The Conversation - Choose understanding over prejudice

Dear Reader,

I launched the ethics and religion desk of The Conversation U.S. in 2017 with a piece on the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering whose history illustrates the close association of religion with politics in the U.S. Many developments since then, including the religious symbols on display during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, have made clear how much the public needs to understand the role of religion in our society. 

As The Conversation’s first senior ethics and religion editor and director of a global journalism initiative, I, along with members of my team, have worked hard to create journalism that can help the public understand not just politically fraught topics but also enhance the religious literacy of our readers. 

As someone with a graduate degree in theology from Harvard Divinity School, I am careful not to make sweeping and erroneous generalizations. In my coverage, I show how religions are dynamic, evolving and have a wide diversity of beliefs across countries and cultures. I also try to ensure that we bring in perspectives from all faith groups – including the lesser-known ones.

The response from the public illustrates how much it looks for this information. For example, a piece that I commissioned eight years ago, “Why Ramadan is called Ramadan,” finds new readers each Ramadan. The piece has been republished on at least 88 websites and translated in many languages. A popular series, “Understanding Islam,” was translated into Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Hindi, with a reader from Japan writing to say, “I feel that I have gained understanding of one of the most complex issues in modern society.”

Faith can provide people with hope, wisdom, values, meaning and resilience – and we try to bring this into our coverage. Our experts help readers probe difficult moral and ethical questions of our times: When does the fetus acquire the moral status of a human being? Misinformation is factually wrong, but is it ethically wrong? What is the role of race and religion in the refugee crisis? How will religion and politics mix in the 2024 presidential elections? What wisdom can readers today learn from some less well-known ancient texts?

We know that our coverage has been particularly helpful to small newspapers, particularly in rural areas and counties, where religion editors and religion reporters have been laid off, or where the news organizations simply cannot afford to hire a reporter dedicated to this topic.

The power of faith in our lives is immense – and the public needs to understand its complex role, because it influences the choices people make and how they live. In this deeply polarized world, the more we understand “the other,” the better are our chances for preserving a healthy democracy.

Please support this work if you can. We deeply appreciate monthly donations, but we would value any gift you’re comfortable with.

And if you make a major gift of $1,000 or more, we’ll be eternally grateful and will show it by making sure that you get the newest book from our Critical Conversations series, which collects the insights of scholars on gun violence and prevention.

One common thread to religious traditions is gratitude, and we are indeed grateful to all the generous individuals who make our work possible.

With thanks,

Kalpana Jain

Senior Religion & Ethics Editor
Director of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative
The Conversation U.S.

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