God Unites

Special Episode: "Peacemakers Needed" -- Landmark address by Russell M. Nelson, former world-renowned heart surgeon, now serving as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Josh Sabo: An unexpected spiritual journey led him to becoming a pastor, followed by a spiritual restlessness leading to an equally unexpected path to serve a broader community as the executive director of Heartland HOUSED, devoted to achieving functional zero homelessness in Springfield, Illinois, through a housing first strategy of collective impact.

In this continuation of a conversation begun in Episode 12, host David Risley and University of Illinois Professor Robin Fretwell Wison are joined by University of Illinois Student Toby George to discuss "Tolerance Means Dialogues" in both principle and practice. Tolerance Means Dialogues website: https://www.tolerancemeans.com/ Robin Fretwell Wilson website: https://robinfretwellwilson.com/ God U...

Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson of the University of Illinois discusses reconciling freedom of religion and sometimes competing civil liberties, including nondiscrimination.  Professor Wilson discusses how the "Utah Compromise" is an example of how lawmakers can work together across political and social divides to find ways to both protect and harmonize the basic civil liberties of freedom of reli...

Lisa Daniels found healing when she forgave her son's killer. She now leads the Darren B. Easterling Center for Restorative Practices . Through her work, Lisa lives out Jesus's teachings on forgiveness from the Sermon on the Mount. Her story shows restorative justice principles in action. Confronting System Failures Lisa shares her direct experience with the criminal justice system. She found that...

Scott Reeder, journalist and man of faith, shares four stories of his faith journey and the power of prayer: (1) beginnings; (2) forgiveness and praying for years for an enemy, with unexpected results for both men; (3) prayers to find and marry a wife that were answered 18 years later in a surprising and yet unmistakable manner; and (4) his ministry to people incarcerated in prison who are united...

Arthur Stern had no thought of becoming Rabbi Stern while pursuing a successful career in business, certainly not while living in a homeless shelter during a period when his life came apart due to addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Even when the voice unexpectedly came to him to become a rabbi – a message that seemed to be from God – he struggled with accepting it as actually a message from God...

President Dallin H. Oaks of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speaks on religious freedom and nondiscrimination in giving the 2021 Joseph Smith Lecture on Religious Liberty at the University of Virginia. (Republished with permission.) (Link to transcript below.) As host David Risley says in the introduction to this episode, "I worry that freedom of religion is getting a bad name, com...

Professor Mohammad Khalil discusses Muslim thought regarding the salvation of others and how Muslims in general, and he personally, experience God and God's love and mercy. Dr. Khalil is a Professor of Religious Studies, Director of the Muslim Studies Program, and Adjunct Professor in the College of Law at Michigan State University. (https://khalil.cal.msu.edu/) His specialty is Islamic thought, a...

"If we don't understand what we have here in religious freedom, we risk losing it."  So says Steven Collis, legal expert on freedom of religion, law professor, and author of two books on the subject, "Deep Conviction" and "The Immortals." In this episode, Professor Collis explains why freedom of religion is important for everyone, including those who do not usually think of themselves as religious...

From University of Illinois student studying biology to Catholic priest. father Rob Johnson tells the story of his faith journey. God Unites website:  https://godunites.com

“I love you. I forgive you. Come follow me.” When those words came clearly into the mind of then university student Mark Tracy in answer to prayer, his life changed. Today, he is Father Mark, a Catholic priest and National Guard chaplain. This is his story.

Dogmas divide. The Spirit of God unites. Spiritual unity in religious diversity is a win-win for all.

Freedom of religion is essential not only to people of faith, but also to the health and stability of civil society and governments. In this episode, host David Risley discusses both the religious and secular reasons for religious freedom, in remarks drawn from an address originally given at an interfaith conference in Lucknow, India.  The text is available on the blog page of the program's websit...

Welcome to this introductory episode of God Unites, an audio and video podcast program about finding spiritual unity in religious diversity through interfaith conversations and commentary about topics of common interest and finding spiritual kinship through sharing stories of faith journeys. Special topics in future episodes with a variety of guests with a variety of perspectives include freedom o...