The Religion Unplugged Podcast

Religion Unplugged Senior Contributor Robert Carle interviews Rabbi Eliyohu Krumers, who leads the Peitav Shul congregation in Riga, Latvia. The Peitav Shul is the only synagogue that survived the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Latvia because it's located in the center of Riga's Old Town, making it too risky to set it on fire without endangering the Old Town. Instead, the Nazis used the synagogue as a stable for animals. In the 1990s, the Peitav Shul was bombed twice, causing $60,000 in damages. The renovation of the synagogue was funded by the European Union and completed in 2008. According to Rabbi Krumers, Jews are currently safe in Latvia. After the second bombing, the Latvian government stationed police permanently at the synagogue. Krumers mentioned that Christians are gradually acknowledging the unfortunate history of anti-Semitism within the church. Latvian Lutherans, he said, have rejected the parts of Luther's later writings that attack Jews and Judaism.

Georgetown University professor Joshua Mitchell talks with ReligionUnplugged.com about his new book, “American Awakening,” where he explores how identity politics in America bear a some resemblance to Christianity but miss vital concepts such as forgiveness. Mitchell speaks with Paul Glader and Paul Marshall about the book thesis and Mitchell’s observations and concerns about American life.

In this podcast, Chris Broussard of Fox Sports works as an NBA analyst who is passionate about basketball. He’s also passionate about being a Christian, helping Black youth, combating racism and making the world a better place. He sounds like a preacher, someone who oozes passion. There aren’t too many people out there who could speak with ease about God, Jesus and St. Paul one minute, then pivot and wax on about Michael Jordan, Lebron James and who’s the best dunker in NBA history. But it’s Broussard’s love for Christ — and his commitment to Bible teachings — that makes him a great spokesman for Christians who work in secular environments.

In this podcast, Jehu Kitoli, a Kenyan member of the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, describes his long journey to Judaism. Jehu grew up Anglican. As a teenageer, Jehu began to read the Bible and found contradictions between the Hebrew scriptures and the teachings of Paul. “I discovered that the Bible was a document given to Jews and addressed to the children of Israel, who were to be in a covenant relationship with God,” Jehu said. He wanted to pray the same prayers that King David and King Solomon prayed. He wished to be a holy person, but that meant following Judaism’s onerous set of 613 commandments. He became observant, adopted kosher laws and learned Hebrew on his own. It took Jehu two years to get permission to enter the synagogue in Nairobi, but during his first visit, he felt he had found his spiritual home. Thus began his 15-year process of converting to Judaism.

Brother Colm O’Connell, the “godfather of Kenyan Running,” is a Patrician monk from Cork County, Ireland. Brother Colm came to St. Patrick’s High School in Iten, Kenya in 1976 to teach geography. Brother Colm knew little about running or coaching when he volunteered to coach St. Patrick’s athletics team. In the 46 years he has lived in Iten, Brother Colm has coached scores of world record holders and Olympic medalists, including David Rudisha, Lornah Kiplagat, Ibrahim Hussein, Isaac Songok, and Mary Keitany. Brother Colm has been crucial in turning the small, remote village of Iten, Kenya in the Great Rift Valley into the world’s most significant center of long-distance running talent. In this podcast, Brother Colm offers us his philosophy and spirituality of coaching elite athletes.

Senior Religion Unplugged Contributor Dr. Robert Carle is in Kenya for this episode, interviewing the Israeli Ambassador to Kenya, Michael Lotem. Lotem–along with several other ambassadors to countries in Africa and Asia– is a part of a broad expansion in foreign affairs by Israel to countries in Africa and Asia. Other recent ambassador appointments include ambassador Eitan Na’eh in Bahrain, Michael Freeman in Nigeria, Dov Segev-Steinberg in Myanmar and Tammy Ben-Haim in Bengaluru. Dr. Carle discusses the new relationships Israel is finding with institutions and communities in Kenya and the unique perspectives on what it means to become a Jewish Kenyan.

The six gold-tipped spires of the temple, originally dedicated in 1974, stoke intrigue like Emerald City in the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland. Part of the attraction is that the Latter-day Saints temple is off-limits to the public — except for an open house, which has not taken place in nearly 50 years, since 1974.

Senior Religion Unplugged Contributor Dr. Robert Carle is in Baringo, Kenya for this episode, interviewing world record-holding long distance runner, Mary Keitany. She won her first world record in 2010, at the Berlin 25 kilometre race, with a time of 1:19:53. She also has won world records for races in 2011 and 2017. Now retired, Keitany talks to Dr. Carle about her history in racing, the importance of her Catholic faith in her life, and the public school she helped start in her hometown.

Senior Religion Unplugged Contributor Dr. Robert Carle is in Baringo, Kenya for this episode, interviewing world record-holding long distance runner, Mary Keitany. She won her first world record in 2010, at the Berlin 25 kilometre race, with a time of 1:19:53. She also has won world records for races in 2011 and 2017. Now retired, Keitany talks to Dr. Carle about her history in racing, the importance of her Catholic faith in her life, and the public school she helped start in her hometown.

Religion Unplugged Contributor Dr. Robert Carle is in Eldoret, Kenya for this episode, interviewing Pastor John Miaka and Pastor Philip Yego. They are accomplished runners who have competed internationally for Kenya winning marathons in Madrid, Valencia, the European Indoor Games, the 10k Road Race and have since retired from running to focus on their faith and being pastors of Pentecostal churches in Eldoret. Dr. Carle speaks to the pastors on how their running careers have intersected with their faith.

Religion Unplugged Contributor Robert Carle talks to Bishop Mudenyo, who oversees a fellowship of fifty-six East African Pentecostal churches, about Kenya's 2014 regulations to crack down on scam miracles and fake pastors. These regulations failed because they sharply curtailed the freedom of real pastors and religious leaders to serve their congregants. Mudenyo instead proposes new methods of self-regulation in Pan-African Christianity. For Pentecostals, it has been challenging to build a system of accountability inside a network of churches that were founded on the principle of freedom of the Spirit to operate unhindered by denominational structures.

Dr. Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist who recently received the 2022 Templeton Prize, adding to his Nobel Prize and MacArthur fellowship. He spoke with ReligionUnplugged.com executive editor Paul Glader about his religious upbringing and how it positively affected his approach to science. He also talks about how and why he became disillusioned with the religious teachings he experienced in his youth.

Amid the leak of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion that likely overturns Roe v. Wade, ReligionUnplugged Executive Editor Paul Glader spoke with journalist and author Joshua Prager about his ground-breaking book, The Family Roe, that reports deeply on the battle over abortion in American history by telling the story about Norma McCorvey, the woman behind “Jane Roe.” Prager explains his reportorial journey to report Norma’s full story, including a profile of the so called “baby Roe,” the now-grown daughter who was never aborted. Religion, faith and sex are huge recurring themes in this remarkable narrative.

Dr. Philip Jenkins of Baylor University shares about his research into the correlation between trends of institutional religious practice and trends of fertility. Dr. Jenkins discusses how religious participation particularly among young couples are a factor in driving fertility rates around the globe, and how this kind of statistical analysis can potentially predict global trends. Emceed by The Media Project Senior Programs Manager, Melissa Tamplin Harrison.

Executive Editor Paul Glader interviews Prison Fellowship's Director of Government Affairs, Heather Rice to discuss the longevity of prison reform at a time when some conservatives and Christians are concerned about crime rising in some categories and cities. Rice suggests criminal justice reform isn’t a lost cause for conservatives, Christians or anyone. She outlines how steps towards major reform were accomplished under the past two U.S. presidential administrations, and how President Biden might potentially have bipartisan support for larger reforms during his term.

Dr. Scott Kenworthy, a professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at Miami University, spoke with ReligionUnplugged’s Managing Editor Meagan Clark about the religious aspects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the complex history of Russian Orthodoxy. Kenworthy's research interests focus on the history and thought of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, particularly in modern Russia. His recent book co-authored with Alexander Agadjanian, “Understanding World Christianity: Russia” aims to correct Western myths and misunderstandings about Russian Christianity and history.

On a stage inside a Texas megachurch worship center, a Muslim man wearing a traditional North African thobe that hung to his feet took a deep breath and began reciting passages from the Quran. The Islamic ritual in a Protestant santuary was part of a conference organized by the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network, a group co-founded by a Christian pastor, a Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi to promote international religous freedom and increase cooperation and understanding between the Abrahamic faiths. Produced by Chris Moody in partnership with Religion Unplugged.

Mariya Kapinos is a Ukrainian journalist and game designer normally based in Kyev. She fled her city in recent days as Russia prepared to invade. As tanks rolled into her home country, Kapinos spoke with ReligionUnplugged.com executive editor Paul Glader about the military, political and religious conflicts between her homeland, Ukraine, and its neighbor to the East. An alumna of The Media Project's European Journalism Institute in Prague, Kapinos explains the anger, loss and fear that millions of Ukrainians are feeling right now.