Fellows partner with Religion and Public Life to advance principles of religious literacy in their fields. Explore how the RPL experience has informed, transformed, and affirmed how our fellows connect to their work for a just world at peace.
Voices
Burning Questions from Current RPL Fellows
Native and Indigenous Rights Fellow
"The English language is a barrier to fully interpreting Indigenous ways of knowing and being. What are better words to use when you're talking about religious literacy?"
Access the transcript of Cynthia Wilson's Burning Question.
Arts and Popular Culture Fellow
"How do you convert a witness into withness? When you witness an injustice, how are you part of the storytelling?"
Access the transcript of Maytha Alhassen's Burning Question.
Journalism Fellow
"What can we learn about our society when we listen to people on the margins?"
Access the transcript of Deborah Jian Lee's Burning Question.
Education Fellow
"How do we craft a classroom such that it is a place of dynamic intellectual vitality, where students and teachers experience intellectual awakenings, transformation, and development individually and collectively?"
Access the transcript of Sarabinh Levy Brightman's Burning Question.
Humanitarian Action Fellow
"How can we bring change to the humanitarian sector that puts local leaders in the driver's seat, designing, implementing, and carrying out humanitarian response?"
Community Organizing Fellow
"How can those of us who have privilege use that privilege for the benefit of those on the bottom, the marginalized, the dispossessed?"
Access the transcript of Alvaro Huerta's Burning Question.
Government Fellow
"How can the prophetic tools, practices, and forms of inquiry that we cultivate in religious communities be employed inside government structures?"
Access the transcript of Naomi Washington-Leapheart's Burning Question.
Burning Questions from Former RPL Fellows
Climate Justice Fellow 2021-23
"How can we recognize fire as part of ourselves, as part of our landscapes, as part of our world? How can religion help us explore that question?"
Access the transcript of Teresa Cavazos' Burning Question.
Government Fellow 2021-22
"How is it that collective memory can be used as a way to produce and expand the notion of future? How can we build multiple ideas about the future through listening to the stories of folks who are organizing for better tomorrows?"
Access the transcript of Karilyn Crockett Burning Question.
Immigrant Rights Fellow 2021-23
"What value am I adding to a particular space? How can I help advance that notion of just peace there? How can I understand when to step back and to not take up space?"
Access the transcript of Phil Torrey's Burning Question.
Racial Justice Fellow 2021-23
"What can I do to ensure that there are more dynamic, more complex stories that center the experiences of Black women like me?"
Access the transcript of Rhon Manigault's Burning Question.
Key Takeaways from RPL Partners
Religious Literacy for Social Justice
Greg Khalil
Co-founder and President of Telos Group
Religious literacy is one of the “most urgent issues that anyone serious about social justice can undertake.” An RPL fellowship gave Greg Khalil the space to critically think about his work. Khalil Interview Transcript
Frameworks of Inquiry
Monika Johnston
World History Educator, Packer Collegiate Institute, New York
In times of conflict, assumptions about others can lead to even more conflict. Monika Johnston says RPL gave her students tools to assess their own frame of reference and a drive to actively listen to the perspective of another.
Johnston Interview Transcript
Answering a Call for Change
Shaun Casey
Former Special Representative for Religion and Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Students need institutions that aid them in their “vocational call to change the world.” HDS answers that call, Shaun Casey says, by training students to think in a “deeper, more sophisticated way.” Casey Interview Transcript
Going Beyond the Textbook
John Camardella
World Religions Educator, Prospect High School, Illinois
John Camardella’s students have learned how to go beyond the textbook and embrace the “complex ways that religions function in the human experience.” Camardella Interview Transcript
Partnerships in Humanitarian Action
Tara Gingerich
Senior Humanitarian Researcher, Oxfam America
Talking with, and learning about, local religious leaders is a vital aspect of successful humanitarian efforts around the world according to Tara Gingerich. After a fellowship with RPL, she saw a fuller picture centered on religious literacy. Gingerich Interview Transcript
Advocating for Religious Literacy in Media
Mario Cader-Frech
Former SVP, Public Affairs and Social Responsibility, Viacom International
“I only thought religion existed to be religious. Now I feel like I am this advocate in looking at how religion is everywhere.” Cader-Frech Interview Transcript