How does quality data shape our interpretation of the religious landscape in the United States? Religion data is increasingly used beyond the work of researchers and academics in the media, classrooms, congregations, and beyond to describe patterns and make strategic decisions. Understanding religion as a demographic category—and how this demographic is changing—can be integral for our institutions' products, priorities, and the ways that they interact with religious communities. In this episode of Religion &, our panel of scholars will explore the importance of collecting and interpreting reputable religion data and offer data-driven insights and practical implications for understanding the evolving religious landscape. Join us for a conversation that considers the challenges and benefits of religion data collection and how this work can shape public discourse around religion.

Host: Erica Dollhopf

Erica Dollhopf is the Associate Director of Research for Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University Indianapolis. Dr. Dollhopf received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in American Studies from Lehigh University. She has authored numerous publications on congregations, congregational vitality, and faith-based nonprofits and she was awarded the Religious Research Association's 2024 Outstanding Applied Research Award for her article on congregation vitality in the United Church of Christ. Dr. Dollhopf is the co-chair of the 2030 US Religion Census and the current president of the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.

Panelist: Besheer Mohamed

Besheer Mohamed is a Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center with extensive experience studying Muslim American communities. More broadly, his research examines religious identities, beliefs and practices in the United States, with a particular focus on the intersection of religion and race. He has led public opinion studies on the experiences and attitudes of Muslim Americans, a religious profile of Asian Americans, the religious composition of Hispanic Americans, and faith among Black Americans, among others. He also publishes regularly in scholarly journals and has authored book chapters for Oxford University Press and NYU Press. His insights have been featured in prominent media outlets such as CNN, NPR, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Besheer holds a doctorate in sociology and a master's degree in Middle East studies from the University of Chicago.

Panelist: Allison Norton

Allison L. Norton is the Associate Professor of Migration Studies and Congregational Life at Hartford International University, where she is co-directs the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and directs the Pastoral Innovation Network of New England. She is most interested in applied research that makes a tangible difference for religious communities and congregations. She is currently co-authoring a book titled Migrant God, Migrant Faith (IVP Academic) and serving as Co-Investigator on the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations study.

Panelist: Gina Zurlo

Gina A. Zurlo (Ph.D., Boston University) is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School (Cambridge, MA). Her research interests include World Christianity, sociology of religion, quantitative studies, and gender studies. She is editor of the World Christian Database (Brill) and World Religion Database (Brill), and her latest books are Women in World Christianity: Building and Sustaining a Global Movement (Wiley-Blackwell) and the Compact Atlas of Global Christianity (University of Edinburgh Press, with Kenneth R. Ross and Todd M. Johnson). Dr. Zurlo was named one of the BBC's 100 most inspiring and influential women of 2019 for her work quantifying religion and non-religion worldwide.

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Show Notes: https://raac.indianapolis.iu.edu/teaching_resources/religion-demographics-show-notes/

Teaching and Learning Resources: https://raac.indianapolis.iu.edu/teaching_resources/religion-demographics-teaching-resources/

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As universities face growing pressure to demonstrate the market value of a liberal arts education, Religious Studies and related departments are exploring new pathways to prepare graduates for the job market. This episode of Religion & examines emerging models for career-focused bachelor's and graduate tracks and partnerships designed to connect students with professional opportunities. While these initiatives aim to respond to increasing demands for career readiness, they also raise important questions as to how departments balance the promise of employability with the value of critical, humanistic inquiry. Join us for a conversation about the opportunities, challenges, and debates surrounding this shift—and what it means for the future of Religious Studies in higher education.

Host: Rachel Wheeler

Rachel Wheeler is Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis. She is a leading scholar on missions and Native American Christianity in early America. Her current project is developing an app for faculty that helps to make the invisible work of academic service and domestic labor visible on academic CVs in hopes of creating a more just climate for women faculty and faculty of color. She has published essays in The Washington Post, Women in Higher Education, Religion and Politics, and other venues, in addition to scholarly articles in leading journals.

Panelist: Julie Byrne

Julie Byrne holds the Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman Chair in Catholic Studies and serves as Professor in the Department of Religion at Hofstra University. She is the author of The Other Catholics: Remaking America's Largest Religion (Columbia, 2016) and O God of Players: The Story of the Immaculata Mighty Macs (Columbia, 2003). In addition to Catholic Studies, she writes and teaches about topics in comparative religions of the Americas, focusing on contemporary communities and connectivity to current events.

Panelist: Amy DeRogatis

Amy DeRogatis is Chair and Professor of Religion and American Culture in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. Dr. DeRogatis' research focuses on the multiple ways that religious groups, people, and communities in North America express religious ideas, commitments, beliefs, and knowledge through embodied practices. For ten years Dr. DeRogatis co-directed with Dr. Isaac Weiner the American Religious Sounds Project, a collaborative digital sonic initiative. She has recently begun a research project on Edith Cold, a twentieth-century American missionary who witnessed the atrocities in Hadjin, Turkey in spring 1920.

Panelist: Russell McCutcheon

Russell T. McCutcheon was, for 18 years, the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, responsible for reviving a unit that was once scheduled for closure. He publishes and teaches broadly in the field, on its history, theories of religion, myth, and ritual, and has produced a number of resources for instructors as well as those leading Departments. He is also the current chair of the American Academy of Religion's Academic Relations Committee.

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Podcasts have become a tool for scholars to share ideas beyond academic publishing and the classroom. In an era when the traditional methods (books, articles) of engaging the wider public in scholarship and research about religion are fading, podcasts offer an accessible space for broader audiences to engage with the field. This episode of Religion & explores the growth of podcasts designed and led by scholars of religion and considers how these platforms function as public scholarship in a moment of fractured attention and limited opportunities to share knowledge otherwise. What are their promises? Are there downsides and should we be concerned? Join us for a conversation that highlights creativity, accessibility, challenges, and the evolving role of scholars in shaping public discourse about religion.

Host: Andrea Jain

Andrea R. Jain, Ph.D. is Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis and research affiliate at Indiana University's Environmental Resilience Institute, editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and author of Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture (Oxford 2014) and Peace Love Yoga: The Politics of Global Spirituality (Oxford, 2020). She received her doctorate degree in religious studies from Rice University in 2010. Her areas of research include religion and capitalism; global spirituality and modern yoga; gender, sexuality, and religion; and theories of religion.

Panelist: Megan Goodwin

Megan Goodwin is Senior Editor at Religion Dispatches and Nerd-in-Chief at Feral Nerd Consulting. With Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, she cohosted and coproduced the award-winning podcast "Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion." Their most recent book, Religion Is Not Done With You, is now available through Beacon Press.

Panelist: Brad Onishi

Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus podcast. He founded Axis Mundi Media in 2023 in order to provide a platform for research-based podcasts focused on safeguarding democracy from the threats of extremism and authoritarianism. Onishi is a frequent guest on national radio, podcast, and television outlets, including "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross and MSNBC. His podcast ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple's podcast charts. His book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next, is available now.

Panelist: Chris Stevenson

Chris Stevenson is the co-founder and president of the private, digital-first National Museum of American History. He is also the founder of America's Quilt of Faith, a civic nonprofit that champions the indispensability of religion to the American experiment in self-government. Chris has a Bachelor of Science in applied physics, Masters of Arts in teaching physics, and a Masters of Science in agricultural engineering. He is the host of the museum's podcast Religion in the American Experience. Mr. Stevenson is the author of Letters from an American Husband and Father. He lives with his wife and family in Purcellville, Virginia.

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Faith in the inevitability of betterment is the driving force of modern knowledge. What happens to our scholarship and teaching when trust in our institutions begins to falter? With increased scrutiny and pressure on our campuses and from the broader public, studying and teaching religion can start to feel unbearable. In this episode of Religion &, our panelists will examine the implications of this tension on teachers, thinkers, and scholars of religion. Join us for a conversation exploring how the state of today's campuses and classrooms impact the work of religion scholars and how we might help our students, readers, and the broader public respond to our current moment through our teaching and scholarship.

Robert Orsi is Grace Craddock Nagle Chair of Catholic Studies at Northwestern University, where he is also Professor of Religious Studies, History, and American Studies. He studies modern and contemporary religion, with a special focus on Catholic practices and ideas, from both historical and ethnographic perspectives. He also researches and writes on theory and method in the study of religion. His most recent book is History and Presence. He is currently at work on a book called Give Us Boys about the formation of young men at a Jesuit high school in the Bronx in 1967-1971. A native New Yorker, Orsi is married to the theologian and Luther scholar Christine Helmer and has two sons (Clarence and Anthony) and two dogs (Rocco and Gemma).

Matthew J. Cressler is a writer, independent scholar, and chief of staff of the Corporation for Public Interest Technology. He's the author of Authentically Black and Truly Catholic: The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migrations and creator of Bad Catholics, Good Trouble, an educational webcomic series. He's published numerous articles in public-facing magazines and academic journals. His co-reported Religion News Service series "Beyond the Most Segregated Hour" won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council. He has two forthcoming books: the co-authored Body & Blood: Catholic Horror in America (NYU Press, 2026) and Catholics and the Making of MAGA (HarperCollins, 2027).

Atalia Omer earned her PhD at Harvard University in 2008. She is a Professor at the University of Notre Dame. Until recently, she served as a senior fellow at Harvard University's Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative. Omer authored Decolonizing Religion and Peacebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2023), When Peace is Not Enough: How the Israeli Peace Camp Thinks about Religion, Nationalism, and Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2015), and Days of Awe: Reimagining Jewishness in Solidarity with Palestinians (University of Chicago Press, 2019). Omer is a co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Palestine/Israel Review, centering analysis of power.

Thelathia "Nikki" Young is Vice President for Institutional Equity and Access, Professor of Religion, and Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Haverford College. She received her Ph.D. from the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University, M.Div. and Th.M. from Candler School of Theology at Emory, and B.A. in biology from UNC-Asheville. Her research focuses on the intersection of ethics, race, gender, and sexuality, and she is interested in the impact of black queerness on moral reasoning. Nikki has published three books: Black Queer Ethics, 2016; (with Barreto and Myers) In Tongues of Mortals and Angels, 2018; and (with Schneider) Queer Soul and Queer Theology, 2021. She is currently working on a book about freedom.

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In the U.S., religion remains by far the largest recipient of individuals' charitable giving, though that proportion has been declining for years—reflecting major shifts in American religiosity and religious practice. In light of the shift of lessened giving coupled with a growing need for philanthropic efforts, we will explore the emerging patterns of everyday giving and volunteering as well as major trends in big philanthropy, asking how they impact and reflect shifts in religious life, civil society, and public discourse. Finally, we will address the overlapping themes of religion and philanthropy in a time of political uncertainty when it comes to funding sources, the nature and role of community, individual obligation, and the changing shape of moral imagination.

David P. King is the Karen Lake Buttrey Director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving and Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Having served congregations and national faith-based organizations, he is fueled by facilitating conversations with faith leaders, donors, and fundraisers (of all generations) around the intersections of faith, giving, and the public good. In 2022, he served as the Fulbright Scotland Distinguished Scholar at the University of Edinburgh. His first book, God's Internationalists: World Vision and the Age of Evangelical Humanitarianism (UPenn Press, 2019) won the Peter Dobkin Hall Prize for the best book in the history of philanthropy.

Jason Garrett has been working for over 20 years to bridge, organize, and fund member-based communities, faith groups, and more to bring about justice. As the Senior Vice President of Faith, Bridging and Belonging, Jason supports Freedom Together Foundation's mission to build the power of people who have been denied it by expanding the number and diversity of people who are rooted in a shared vision and community, and who activate their collective power to challenge oppressive systems and build a more democratic society.

Catherine Orsborn, Ph.D., is Senior Director of Programs and Public Policy at the El-Hibri Foundation, leading initiatives that strengthen leadership, resilience, and cross-sector collaboration to advance a just and pluralistic society. Formerly Executive Director of Shoulder to Shoulder, she trained faith leaders and led advocacy addressing anti-Muslim bias. An academic and teacher, Catherine has taught at multiple universities and holds a Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. She lives in Nashville with her husband and three children.

Benjamin Soskis, a historian of philanthropy and civil society, is a senior research associate at the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, the co-editor of the web publication HistPhil, and in 2025, a Visiting Scholar at Independent Sector. A frequent contributor to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, his writing on philanthropy and civil society has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and the Guardian. Soskis is coauthor of The Battle Hymn of the Republic: A Biography of the Song that Marches On (Oxford, 2013) and co-editor of Giving in Time: Temporal Considerations in Philanthropy (Rowman & Littlefield/Urban Institute, 2023). He received his PhD in American History from Columbia University.

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This episode of Religion & delves into how contemporary religious movements address urgent political, cultural, and environmental crises, from technological transformation to ecological collapse. Looking across a wide array of new religious movements, participants will investigate how these movements reimagine ancient practices for modern concerns while creating new frameworks for living. Join us for a lively discussion at the intersection of modern-day crises and the ways religion shapes and is shaped by these shifts in religious tradition.

Kelly E. Hayes is Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis. An ethnographer who conducts long-term fieldwork projects, she is an expert on alternative and new religious movements, Brazilian religions, religion and healing, religions of the African diaspora, and religion, gender and sexuality. She studies forms of human cultural production that outsiders label as "cults" or "black magic"—that is, ways of engaging the supernatural that are deemed illegitimate — and the communities that form around them. Her body of work centers these communities and the lived experiences of their members. It argues not only for the significance of these groups, but that taking them seriously yields important theoretical insights for the field of religious studies and the humanities more broadly.

Knut Graw (PhD) is a social and cultural anthropologist and a permanent research fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies for the Humanities and Social Sciences – Erlangen "Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices in Global Perspective" (CAS-E) at the Friedrich Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. His research focuses on divination, migration, and religious practices in Senegal and the Gambia. His theoretical interests include phenomenological theory, ritual studies, and questions of anthropological methodology. He is the co-editor of "The Global Horizon: Migratory Expectations in Africa and the Middle East" (Leuven University Press).

Daria Hartmann is a PhD candidate at the University of Münster, where she also teaches in the Department of Religious Studies. She holds a BA in Religious Studies and Anthropology from the University of Münster and an M.Sc. in Conflict Resolution and Governance from the University of Amsterdam. Following training in non-violent conflict transformation, her research now examines the intersection of religion, politics, and digital culture, with particular attention to conspiracy theories. Her dissertation investigates QAnon as a case study for understanding how digital platforms reshape religious meaning-making and truth production.

Benjamin E. Zeller is the Irvin L. & Fern D. Young Presidential Professor of Religion at Lake Forest College (Chicago, USA). He studies North American religion, focusing on such topics as new religions, the religious engagement with science, and the quasi-religious relationship people have with food and other forms of culture. He is the author or editor of six books, and co-general editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.

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Religious nationalism is not bound by national borders. Examining Christian nationalism in the United States and Brazil provides an opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences in its history, prominence, and influence in a cross-national perspective. This discussion will also reflect on the various responses to religious nationalism in each country both institutionally and across the population. In this episode of Religion &, we will explore the intersection of two contrasting versions of Christian nationalism and how we might better understand the impetus for and responses to each.

Andrew Whitehead is Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com) at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis. He is also a research fellow for the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Whitehead is one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States. He is the author of American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, which was awarded the 2024 Gold Medal Book Award for Religion from Foreword Reviews and the 2024 Midwest Book Award winner for Religion & Philosophy.

João Chaves is Assistant Professor of the History of Religion in the Americas at Baylor University's Department of Religion. At Baylor, he also serves as a codirector of the Baptist Scholars International Roundtable, a member of the Graduate Faculty in Religion, and an affiliated faculty member in the Ethics Initiative of the College of Arts and Sciences. An award-winning author of several books, Chaves is currently working on projects that examine Latino migration and religion, the Christian far right in the Americas, and transnational investment patterns of immigrant-led churches in the US. His public-facing scholarship has been published in various periodicals and magazines, including The Washington Post and The Christian Century.

Miranda Cruz is Professor of Historical Theology at Indiana Wesleyan University. She teaches theology and church history, with a focus on the practical application of Christian doctrine in life and ministry. She has written several articles on topics related to Christianity under Communism in Eastern Europe. She is also the author of Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why It Matters (IVP Academic, 2024).

Ronilso Pacheco, a Brazilian theologian graduated from PUC-Rio (Catholic Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro) and holds an M.A. in Religion and Society from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Ronilso is the program director at ISER (Institute of Studies on Religion) and was a professor of Ethics in the Philosophy Department at Manhattan University. Ronilso is a researcher interested in democracy, race, fundamentalism, and extremism. He is the author of the books Teologia Negra (Black Theology) and Occupy, Resist, and Subvert. He is a frequent contributor to various media outlets in Brazil and a regular columnist for the UOL channel, where he comments on international politics and religion.

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Religion &: Conversations at the Center

Welcome to our new podcast series titled Religion &: Conversations at the Center. These episodes will feature conversations led by scholars at the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture with thought leaders, provocateurs, and groundbreaking scholars and practitioners in the fields of religion and American culture. Our goal is to have conversations that will push the field and the broader public to think deeply and to elevate issues and questions about religion and religious communities that have otherwise been buried or under examined and bring them to the center for debate, engagement, and, hopefully, for communities to explore and transform these ideas together.

Our Conversation with Willie Jennings

In this episode, Dr. Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds, Associate Director of the Center, interviews Dr. Willie James Jennings, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School. The two discuss a wide array of topics including the study and terminologies of Black thought, the relationship between scholarship and creativity that is often ignored, and the reality of connection that is centered on the natural world.

About Willie Jennings

Willie James Jennings is a theologian who teaches in the areas of Christian thought, race theory, decolonial, and environmental studies. Dr. Jennings is the author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, published by Yale University Press and recipient of the 2010 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive-Reflective Studies category. It is one of the most important books in theology written in the last 25 years and is now a standard text read in colleges, seminaries, and universities.

Dr. Jennings' commentary on the Book of Acts won the Reference Book of the Year Award from The Academy of Parish Clergy. He is also the author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, which was the inaugural book in the much-anticipated book series, Theological Education Between the Times, and has already become an instant classic, winning the 2020 book of the year award from Publisher's Weekly. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive-Reflective Studies category and in 2023 won the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award.

Dr. Jennings is completing work on a two-volume project on the doctrine of creation. Volume two, provisionally titled, Jesus and the Displaced: The Redemption of Habitation, will be published before volume one which carries the provisional title, Unfolding the Word: Recasting a Christian Doctrine of Creation. Dr. Jennings is also finishing a book of poetry entitled, The Time of Possession.