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

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

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 14, 2023, Religion and Public Life Fellows with expertise in policy, environmental science, Native and Indigenous rights, and education discussed the ways religious and spiritual literacy can enhance policy and scientific efforts to understand the drivers of climate collapse and advance climate justice. The panel featured Cythia Wilson, RPL Native and Indigenous Rights Fellow; Teresa Cavazos Cohn, RPL Climate Justice Fellow; and Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, RPL Government Fellow. Sarabinh Levy-Brightman, RPL Education Fellow, acted as moderator.... Read more about Video: Religious Literacy and Climate Justice