Religion & Society Program Blog

In a time when our communities feel more fractured than ever before, how can our country find common ground and join together in building a future where respect, collaboration, and equity are centered in our relationships and society? This question is at the heart of a new project by the Religion and Society Program.

Religious, spiritual, and ethical teachings have a profound impact on people’s perspectives and inform many of our civic debates. Understanding other’s worldviews can make for healthier disagreement.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a chance to remember a great man’s legacy and to consider the ways that faith, translated into action, can make our communities better.

Chaplains offers hope, comfort and assistance during difficult times to people of all faiths — yet are often pigeon-holed as “just religious.”  

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a chance to remember a great man’s legacy and to consider the ways that faith, translated into action, can make our communities better.

The interplay between faith and politics illuminates the multifaceted nature of human societies. While it can serve as a beacon of inspiration and shared values, it also holds the potential to sow seeds of division and conflict.

The Aspen Institute Religion and Society Program’s Racial Justice and Religion Collective members gathered at the Green Acre Bahá’i School of Learning for a powerful retreat.

Churches have mechanisms to provide counseling and social influence. By harnessing faith communities’ potential to deliver trauma-informed care and destigmatizing mental health messages, we can confront our nation’s mental health crisis more adequately.

Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Adelene McBean, and Pauli Murray fought for dignity and justice. Racial Justice & Religion Collective members will make a pilgrimage to Birmingham and Montgomery, which became epicenters for the Black civil rights movement, from Oct. 1-5.

The Aspen Institute Religion and Society Program’s Racial Justice and Religion Collective members gathered at the Green Acre Bahá’i School of Learning for a powerful retreat.

Awards season has already kicked off, and with it an eerily familiar feeling. Once again, we see conversations around representation, discrimination, and diversity at the forefront of the Grammys, the Golden Globes, the Oscars.

Young people are very enthusiastic about pluralism. Why isn’t that translating into action?

Meryl Justin Chertoff reflects on the last decade and what the future might hold for the Religion & Society Program.