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Some previous grant research revealed the importance of accounting for dehumanization in interreligious conflict, and this was confirmed by the work of the late neuroscientist Emile Bruneau who encouraged those working in peacemaking to account for elements like this. My work in monster theory also played a part in my understanding, and therefore I was pleased to find David Livingstone Smith account for this in his book Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization (Harvard University Press, 2021).  In this podcast, Smith and I dive down into a specific element of dehumanization which he has called "demonizing dehumanization." David Livingstone Smith: https://www.davidlivingstonesmith.com/  Making Monsters: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674545564  My prior podcast with Smith on dehumanization and Making Monsters: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-aszpp-10f8c92  You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead

Eugenia Rainey is our guest to discuss the African diaspora religion of Santeria. Rainey is associate professor William & Mary Rainey where she is a cultural anthropologist who studies religion as a negotiated process. She focuses on this process at the intersection of Lucumí (also referred to as La Regla de Ochá or Santería) and medicine in south Florida. Through examining devotees’ experiences and perceptions of the medical encounter, and being well grounded in religious practice, she seeks to better understand how the healthcare infrastructure impacts constructions of race and lived religion, as well as how African Diaspora religions in the US support the healthcare needs of devotees and the healthcare infrastructure.  Eugenia Rainey at William & Mary: https://www.wm.edu/as/americanstudies/faculty/rainey_e.php  Dr. Rainey's profile on Santeria at the World Religions and Spirituality Project: https://wrldrels.org/2025/05/27/santeria/  Books on Santeria mentioned in this podcast: Santería: Correcting the Myths and Uncovering the Realities of a Growing Religion By Mary Ann Clark   Santeria: An African Religion in America - By Joseph M. Murphy You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead

In this episode I have a conversation with Batja Mesquita who discusses her book Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions. We unpack the ideas in her book and make application to religious and political conflict. From her book description: A pioneer of cultural psychology argues that emotions are not innate, but made as we live our lives together. “How are you feeling today?” We may think of emotions as universal responses, felt inside, but in Between Us, acclaimed psychologist Batja Mesquita asks us to reconsider them through the lens of what they do in our relationships, both one-on-one and within larger social networks. From an outside-in perspective, readers will understand why pride in a Dutch context does not translate well to the same emotion in North Carolina, or why one’s anger at a boss does not mean the same as your anger at a partner in a close relationship. By looking outward at relationships at work, school, and home, we can better judge how our emotions will be understood, how they might change a situation, and how they change us. Brilliantly synthesizing original psychological studies and stories from peoples across time and geography, Between Us skillfully argues that acknowledging differences in emotions allows us to find common ground, humanizing and humbling us all for the better. Batja Mesquita is a Dutch social psychologist, a cultural psychologist and an affective scientist. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven, Belgium, where she studies the role of culture in emotions, and of emotions in culture and society. She is director of the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology in Leuven. Official Website of Batja Mesquita: https://www.batjamesquita.com/  Between Us at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Between-Us-Cultures-Create-Emotions/dp/1324002441  You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #emotions #culture #BatjaMesquita #affect

The Nones, that large demographic of those who have given up on institutional religion, have been the focus of a lot of scholarship and discussion. In this episode we have a conversation with Stephen Bradford Long, a friend and previous guest, who has shared his journey into The Satanic Temple. In this new conversation he discusses his ongoing journey, moving beyond TST to other areas of spirituality. Stephen's links: https://stephenbradfordlong.com/ https://substack.com/@stephenbradfordlong   Previous episodes on The Nones: https://youtu.be/pFF8W_yvw1k?si=BN-D8FQWBaNGV_Ut https://youtu.be/gbynKIV6KOA?si=y5KfJPmx8ub0fg0J You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #Nones #StephenBradfordLong

R. Alan Streett returns as our guest in this episode discussing his book Exploring the Paranormal: Miracles, Magic, and the Mysterious (Eerdmans, 2024). Streett is senior research professor emeritus of biblical theology at Criswell College in Dallas, TX.  The book's website description: A personal exploration of questions surrounding psychic healing, séances, astral projection, and more. After an injury threatened his chances of signing a professional baseball contract, R. Alan Streett sought help from Olga Worrall, a world-famous psychic healer. This encounter set in motion his lifelong search for the origin and nature of psychic phenomena. Were they natural or supernatural? From God, or from the devil? Were they mentalists’ tricks, or feats of the subconscious mind? Streett invites us to join him in real time as he explores the fascinating world of the paranormal, offering insights into healing, magic, trance channeling, yogic meditation, alternative medicine, astral projection, and the brain’s ability to produce spiritual and mystical experiences. Ultimately Streett enables readers to draw some time-tested and cutting-edge conclusions. Exploring the Paranormal is a helpful guide for all who wish to understand the varied forms of spirituality that are so popular today. R. Alan Streett: https://www.criswell.edu/directory/r-alan-streett/   Exploring the Paranormal: https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Paranormal-Miracles-Magic-Mysterious/dp/0802884539/ You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #paranormal #AlanStreett

In this episode Andrew DeCort discusses his new book Blessed Are the Others: Jesus' Way in a Violent World (BitterSweet Collective). Andrew has been called a dissident theologian by his friends. His work is deeply inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his writing by James Baldwin, his spirituality by Etty Hillesum. He received his PhD in religious and political ethics from the University of Chicago, and his work through the Neighbor-Love Movement has invited over 20 million people into nonviolent spirituality. He's the author of Flourishing on the Edge of Faith (also through BitterSweet Collective) and writes the newsletter Stop & Think. Andrew DeCort: https://andrew-decort.com/ Blessed Are The Others: https://www.bittersweetcollective.com/blessed-are-the-others You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #AndrewDeCort #BlessedAreTheOthers #Beatittudes #nonviolence

Reid B. Locklin is Associate Professor of Christianity and the Intellectual Tradition at the University of Toronto, a joint appointment with St Michael’s College and the Department for the Study of Religion. His research focuses on a range of issues in Comparative Theology and Hindu-Christian Studies, particularly the engagement between Christian thought and the Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedanta. He also writes on the scholarship of teaching and learning in theology and religion. In this podcast we will be discussing his book Hindu Mission, Christian Mission: Soundings in Comparative Theology (State University of New York, 2024). Fred Stella is an accomplished lecturer on many aspects of Hinduism, and has presented at conferences across the United States, and internationally. He has completed extensive lecture tours in India and Guyana. Mr. Stella is a product of 16 years (including college) of Roman Catholic education. He is uniquely qualified to explain the Dharma to those in Abrahamic traditions in a most understandable way. Fred is ordained as a Pracharak (Outreach Minister) by his local temple. Also, he serves as a member of the National Leadership Council of the Hindu American Foundation, an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Currently he lives in Grand Rapids, MI, USA. Reid Locklin: https://www.religion.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/reid-locklin Hindu Mission, Christian Mission: Soundings in Comparative Theology https://www.amazon.com/Hindu-Mission-Christian-Soundings-Comparative/dp/1438497407 Fred Stella: https://www.hinduspeakers.org/fred-stella/ See at our prior conversation with Fred Stella at https://johnwmorehead.podbean.com/e/fred-stella-on-hinduism-in-america/ https://youtu.be/EM3dutJT5VQ?si=x8eroVZExaqzPl_x A conversation with Anuttama Dasa of ISKCON at https://johnwmorehead.podbean.com/e/anuttama-dasa-and-the-international-societ-of-krishna-consciousness/ https://youtu.be/yywoMyb97ks?si=7I1Jk2Azyo9ZRmlW You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org. Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #Hinduism #mission #theology #ReidLocklin #FredStella

In this podcast Kelly James Clark discusses his book Raging Fire of Love, a book on Muslim, Christian and Jewish love, and shares what he learned about how love of neighbor and even enemy. He discusses compassion in the Abrahamic traditions and what he learned from Christians (his spiritual home), second, Jews, and third, Muslims.  Kelly James Clark, Ph.D. (University of Notre Dame), is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul. Kelly has held previous positions at Grand Valley State University, Calvin University and Gordon College and visiting appointments at Oxford University, the University of St. Andrews, Peking University, and the University of Notre Dame. He is the author, editor, or co-author of more than Thirty books including Raging Fire of Love: what I’ve learned from Jesus, the Jews, and the Prophet (the subject of this podcast), Strangers, Neighbors, Friends: Muslim-Christian-Jewish Reflections on Compassion and Peace, Written to Be Heard: Recovering the Messages of the Gospels, God and the Brain, Abraham's Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict, Religion and the Sciences of Origins, Return to Reason, The Story of Ethics, When Faith Is Not Enough, and 101 Key Philosophical Terms of Their Importance for Theology. Philosophers Who Believe won third place in Christianity Today's books of the year (which may not sound like much, but the Pope's book was eighth). He writes broadly and speaks widely on compassion, tolerance and peace. Kelly James Clark: https://kellyjamesclark.wixsite.com/kellyjamesclark Raging Fire of Love: https://www.amazon.com/Raging-Fire-Love-Learned-Prophet/dp/B0D2YF47K5/ You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead    

Christians tend to develop their understanding of other religions, especially new religious movements or "cults," by way of comparison of sacred texts with concerns for orthodoxy and heresy. But other approaches to study add new facets of understanding such as fieldwork can also be helpful. In this podcast George Chryssides discusses his new book Fieldwork in New Religious Movements. In this conversation we discuss not only the academic use of fieldwork, but what "lay fieldwork" might look like as well. From the publisher's website: "New religious movements are often described as bizarre and sinister. Direct acquaintance, however, often gives a different impression from media portrayals and even from some academic writing. After decades of undertaking fieldwork, the author George Chryssides discusses his experiences, as well as studies by other scholars, and the issues that fieldwork involves. How do one's personal beliefs and lifestyle impinge on field research? How involved should a participant–observer become? How should we assess what we are told by insiders and ex-members? What ethical problems does field research create? How should we engage in online fieldwork, arising from the increasing use of the Internet, accelerated by the Covid pandemic? These are among the issues which this Element explores, and which will be of interest both to field researchers and to those who read about the fieldwork of others." George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow at York St John University, UK, and was formerly Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. His website can be found at http://www.religion21.com/. You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead

Erin Stiles is the author of The Devil Sat on My Bed: Encounters with the Spirit World in Mormon Utah. As the back cover describes: "In the mountains of beautiful, bucolic northern Utah, many Latter-day Saints (Mormons) are visited by spirits. Local folklore is filled with stories of uncanny encounters of all kinds, and Latter-day Saint scripture and prophetic teachings emphasize the reality and the importance of the spirit world. Spirit encounters are common in this community. People report visits from the benevolent spirits of kin offering aid and also from evil spirits who tempt and harass. Combining folklore research with ethnography, the book examines many types of spirit encounters and shows that such experiences must be understood as particularly Latter-day Saint phenomena. "Spirit encounters take place within a larger cultural and religious framework that emphasizes the important relationships between living and non-living beings. For Mormons in northern Utah, spirit lore and experiences are interpreted and understood with reference to Latter-day Saint cosmology and particularly Mormon conceptions of the nature of the person, the spirit, and the family, and the nature of righteousness, evil, and spiritual power. The book also explores how people in Utah differentiate between "Mormon culture," the institutional church, and how they understand the "true" meaning of the religion, which has relevance far beyond understanding of people's relationship to the spirit realm and spirit power, and speaks to key issues of concern―and polarization―among Latter-day Saints today." Erin E. Stiles is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her primary interests are in the anthropology of religion and law, and she has worked in East Africa and in the western United States. She has conducted extensive ethnographic research on the everyday workings of Islamic courts in Zanzibar, Tanzania, with a particular focus on marital disputes. Her more recent work focuses on Latter-day Saint experiences of the spirit realm in northern Utah, where she grew up. The Devil Sat on My Bed: https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Sat-My-Bed-Encounters/dp/0197763758/ Erin Stiles: https://www.unr.edu/anthropology/people/erin-stiles You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #Mormonism #Spirits #anthropology

Much of the discussion of UFOs is focused around the two poles of extraterrestrial spaceships or skeptical debunking. In this podcast David J. Halperin provides another perspective, that of myth, to help shed light on UFOs as meaning-making things. We do this by unpacking his book Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO (Stanford University Press, 2020). David Halperin taught Judaic studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, until his retirement in 2000. He has published five nonfiction books on Jewish mysticism and messianism, as well as the coming-of-age novel Journal of a UFO Investigator (2011). He blogs about UFOs, religion, and related subjects at www.davidhalperin.net. Intimate Alien: https://www.amazon.com/Intimate-Alien-Hidden-Spiritual-Phenomena/dp/1503607089/ Be sure to check the other episodes in our Paranormal Playlist. You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #UFOs #myth #DavidHalperin

Rabbi Leon Ariel Mellul of the International Raëlian Movement is the guest who discusses the group's origins in a meeting with extraterrestrials called the Elohim, their work in the creation of humanity, the place of their founder Raël in a long line of prophets from the world's religions, their millenarian philosophy of the return of the Elohim, and responses to various aspects of their religion that has received critical reporting in the media over the years. Rabbi Mellul was born in a traditional Jewish family until November 1987 when he discovered the book Intelligent Design by Raël. He came to understand that the Elohim were an extraterrestrial civilization who had been mistaken for gods by our primitive ancestors. Since then has has been a part of the Raëlian Movement with a special connection to the Israeli Raëlian Movement. Links to the Raëlian Movement: www.rael.org www.Alliance4ET.org www.1min4peace.org www.isralestinian-gandhis.org Scholarly discussions of the Raëlian Movement: Aliens Adored: Raël's UFO Religion by Susan J. Palmer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813534763/ UFO Religions by Christopher Partridge: https://www.amazon.com/UFO-Religions-Christopher-Partridge/dp/0415263247/ Handbook of UFO Religions edited by Benjamin Zeller: https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Religions-Handbooks-Contemporary-Religion/dp/9004434372/ You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #RaelianMovement #UFOReligions #UFOs

Elias D'eis, Executive Director of the Holy Land Trust, shares about his life as a Palestinian Christian in the West Bank, life under the Israeli military occupation, the role of a Christian in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the work of The Holy Land Trust. Elias D'eis was born into a Christian family with a long history of nonviolent resistance in Beit Sahour. His life was shaped during the First Intifada, watching his father and his community find the path towards justice through peaceful resistance. It was through his Christian upbringing, holding onto Jesus's sacred words of "loving thy neighbor," that led Elias into a life journey of engaging his community in transformation. Joining Holy Land Trust in 2007 as a travel coordinator, Elias has grown the Travel & Encounter program. His department now facilitates tours and educational packages to some 1,500 peacemakers and sojourners a year. In June 2019, Elias got promoted to the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust after he spent the last decade investing his life into the mission and vision because it is something that he truly believes in: "Building communities of trust and respect." Holy Land Trust: https://www.holylandtrust.org/ You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #HolyLandTrust #IsraeliPalestinianConflict #GazaWar

J. Gordon Melton, the noted scholar of new religions, joins us in this episode to discuss the Church of Scientology. Dr. J. Gordon Melton, became Distinguished Professor of American Religious History of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies in Religion in March of 2011. He also serves as the director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Woodway, Texas. Since joining ISR, he has been developing a set of joint projects between ISR and the Woodway-based Institute, the initial project being a comprehensive census of the American Buddhist and Hindu communities completed in 2010 (with and updated census having been launched in 2019). In addition, he has for the last two decades been monitoring the changing state of the church in China. In 1968 he founded the Institute for the Study of American Religion and has remained it’s director for the last 49 years. The institute is devoted to organizing, motivating, and producing research-based studies and educational material on North American Religion. It has been responsible for the publication of more than 400 reference and scholarly texts since its founding, including multiple editions of Melton’s Encyclopedia of American Religions (9th edition, 2016). Dr. Melton is a pioneering scholar in the field of New Religions Studies and helped to create the sub-discipline. He sits on the international board of the Center for Studies in New Religions (CESNUR) based in Turin, Italy, the primary academic association focusing studies of new and minority religions. J. Gordon Melton at Baylor: https://www.baylorisr.org/about-baylorisr/distinguished-professors/j-gordon-melton/ Melton's book on Scientology: https://www.amazon.com/Church-Scientology-Studies-Contemporary-Religions/dp/1560851392 You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead #GordonMelton #Scientology

Matthew Bowman discusses the first American UFO abduction account detailed in his new book The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America (Yale University Press, 2023). From the book's dust cover: "Bowman tells the fascinating story of the Hills as an account of the shifting winds in American politics and culture in the second half of the twentieth century. He exposes the promise and fallout of the idealistic reforms of the 1960s and how the myth of political consensus has given way to the cynicism and conspiratorialism of American life today." Matthew Bowman is associate professor of religion and history and Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University. His books include The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith. Matthew Bowman: https://www.cgu.edu/people/matthew-bowman/ The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300251388/the-abduction-of-betty-and-barney-hill/ You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org  Support this work: One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead