The Daily Herald covered District 214's World Religions Summit, which featured Dr. Hussein Rashid, assistant dean of Religion and Public Life, as the keynote speaker. The article also included long-time RPL collaborators and teachers John Camardella, MRPL '22 and previous RPL program fellow in education, from Prospect High School and Jeanne Shin-Cooper, a member of the RPL Religious Literacy Educator Advisory Commitee, from Buffalo Grove High School, and Sean Radcliff from Rolling Meadows High School. 

In mid-March, District 214’s World...

Harvard Staff Writer Liz Mineo reached out to various religion scholars to discuss the impact of AI on religion. RPL Curriculum/Advisory Committee members Matthew Ichihashi Potts and Charles M. Stang, as well as Jenn Louie, MRPL '23, were among those asked to weigh in.

For religious leaders, AI’s ascent raises fundamental questions about the essence of humanity. The Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, M.Div. ’08, Ph.D. ’13, Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, said the question of what it means to be human has...

“This focus on diagnosing complex issues narrowly as religious freedom issues may distract us from addressing salient economic and political drivers. After all, if we diagnose a problem as solely a problem of religious freedom then our prescription will be limited to that. It may treat the symptoms but not the underlying disease, allowing it to grow.”

On July 18, 2023, Susan Hayward, Senior Advisor for Religion and Public Policy at Harvard Divinity School’s Religion and Public Life Program, stated these words before the Committee of Foreign...

 Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to detail Boston’s history with climate activism, and how religion, ancestry and spirituality tie in. The radio segment was informed by Dan McKanan's talk, "Ancestors and Climate in Our Boston Backyard," which was the second session of the Religion and Public Life faculty series, "...

In this session, Mayra Rivera, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies, explores the question, “How may we engage those stories in ways that honor our pasts and open possibilities for different futures?”... Read more about Video: Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: A Procession of Catastrophes

This book talk features the author, Atalia Omer, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding; Senior Fellow in Conflict and Peace, discussing her new book "Decolonizing Religion and the Practice of Peace." The book is an investigation of what consolidating religion as a technology of peacebuilding and development does to people's accounts of their religious and cultural traditions and why interreligious peacebuilding entrenches colonial legacies in the present.... Read more about Video: RCPI Book Series: Decolonizing Religion and the Practice of Peace

In this session, Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity, will discuss these stories and how they can help contemporary Bostonians, and others, recognize that what makes a place wild is not the absence of humans but the presence of ancestors.... Read more about Video: Religion in Times of Earth Crisis: Ancestors and Climate in Our Boston Backyard

This event is part of the series “LGBTQ+ Rights Under Attack: The Weaponization of Religious Freedom and Free Speech." In this session, "Protecting Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: A Global Perspective," Victor Madrigal-Borloz presented the “Report of the UN Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity,” which he released in June 2023 while fulfilling his appointment. In conversation with Susie Hayward, Madrigal-Borloz shared his perspective on the global dynamics and trends related to the assault on LGBTQI+ Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief and how they are feeding in/out of what’s taking place in the United States.... Read more about Video: LGBTQ+ Rights Under Attack: Protecting Against Violence and Discrimination

This discussion followed the screening of Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's extraordinary film "Wild Life". The film is a story of love, wildness, and restoration in Chile and Argentina, recording the life of Kris Tompkins through an epic decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting. Special guests in this conversation include Kris Tompkins and Chai Vasarhelyi, with guest curator Geralyn Dreyfous and HDS writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams. This event took place November 13, 2023.... Read more about Video: "Wild Life" Film Screening and Discussion

RPL invited Harvard graduate students participating in RPL programs to submit photographs from their summer internship experiences for a judged photo competition. Students were invited to address the theme of religion and public life and a just world at peace while adhering to RPL's ethical photography guidance. Below are the winners of the inaugural competition who were celebrated at an Open House in November. Come by our office on the second floor of Div Hall to see these works in-person.... Read more about The Winning Images of the 2023 RPL Student Photo Competition

This event took place October, 24, 2023. In this conversation, hosted by Religion and Public Life, Dr. Rashid discussed his work and its uses in the classroom, with a particular focus on the Children’s Museum of Manhattan exhibit "America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far?"

Dr. Hussein Rashid is the new Assistant Dean for Religion and Public Life and brought to RPL with a wealth of experience as an educator in public and classroom settings. He has particular expertise in integrating the arts into the study of religion. From work with museums to film, documentary, and comics, Rashid has long engaged the power of images and art to highlight complexity and captivate learners when teaching religious literacy. Among other projects Dr. Rashid executive produced the Times Op-Doc "The Secret History of Muslims in the US" and co-edited a volume on Ms. Marvel, the first Muslim to have her own comic series with Marvel Comics.... Read more about Video: From Ms. Marvel to the Smithsonian: Teaching Religious Literacy through Arts and Popular Culture

This event took place October 18, 2023. Religion and Public Life hosted a dialogue between three scholar-practitioners who drew inspiration from their respective faiths in order to advocate for a just peace. This talk provided an opportunity for a deep discussion of faith-based activism, liberatory readings of theological texts, and the complex and, at times, controversial role of multi-faith and international solidarity in the Palestinian liberation movement during times of crisis.... Read more about Video: Faith in Action: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Solidarity for Just Peace in Times of Conflict

Zachary Zumwalt, MRPL ’23, is an active-duty Navy chaplain (20 years) who has served in Korea, Japan, and around the United States. As a member of the second MRPL cohort, he explored religious literacy in the context of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps—specifically how it could inform emerging work in conflict prevention within the Indo-Pacific region.

Zachary Zumwalt has led worship services on land, on ships, and under the sea. Prior to becoming a Navy chaplain, he was an enlisted sailor assigned to work on submarines, which do not have chaplain crew members. While...

NPR reporter Rachel Treisman covers the history, continued plausibility, and alternatives to the two-state solution. Atalia Omer, professor of religion, conflict and peace studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, as well as the T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding and Senior Fellow in Conflict and Peace at Religion and Public Life, was one of the experts asked to provide context and commentary for this issue.

Israel continues to respond to Hamas' unprecedented...

This primer was drafted for the United States Institute of Peace in June 2023 by Susan Hayward, RPL Associate Director for the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative, and Htay Wai Naing, recent HDS graduate, Certificate in Religion and Public Life student, and RPL graduate assistant.

"Appreciating the religious dimensions of society, state and politics in Myanmar is essential to understanding the country’s conflicts. This is not easy, as religions in Myanmar are deeply entangled with a complex array of ethnic identities and shaped by dynamic...

"When Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School launched three years ago, it engendered a new Certificate in Religion and Public Life, providing students the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and networks to leverage their master of theological studies and master of divinity degrees across a range of professional contexts, including in journalism, government, humanitarianism, and organizing.

In addition to coursework and a capstone project...

"Conflicts are driven by a number of complicated factors, but are often mislabeled as religious. This experience showed me that religious literacy is necessary in peacebuilding to appropriately address the ambivalent and complex religious dimensions of conflict, and how best to channel the power of religious peacebuilders in the creation of just and peaceful societies."—Ailih Weeldreyer, MTS candidate

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Going into her second year in the Master of Theological Studies program at Harvard Divinity School, Ailih Weeldreyer is no...

On April 14, 2023, Religion and Public Life hosted a conversation featuring Terry Tempest Williams, Matt Ichihashi Potts, Rev. Vernon K. Walker, and Anna Del Castillo who examined the religious and spiritual implications of climate change. What role does religion play in the movement for climate justice? How can religious communities serve as sites of organizing and activism? Panelists discussed these questions through the lenses of religious literacy, climate grief, climate ministry, and practices to guide communities through the perils of climate catastrophe.... Read more about Video: Examining the Religious and Spiritual Implications of Climate Change

On May 8, 2023, Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School hosted a conversation with Professor Aprilfaye Manalang of Norfolk State University to learn about her ongoing research on religious identity, grief, and COVID with Filipina-American nurses, as well as Jeanne Shin-Cooper of Buffalo Grove High School in Illinois whose students are taking part in this critical interview project. Prof. Manalang discussed her pedagogical practice of promoting Asian-American understanding at a Historically Black University, and the process of communicating this research to a public audience via podcast.... Read more about Video: Educator Webinar: Religious Literacy and Nurses' Stories in the Age of COVID and Anti-Asian Hate

This summer, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued two major decisions with religion at the center of the cases. In Groff v. DeJoy, the court bolstered protections for workers asking for religious accommodations, and in 303 Creative v. Elenis, SCOTUS sided with a Colorado web designer who did not want to provide services to same-sex couples.... Read more about A Slippery Slope: What the Supreme Court's Recent Rulings Mean for Religion in the U.S.

On April 19, 2023, Religion and Public Life hosted a poetry reading featuring Suzannah Omonuk, MDiv '23. She said, "I see my craft as a poet as being first and foremost grief work. To re-imagine and commit ourselves to a more peaceful and just world, we must first grieve the harms that have necessitated this pursuit."... Read more about Video: In the garden we sat weeping: A Poetry Reading with Suzannah Omonuk

On April 20, 2023, Religion and Public Life hosted a talk with Larry L. Rasmussen, Christian Environmental Ethicist, and Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary. He was in conversation with Diane L. Moore, Associate Dean of Religion and Public Life; Lecturer on Religion, Conflict, and Peace; and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, as well as Terry Tempest Williams, author, environmental activist, HDS Writer-in-Residence; and john gehman, MTS '24, Council of Student Sustainability Leaders.... Read more about Video: Book Event: The Planet You Inherit

While at RPL, I’ve learned that the most vibrant interdisciplinary spaces may be unexpected and, by nature, emergent. I often wondered at the shape of the other fellows’ questions, the language they used, the way they engaged with their challenges. That process changed me as I put that creative energy into practice.... Read more about Tend to Your Questions: Lessons Learned as the RPL Climate Justice Fellow

Growing up, I was taught that Shabbat, the day of rest, is “a taste of the world to come”––“a palace in time” where we can imagine life as it should be. But in Israel/Palestine, sirens announced Shabbat like an echo of an incoming emergency, 24 hours in which essential public services shut down and time slowed without consent.... Read more about Paradox and Shabbat in Israel/Palestine: Narratives of Displacement and Belonging in Israel/Palestine

When you get to the Ofer Military Court, you are nowhere. The parking lot is just a wide expanse of sand and gravel. The path to the court itself is long and winding. It sort of goes on forever. It’s a little bit like you're walking into no-man’s-land or the desert. But there are some giveaways.  

At the top of a tall embankment is a military base—clue number one. Along the other side of the path you walk down is a tall fence with barbed wire curled along the top—another giveaway. But at the entrance to that parking lot is a man who sells tea and snacks.  

It’s strange, this oasis in the middle of the desert, until you realize, oh, many people must come here, and that’s how he makes a living. He makes a living from the many Palestinians and just the handful of Israelis who come here. The Palestinians come as prisoners and their families and maybe an attorney or two. The Israelis are only ever soldiers and judges. Israelis are never prisoners here, which is, at some level, the root of the apartheid system.... Read more about 56 Years of Temporary: Narratives of Displacement and Belonging in Israel/Palestine

When Susie Hayward, associate director of the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative, came to Harvard Divinity School as a student, she knew that she wanted to pursue a career in foreign policy, peacebuilding, and diplomacy.

“I wanted to bring an understanding of religion into those spaces where a lack of it was preventing progress,” she says. “But I quickly learned that I would have to forge my own way at HDS to develop the relationships and pragmatic skills needed to work in policymaking and diplomacy post-graduation.”

Hayward is one of decades of HDS students who have wanted to pursue vocations outside the two defined dimensions of HDS programs—academia and traditional forms of ministry. When Religion and Public Life (RPL) was created, it responded to this student need with one of its two curricular components, the Certificate in Religion and Public Life (CRPL).... Read more about An Anchor and a Path: Student Reflections on the Certificate in Religion and Public Life

Climate Justice Week was the first of its kind at Harvard Divinity School. The week presented a mosaic of wisdom from across the divinity school. Led by a coalition of 11 partner offices, Climate Justice Week exemplified the power of collective imagination.... Read more about Collective Imagination: A Hopeful Force at the Center of Climate Justice

Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) has announced its 2023-24 Fellows in Religious Literacy and the Professions. This cohort of expert practitioners bring deep expertise and social justice commitments to a range of professions (government, education, journalism, organizing, humanitarian action, and arts and popular culture) and to our 2023-24 focus issue—Native and Indigenous rights.

The 2023-24 Religion and Public Life Fellows will join HDS in the fall to support the certificate in religion and public life available to students in the School’s master of divinity and master of theological studies degree programs. Throughout their fellowships, they will remotely support the Religious Literacy and the Professions course, mentor students, work with the program to identify student internship opportunities, and participate in webinars.... Read more about Religion and Public Life Announces 2023-24 Fellows