By Kate Eubanks
In the first episode of Season 5 of the Religion Unmuted podcast, host Elaine Howard Ecklund talks with sociologist Orit Avishai of Fordham University about one of the most consequential and contested questions in American public life: What does religious freedom mean in a religiously diverse society?
Avishai brings an unusual perspective to the conversation, drawing on both her background in law and her work as a sociologist and ethnographer. Her current research examines how Americans understand religious freedom, church-state separation and the role of religion in the new culture wars.
The conversation challenges some familiar assumptions about religious freedom and religious pluralism. What happens when different groups make competing claims about whose religious convictions should shape public life? Who gets a seat at the table in conversations about religion? And can we make room for deeply held religious convictions without privileging one understanding of religion?
Along the way, Avishai shares insights from her fieldwork and reflects on what her own experiences have taught her about studying religion across profound difference.
Her advice for navigating those differences provides a fitting takeaway for anyone interested in religious literacy: "Explain, ask, be curious, but also be courteous."
Tune in wherever you get your podcast to the latest episode of Religion Unmuted for a fascinating conversation about religious freedom, pluralism, and the messy reality of how religion is lived.