September 28, 2022
Eboo Patel, president and founder of Interfaith America, reflects on the new American religious landscape with diverse civic leaders.
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Coming Soon:Interfaith America with Eboo Patel
Eboo Patel, host: The United States is no longer a Judeo-Christian nation. That’s not a statement of opposition. Judeo-Christian, the paradigm, did good work for nearly 80 years. Now it’s time to move to the next chapter. I’m Eboo Patel, host of Interfaith America, a podcast that explores the next chapter of America, and how religious imagination plays out in the life and work of remarkable people, people who happen to be good friends of mine, like New York Times columnist David Brooks.
David Brooks: We can’t be a diverse nation without a common story. If you don’t like that story, come up with a different story. If you don’t know what story you’re a part of, you don’t know what to do. And right now, we have no story.
Patel: Award-winning podcaster and On Being host Krista Tippett.
Krista Tippett: What I see and what I know you see is that the human spiritual impulse is as vigorous as ever. I think theological curiosity, even if people don’t put those words to it, is alive in that spiritual but not religious world. I think that the core impulses that drove our traditions, the desire to be of service, those things, if anything, are reviving. That’s fascinating.
Patel: Middlebury college president, Laurie Patton.
Laurie Patton: I do believe that particularly now when questions of home and questions of human movement, and questions of shelter are being rethought as a result of climate change, that local myths around home are going to be the myths that we need to tell, to continue to create a transformative inter religious democracy.
Patel: Co-founder and president of the Pillars Fund, Kashif Shaikh.
Kashif Shaikh: We all remember the FUBU brand ‘for us, by us,’ I think that’s really a lot of our motto. That there has not been an institution that is rooted in Muslim communities, that is serving Muslim communities, that has the financial resources to be able to support burgeoning leaders and organizations. And so, for me, a lot of what that means is having an institution that is representative. That a Muslim in Arkansas who’s building a nonprofit trying to serve their community can feel seen.
Patel: We’ll explore religious diversity, those traditions and belief systems that can both divide and unite us. We’ll examine the new American religious landscape. Together we’ll try to find the good things that happen when we connect our Deen and our Dunya, our lives of faith, and our lives in the material world. Become part of the conversation. Subscribe and follow the Interfaith America podcast with Eboo Patel on our website, interfaithamerica.org, and on Apple, Spotify, and all places you find podcasts.
Intro/outro music provided by Mysterylab Music and composed by Mott Jordan
Credit music provided by Die Hard Productions
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Podcast Team