Voices

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.

Key Takeaways from RPL Partners

Community Organizing Fellow 2023-24

"How can those of us who have privilege use that privilege for the benefit of those on the bottom, the marginalized, the dispossessed?"

ÁLVARO HUERTA: RPL Organizing Fellow

Education Fellow 2023-24

"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?"

Sarabinh Levy-Brightman: RPL Education Fellow

Humanitarian Action Fellow 2023-24

"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?"

MIKE DELANEY: RPL Humanitarian Action Fellow

Government Fellow 2023-24

"How can the prophetic tools, practices, and forms of inquiry that we cultivate in religious communities be employed inside government structures?"

Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, RPL Government Fellow

Native and Indigenous Rights Fellow 2023-24

"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?"

CYNTHIA WILSON: RPL Native and Indigenous Rights Fellow

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?"

Karilyn Crockett: RPL Government Fellow

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?"

Teresa Cavazos Cohn: RPL Climate Change Fellow

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?"

Rhon Manigault-Bryant: RPL Racial Justice Fellow

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?"

PHIL TORREY: RPL Immigration and Refugee Fellow

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

Harvard Divinity School · Religious Literacy for Social Justice: Greg Khalil

Frameworks of Inquiry: Monika Johnston

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

Harvard Divinity School · Frameworks of Inquiry: Monika Johnston

Answering a Call for Change: Shaun Casey

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

 

Harvard Divinity School · Answering a Call for Change: Shaun Casey

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

Harvard Divinity School · Going Beyond the Textbook: John Camardella

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

Harvard Divinity School · Partnerships in Humanitarian Action: Tara Gingerich

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

Harvard Divinity School · Advocating for Religious Literacy in Media: Mario Cader-Frech