Interfaith America Magazine Welcomes Seven Senior Columnists

Musa al-Gharbi is a Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellow in Sociology at Columbia University. His research explores how people talk about, think about, and produce a shared understanding of various social phenomena. His first book, “We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite,” is forthcoming with Princeton University Press. Al-Gharbi is also committed to public engagement. He is a columnist with The Guardian, and his research and writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Atlantic, New Republic, The Nation and many other outlets. Readers can connect to his research, social media, and public writing via his website: musaalgharbi.com.

Rabbi Sandra Lawson is the Inaugural Director of Racial Diversity Equity and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism. The 2018 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is known for tackling difficult questions surrounding Jews and race. In 2020, the Forward named Lawson to its “Forward 50,” proclaiming her a “truth-teller,” and the Center for American Progress named Lawson to its list of Faith Leaders to Watch in 2022. Lawson also holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in sociology. She lives in North Carolina with her wife Susan and three “fur babies”: Izzy, Bridget, and Simon.

Jeff Pinzino leads Interfaith America’s “Scouting Emerging Leaders” project, which identifies, cultivates and trains interfaith leaders working in local communities across the nation. Pinzino has spent more than 25 years working for social change as a community organizer, funder, fundraiser, and social entrepreneur. He has worked with People’s Action, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Midwest Academy, and Resilience Force, an organization that supports disaster recovery workers. He is one of the founders of Stone Soup Co-Op, Interfaith Youth Core (now Interfaith America), Fresh Moves Mobile Produce Market, and Chicago Blues Revival. He lives on the South Side of Chicago and is a member of Beverly Unitarian Church.

Asma Uddin is the author of “When Islam Is Not a Religion: Inside America’s Fight for Religious Freedom,” published in 2019, and “The Politics of Vulnerability: How to Heal Muslim-Christian Relations in a Post-Christian America,” published in 2021. She is Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Catholic University of America. Ms. Uddin is also a Fellow with the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society program, where she is leading a project on Muslim-Christian polarization in the United States. She was formerly legal counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and has held academic fellowships at Georgetown and UCLA. Ms. Uddin is also an expert advisor on religious freedom to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a member of the University of Chicago Law Review.