Interfaith Voices Podcast

Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford is a food service worker, small business owner, and a proud transgender woman. She is also a member of the Madison Common Council. Dina Nina is running for the 76th Assembly District but does not have the typical background of someone who runs for the State Assembly. She has gone without healthcare and worked for $2.33 an hour for most of her career. She does not  jus...

Marianna Richardson brings a rare combination of experience in faith, education, communication, and global policy. As Director of Communications for the G20 Interfaith Forum and a professor at Brigham Young University, she works at the center of some of today’s biggest conversations surrounding religion, human flourishing, technology, and international cooperation. Her work explores how faith comm...

Dr. Lucas Wilson is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto Mississauga and was formerly the Justice, Equity, and Transformation Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Calgary. He is the editor of Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). His public-facing writing has appeared in The Advocate ,...

Dr. Lucas Wilson is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto Mississauga and was formerly the Justice, Equity, and Transformation Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Calgary. He is the editor of Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). His public-facing writing has appeared in The Advocate ,...

Maggie Siddiqi is Senior Advisor at Interfaith Alliance. She is an expert in faith-based advocacy for social change, coalition-building across lines of difference, and public policy on religious freedom and standing up against hate. Siddiqi recently concluded her appointment to the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Education, where she served as Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhoo...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a time that invites us to have deeper, more honest conversations about the connection between faith and mental health, which is why I’m especially excited about today’s episode. For the past nine months, we’ve been working on a project centered on this very topic, and I’m thrilled to share that we’ve just released a short documentary called Faith and Feel...

Today on the show we prepare for May Day with Voces de la Frontera's Pamela Westphal. Pamela is a Milwaukee-based community organizer who is currently serving as the Director of the Youth Empowered in the Struggle program, the youth branch of Voces de la Frontera. She previously held leadership roles in both the Milwaukee chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Discovery World Unio...

Next week we celebrate earth day! At WI Faith Voices for Justice, we see caring for our earth as a spiritual act no matter your faith tradition. Laura Lane from Faith in Place joins the conversation today to discuss way we can get involved individually and corporately to take care of the earth. For more information on Faith in Place go to www.faithinplace.org To register for the earth day vigil cl...

Rev. Mark Richards joins the show today to talk about the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Mark calls himself a wondering wanderer.  After several careers in industries like fast food, manufacturing, and information technology, Mark retired into the role of hospice chaplain in Door County in 2016.   After a couple of years, he was invited to join the WUUSAN board of directors. Mark has had a passion for s...

On today’s episode, Linda Ketcham, Executive Director of Just Dane, joins the show to discuss the challenges men and women face as they are released from prison and work to become contributing members of society. For more than two decades, Just Dane has been helping individuals across Wisconsin successfully re-enter their communities. Be sure to listen to discover ways you can help. For more infor...

Interfaith Alliance Campaigns Director Adam Friedman joins the show today to talk about the new Choose Love Not ICE campaign that will equip congregations and people of faith to use non-violent resistance as a response to the violent tactics of ICE in our communities. We also discuss the lead up to No Kings III on March 28th. Adam Friedman is the campaigns director Interfaith Alliance, where he le...

In this episode Steve Stall joins the show to discuss how men can engage effectively in justice work As Rockwell Automation’s first Business Leader of Inclusion, Steve is a business transformation change agent promoting workforce diversity and inclusive business environments.  Steve has more than 30 years of corporate experience in executive operations, finance and large-scale project management....

Dekila Chungyalpa is the founder and director of the Loka Initiative . She is an accomplished environmental program director, with 20+ years of experience in designing and implementing global conservation and climate strategies and projects. On this episode of the Interfaith Voices Podcast, we discuss the new documentary from the Loka Initiative, Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth which is about the indig...

What is Christian Nationalism, how does it affect us, and what can we do to fight against it? Rev. Dr. Kerri Parker (she/her) has served as the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches since 2017. During her tenure, the Council has become known nationwide for its leadership in faith-based COVID response, fresh ecumenical vision, and collaborations for racial equity. In 2023 she was...

Open Doors began in the spring of 2016 as an offshoot of an event to raise awareness about the Syrian refugee crisis. At the end of the event, half the people stayed to talk about what we could do. Through a series of meetings and events that followed, we eventually morphed into Open Doors for Refugees with our current mission and focus. Since then, almost two thousand people have reached out to O...

Katherine Stewart has been covering the rise of the anti-democratic movement for over 16 years. Her latest book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy (Bloomsbury 2025), is an instant New York Times bestseller. Her previous book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bloomsbury 2020), won First Place in the Nonfiction Books cat...

Author and journalist Susan Katz Miller is both an interfaith child and an interfaith parent. She is considered the top expert on interfaith families celebrating more than one religion, and has spoken across the country and abroad. In 2013, Beacon Press published her book Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family . Her 2019 workbook, The Interfaith Family Journal , is designed t...

Today on the Interfaith Voices podcast, Sally Evans from the Center for Interfaith Relations joins the show to talk about the upcoming Festival of Faiths in Louisville, KY. For more information of Festival of Faiths go to https://festivaloffaiths.org/

This week on The Faith Voices Podcast Active Hope with Chris Johnstone Part 2. Chris Johnstone, co-author of the book Active Hope, is a medical doctor, author, trainer and coach who worked for nearly twenty years as an addictions specialist in the UK National Health Service. A former Senior Teaching Fellow at Bristol University Medical School, he trains health professionals in behavioral medicine...

Chris Johnstone, co-author of the book Active Hope, is a medical doctor, author, trainer and coach who worked for nearly twenty years as an addictions specialist in the UK National Health Service. A former Senior Teaching Fellow at Bristol University Medical School, he trains health professionals in behavioral medicine and gives courses exploring the psychological dimensions of planetary crisis. ...

The Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice Hope Lives Annual Celebration is this Thursday, September 18th from 5-7:30pm at the Goodman Center Brassworks Building in Madison, WI. Today's podcast gives a preview of some of the voices you will get to hear that evening. Tickets are still available at www.wifaithvoices.org

This week on the interfaith Voices Podcast is the Hope Lives Annual Celebration featured musician, Shelene Zarate-Lopez! Shelene is a singer, dancer and actress from Mexico City. She has a B.S. in Communications with specialization in Media Arts with a background in Musical Theater. Her singing experience has roots in traditional Mexican music and opera. Her passion for artistic expression started...

Cecelia Klingele was a panelist for our May Interfaith Intersections event on Justice. She is well qualified for the topic as a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she teaches courses in criminal law, Constitutional criminal procedure, policing, and sentencing and corrections. She also teaches courses for law students and undergraduates on Catholic Legal Thought and t...

The Internal Revenue Service said July 7 it no longer will enforce the Johnson Amendment that prevents churches and other nonprofits from endorsing political candidates. While some are praising the move that effectively ignores a 1954 law passed by Congress, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and our National partners Interfaith Alliance see it as a dangerous precedent. Guthrie Graves-Fitzimmons s...

Author, Speaker and Activist Brian McLaren joins the show this week to discuss the importance of Interfaith connection in challenging times and also shares the  inspiration behind his new book The Last Voyage. For more on Brian or to order the book go to www.brainmclaren.net For more information in Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice go to www.wifaithvoices.org