Religious Socialism Podcast

A conversation with Reverend Andrew Wilkes, a an African Methodist Episcopal pastor of young adults and social justice and leader in a black Christian community in Jamaica, Queens. Unlike some of our interviewees, Rev. Wilkes identifies as a democratic socialist, and has spent a lot of time working out those principles with his faith. He discusses why socialism is a theological commitment, what democratic socialist policies could look like in practice, why leftist politics has a race problem — and why joy is the most important feeling of Christianity. Photo cred: Huffpost.

A conversation with Reverend Khader El-Yateem, a native Palestinian and Lutheran pastor running for City Council for the 43rd District, which includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst. El-Yateem discusses growing up in the Greek Orthodox in Palestine, where he came to realize he was under two occupations: the Israeli Occupation, and the Greek occupation of the indigenous Palestinian Christian church. In this far-reaching interview, he talks about how being tortured by the Israeli Defense Forces taught him about faith, love and justice, what it's like to serve as a police liason for the Arab community in a time of Islamophobia and racial profiling, and why he finally decided to run for office after two decades as a pastor and community organizer in Bay Ridge. Photo cred from El-Yateem 2017.

A conversation with Reverent Ann Kansfield, pastor at Greenpoint Reformed Church and chaplain for the FDNY. Kansfield discusses how 9/11 prompted her to leave her finance job and join seminary, her feelings when her father went on trial for marrying her and her wife and had to step down as a theology professor, and what it's like to be the first woman and lesbian chaplain of the New York Fire Department. Photo cred from NYT.

A Conversation With Laura Barrett of Interfaith Worker Justice

Religion and Socialism Podcast Episode One - A Conversation with Professor Gary Dorrien