Listen Now

Today’s guest is Rabbi Mordechai Liebling. Mordechai is a lifelong co-laborer in the multi-faith movement for justice. He founded and directed the social justice organizing program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College just outside Philadelphia. Currently, he co-labors with POWER, the Faith in Action affiliate in Pennsylvania, directing their reflection and renewal process. Recently, he joined the national board of directors of Faith in Action.  Rabbi Liebling is a mentor and teacher to many and he was part of the community of leaders who helped develop the Theology of Resistance, which became the basis for this podcast. In this episode, we talk about his upbringing as the child of Holocaust survivors and the values of faith-based organizing. And in the face of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Racism, and Christian cultural privilege, Mordechai offers hope for those who wish to cultivate our multi-faith solidarity and deepen the practice of Beloved Community.

Revolutionary Faith is hosted by Faith in Action Executive Director, Rev. Alvin Herring. In this episode, Alvin meets with Denise Collazo. Denise is the author of Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change. She is also Faith in Action’s  Senior Advisor for External Affairs. Show notes: Learn more at www.denisecollazo.com.  

Welcome to Season 5. We are honored that our first guest of this season is Lisa Sharon Harper. From Ferguson to New York, from Brazil to Germany, Lisa has led trainings and mobilized clergy and community leaders around shared values for the common good, with a focus on racial justice. She is the author of the book The Very Good Gospel, the Founder, and President of Freedom Road, and the host of the Freedom Road Podcast.  In this episode, Lisa describes her search for Shalom ---Shalom being “what the kingdom of God smells like, looks like and what it requires of its citizens.” She and Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews are both Auburn Senior Fellows and their history stretches back a decade. The conversation moves from the redefining of Evangelicalism to the stories of their third great grandmothers, and then the divineness of Black women imagining Beloved Community. There is a lot of joy in their voices, but there’s also pain as our conversation veered into the hard topics of sexual violence, white supremacy, antisemitism, and homophobia. Listeners, be advised. Show Notes: Learn more about Freedom Road, https://freedomroad.us/

 In this episode of Revolutionary Faith, hosted by Faith in Action Executive Director, Rev. Alvin Herring. In this episode, Alvin meets with Kamau Allen, a community organizer with Faith in Action Federation Together Colorado. Kamau has led the charge on several initiatives that Together Colorado has helped achieve, including being the first state ever to abolish slavery from the state constitution.   

We invite you to listen to this episode from our sibling series, Revolutionary Faith, hosted by Faith in Action Executive Director, Rev. Alvin Herring. In this episode, Alvin meets with Catalina Morales Bahena, an organizer who leads LA RED's Coaching and Formation work. 

We are busy working on new episodes for Season Five. In the meantime, we invite you to listen to this episode from our sibling series, Revolutionary Faith, hosted by Faith in Action Executive Director, Rev. Alvin Herring. In this episode, Alvin explores the lessons of love and justice with Louisville Food Justice Activist Shauntrice Martin. Revolutionary Faith is a bi-weekly Facebook Live show that centers everyday people who are leaning on their faith and leaning into the love for their family and community in these treacherous times.

Listen to this short episode, as our host Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews leans into the learnings from our Season 4 guests. He reflects on the wisdom of our ancestors and unpacks a season that was scheduled to be about the Census, elections, and voting but ended up being framed around our collective experience of living through police-sanctioned killings of unarmed Black people, uprisings, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are excited to share with you a new sibling series to the Prophetic Resistance podcast.  Revolutionary Faith is a Facebook Live series hosted by Rev. Alvin Herring, executive director of Faith in Action. This bi-weekly show is centered on everyday people who are leaning on their faith and leaning into the love for their family and community in these treacherous times. As the chaos of this moment swirls around us and we are responding to crisis after crisis in our communities, in our country, and around the world, this series explores the question, what sustains you?  In this inaugural episode, Rev. Herring introduces himself and reflects the vision of this project and the conversations he will cultivate with his guests.  

In this post-election episode, we talk with Margaret Ernst, program manager for Faith Matters Network. When we planned this interview, we knew we would talk about post-election resilience and what it means to be a white clergy leader in movement spaces. We didn’t know that Walter Wallace, her neighbor in Philadelphia, would be killed by police just days before our conversation. So you may hear the anxiety and heartbreak in our voices.   In this conversation, Margaret lays out a timely call to action for white faith leaders. We talk about movement chaplaincy, the labor of spirit care work, and Margaret’s parent Carla - and Carla’s wisdom always to imagine themself forward. Margaret, who began her career in faith-rooted organizing with Faith in Action affiliate POWER Interfaith, is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a program manager with Faith Matters Network. Show Notes: The Role of Movement Chaplaincy in Social Change, by Micky ScottBey Jones and Hilary Allen  a 30-Day Wellbeing and Survival Plan https://bit.ly/2JnoaoB "Kyle Rittenhouse, Whiteness, and The Responsibility of White Faith Leaders: Notes from Conversations with Ruby Sales"  from Radical Discipleship 

This special episode is themed “ What My Mama Taught Me: Black Women, Voting Power and Prophetic Witness” and features Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould and Bishop Dwayne Royster. In this election cycle, with so much at stake for our families and communities, the Prophetic Resistance podcast and Faith in Action is mobilizing people of faith and moral values across our nation to exercise their vote as a fundamental expression of our faith commitment. Listen to Dr. Gould and Bishop Royster connect the wisdom teachings of their mothers - who were activists and organizers in their own right - to our current clarion call to leverage our voting power and lean into our prophetic witness on Election Day and beyond. Dr. Gould is the executive director of Missouri Faith Voices. Bishop Dwayne Royster is the interim executive director of POWER Interfaith and the northeast regional director for Faith in Action.  Show Notes: Learn More about Missouri Faith Voices here. Learn more about POWER here. Connect to the Rise + Vote toolkit here. Learn more about the film Rigged here.                

Our guest is Minister JaNaé Bates. A womanist theologian and Fulbright scholar. She is a journalist-and-organizer-turned-minister, specializing in the integration of grassroots faith-based organizing and narrative strategy.  She is also the director of communications for ISAIAH and Faith in Minnesota, affiliates of Faith in Action and the Faith in Action Fund. In this episode, we covered some tough topics -  the global uprisings sparked by the police killing of George Floyd  - especially from her vantage point as a person who lives and works in Minnesota. We talked COVID-19, it’s personal impact on her family and the at-large impact that the pandemic is having on  Black bodies. Through it all,  JaNaéexpands our imagination around resistance to include hope and abundance, reminding us that in this moment of turmoil and struggle we are on the right side of justice and that we are actually winning the narrative fight.    

Brittany White is a brilliant organizer and strategist for Faith in Action’s LIVE FREE program. Brittany- who is herself a formerly incarcerated person -  leads the decarceration campaign, where she uses her voice and experiences to activate imaginations and cultivate lives of dignity for formerly and currently incarcerated people. In this episode, we talk about how Brittany is working to shift stories of incarceration from narratives of shame to narratives of liberation. We reflect on the COVID-19 crisis, its impact on our incarcerated kindred, and how faith leaders can meaningfully show up during moments of uprising.  And we learn how her leadership is rooted in her faith and grounded in resistance. Show Notes: You will hear Brittany address Rev. Mathews as "Merm." The nickname is derived from his initials MRM and is frequently used by his colleagues.  Visit http://www.livefreeusa.org to learn how you can support Brittany's work.                                                                                                            

In this episode, Rev. Ben McBride talks about defunding the police and outlines the vision of the HEAT, a program and strategy of PICO California, the statewide network of Faith in Action affiliate organizations.  Ben helps us see how the reconstruction of public safety is essential for the co-creation of communities of belonging. We also talk about how our current systems of policing are the descendants of slave patrols, how faith couldn’t save our ancestors from public lynchings and how defunding the police actually calls us to reimagine safe communities and develop deep relationships with our neighbors.  HEAT is an acronym for Hiring, Equipment, Accountability and Training.  The strategy invites us into an opportunity to reimagine and co-create communities of belonging.  That starts with firing racist police, defunding the policing system, and investing in strategies that center the experiences of people in communities.  Learn more about how you can participate in this work by visiting bringtheheat.info

Valarie Kaur returns to the Prophetic Resistance podcast to talk about her new book See No Stranger, which dropped June 16.  This extended conversation covers storytelling as an act of survival, how anti-Black racism contributes to racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and our thoughts on the wave of ancestral solidarity that has emerged out of the double crisis of COVID-19 and the police-killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.  Valarie is a seasoned civil rights activist, lawyer, filmmaker, and innovator. Inspired by her Sikh faith, she founded and leads the Revolutionary Love Project to reclaim love as a force for justice in the United States. Show Notes: Visit www.seenostranger.com to learn more about Valarie’s new book. 

In this extended episode, we sit down with Rev. Alvin Herring, who is the executive director of Faith in Action. This conversation was recorded just days after the police-killing of George Floyd, just as our beloved kinfolk were beginning to organize uprisings across the country and around the globe. You may feel the weight of the moment in our voices.  You may also feel the beauty of a poetic faith.  This contemplative conversation explores how and why Alvin, as a young person, fell in love with organizing; how the Ferguson Uprising changed him and his faith,  and how - in moments like these - art and poetry can help us to face trauma and the feelings of loss and disappointment.  Show Notes: Visit livefreeusa.org to learn more about our LIVE FREE Humanitarian campaign Masks for The People. The campaign is ensuring that the most vulnerable in our communities of color have access to masks.   Visit bit.ly/equityforallforum to register for the Equity Forum. On Thursday, June 11 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, nine leading national racial equity organizations will come together to demand that our elected officials prioritize racial equity in the HEROES Act and immediately pass federal police brutality legislation. These organizations include Faith in Action, NAACP, The National Urban League, Demos, UnidosUS, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), Race Forward, Advancement Project National Office and the National Congress of American Indians. RSVP at bit.ly/equityforallforum and join the conversation with #EquityForAll.

The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted our lives, amplified the disparities in our communities, and pushed folks who were already on the margins, closer to the edge. This crisis may have shifted how we organize, but it didn’t change who we are fighting for. We now organize to protect immigrants and communities of color online, using more technology than ever before. One way to get through times like this is by anchoring ourselves in the stories and witness those who came before us and leaning into their love and wisdom. In February,  Phyllis Hill, Faith in Action director of organizing and Rev. Deth Im, Faith in Action director of training reminded us of that when they opened our first national Faith Forum by calling in their ancestors and inviting those of us in the room to do the same. The audio in this episode was recorded over a span of nearly three months and in three settings:  before the pandemic on a hotel stage in Las Vegas, just before shelter in place orders at a street market east of downtown Atlanta, and amid the lockdown in Kansas City, MO (but on Zoom).  You will hear excerpts from the opening ceremony of the Faith Forum as well as follow up interviews with Phyllis and Deth.  We spoke with them about the ancestors whose wisdom shows up in their organizing work, and about solidarity in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Show notes: Visit www.faithinaction.org to learn more about Faith in Action.

Catalina Morales Bahena, Nicole Barnes and Koach Baruch Frazier are theologians in training and innovative community organizers of color, who are deeply rooted in the communities they serve. At the 2020 Faith Forum in February, they shared the stage with Megan Black clergy organizer for Faith in Action. With the upcoming election in view, Catalina, Nicole and Koach offer wisdom drawn from their respective Catholic, Baptist and Jewish traditions, as well as their lived experiences as faith organizers.  In this engaging panel discussion, they teach us to trust our instincts, to value human connections and to remember that freedom does not require assimilation. 

Rev. Billy Michael Honor is the director of faith organizing for Faith in Action’s partner in the state of Georgia, the New Georgia Project. In this episode, we spoke with Rev. Honor at his office in Atlanta. We recorded in March 2020, before the global call to flatten the curve of the Coronavirus pandemic required us to suspend travel and practice physical distancing.  Rev. Honor is a public scholar, faith leader, and civic organizer whose progressive and compelling insights have made him a sought-after preacher, lecturer, and social commentator. In this conversation, we talked about building a digital faith community, respectability politics, cultural imperialism and the ideology behind his upcoming book, The Miseducation of the Church Negro. Show notes: Learn more about Rev. Honor's work with the New Georgia Project here.

*A Production Note: The sound varies throughout the recording. Listeners may need to adjust their volume. In this episode, we talk with three powerful faith leaders about the stories, traditions, and practices that they turn to in times of crisis. We recorded the panel in February 2020, before the Coronavirus pandemic forced all of us to redesign the ways that we worship, organize and interact with one another. But this conversation with Imam Asad Zaman, Rev. Billy Michael Honor, and Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones still sparks our imagination about faith that can live outside our gurdwaras, mosques, synagogues, and houses of worship and reminds us that by engaging the best of our traditions, we can build true human solidarity together.  Show Notes: Visit isaiahmn.org to learn more about Isaiah, a federation of Faith in Action.  Visit newgeorgiaproject.org to learn more about The New Georgia Project, a partner of Faith in Action. Visit pactsj.org to learn more about PACT, a federation of Faith in Action. 

This special episode breaks from our interview format. Listeners will hear directly from our host Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews as he shares how the virus is impacting our movement kindred, how Faith in Action is called to respond and what listeners can expect from the Prophetic Resistance podcast in the coming weeks.