed loved ones. The process is known as Induced After-Death Communication (IADC), and it is rapidly gaining recognition among psychologists, academics and bereavement profes...

Alex Duensing, founder of Terran Judaism, joins us Most non-Jews who have any familiarity with Judaism will tell you there are 3 specific movements within the religion: Orthodox, Conservative & Reform. But there are several more. And now a new one has entered the arena: Terran Judaism. The word "Terran" indicates that is it is "from the earth." That is, they seek to expand the faith well beyond th...

If they only taught this in Religion classes! I promise students would be way more engaged. In these episodes we dive into the fascinating and overlooked aspects of the Catholic faith with Michael Lichens, the author of The Weird Catholic Handbook. We’ll examine peculiar and intriguing elements of Catholic history, offering a refreshing perspective on the faith that combines humor, curiosity, and...

No matter how some people try to deny it, we humans are very tribal. And for the most part, that can be a good thing if we will forego any sense of tribal superiority. So if one is excommunicated from a tribe the mental and spiritual toll can be significant. In her book ‘Ghosted’ Nancy French describes her upbringing in a Fundamentalist Christian church and early alliance with conservative Republi...

With the exile of Syria's Bashar Al-Assad recently, much interest has been focused on the sect of Islam of which he was a member. However, there are some who claim that the denomination known as Alawite is not Islam at all, but a heretical break-off sect. To understand this somewhat intricate situation we speak with Dr. Stefan Winter who has studied religion in Syria and Turkey for decades. Stefan...

Our guest is Ryan Armstrong, author of The Book of Job in Wonderland Of all of the great works of literature that might be compared, the idea of setting the text of the Book of Job next to the 19th century classic Alice in Wonderland probably doesn't come to mind. But Religious Studies professor Ryan Armstrong did notice more than a few links between them and presents them in his book The Book of...

One of the most imaginative traditions in Judaism is called "Midrash." While the word is used in a few different ways, in this episode we are referring to that practice of taking biblical stories and "filling in the blanks" with imagined conversations, prequels and sequels. For instance, what might Adam and Eve discussed after leaving Eden? How might Sarah have reacted upon learning that Isaac was...

In this episode we discuss a new film biography of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with its producer/director Frank Frost. This remarkable man was a paleontologist and visionary French Jesuit priest. His lifelong effort to reframe his beliefs in the light of evolution led to a paradigm shift in the relationship of science and religion. Teilhard foresaw the emergence of the internet, globalization,...

Today we discuss the autobiography that traces Francis X. Clooney's intellectual and spiritual journey from middle-class American Catholicism to a lifelong study of Hinduism. It explains how he came to fashion comparative theology as a way of learning interreligiously that is boldly intellectual and deeply personal and practical, lived out in intersections of his roles as theologian and scholar of...

In his new book Honest to God, Rev. John Hamilton provides us with an intimate look at the spiritual journey of an individual who has experienced life from many corners. From the carefree life of a rock n' roll musician, to a "Madmen" style of life on Madison Avenue to being ordained in the United Church of Christ. In this episode he discusses not only his sacred search, but also the state of Chri...

Dr. Lauren Horn Griffin discusses White Christian Nationalism and so-called "Trad Catholic Men" With the current election in the rear-view mirror now, the pundits are now piecing together what worked for one candidate and didn't for the other. One element that played large in the campaign is the role of White Christian Nationalism. Here we interview Dr. Lauren Horn Griffin from Louisiana State Uni...

I liken this new book entitled "Boond" to the classic "Little Prince." That is, while it may have a certain childlike charm, it is not really a children's book. This is a tale of the Divine Quest. Boond is Sanskrit for "drop," as in a drop of water. And that is exactly what the star of our story is: an anthropomorphic drop of water. We rarely feature books of fiction on Common Threads, but we made...

Growing up in an Italian-American family, I was introduced to Malocchio (the Evil Eye) at a young age. I loved having this eccentric idea as part of my heritage. For centuries, some cultures have been able to accommodate both their Christian traditions along with various elements of folk magic, esoteric healing and what has come to be known as "witchcraft." Italy is no exception. Angela Puca is ab...

A groundbreaking, expansive new account of Reconstruction that fundamentally alters our view of this formative period in American history. We are told that the present moment bears a strong resemblance to Reconstruction, when freedpeople and the federal government attempted to create an interracial democracy in the south after the Civil War. That effort was overthrown and serves as a warning today...

It is hard to imagine anyone living in the USA today who does not either have someone close to them dealing with severe mental health challenges or suffering themselves from the same. An educated guess is that not only are we experiencing a rise in such maladies, but thankfully, the stigma of admitting to having them is much less than in the past. This encourages an openness we not seen in the pas...

Not long ago Convicted Felon D. Trump began shamelessly hawking "Greenwood" Bibles that include not only all 66 Protestant canonical books but The Constitution and Bill of Rights as well. A serious problem we have in the USA is that a number of American citizens believe that our founding documents are quasi-scriptural. In their minds, the Founding Fathers were tapping into The Mind of God when com...

Places of pilgrimage tend to be held as sacred spaces by particular religions. But it's not universally true. Sometimes there are holy sites that are venerated by 2 or more faiths. Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka is one of them. It is climbed constantly by Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and secularists. I suspect it would be climbed by Jews if there were any in the country. Each religion has its...

Ever run into one of those people whose resumes are so bloody full of awesome accomplishments that you wonder why they even let you take up precious space on earth? Well this is one of those guys. James Thornton is a world-renowned environmental lawyer, author, poet, and Zen Buddhist priest. The New Statesman named him as one of 10 people who could change the world, and he has won the Financial Ti...

For centuries theologians, clergy and laity within the Abrahamic traditions have made great attempts to define where the concepts of love and justice fall within their faiths. Many Christians are quick to acknowledge that Christianity is indeed a religion founded on the principle of love, but look upon the Hebrew scriptures as being little more than a set of moral codes provided by a deity who is...