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The Revealer

The Center for Religion and Media at NYU

As an extension of the online magazine the Revealer, this podcast explores the social and political roles religion plays throughout the world. How should we make sense of religion's influence on politics, sexuality, race, and people's everyday lives? Produced by NYU's Center for Religion and Media and hosted by Dr. Brett Krutzsch, each month we'll sit down with experts to discuss how religion shapes our world. Join us for this important conversation.

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20 episodes
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Avg 39 min
English

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August 26 · 31 min
Christian Women Empowering Right-Wing Politics
How are Christian women empowering the political right, and what are the issues that unite them? Katie Gaddini, author of Esther’s Army: The Christian Women Who Power the American Right, joins us to discuss the large demographic of politically conser ...
July 30 · 35 min
The January 6 Women Insurrectionists and Their Conspiracy Beliefs
Why should we consider women specifically when thinking about the conspiracy theories that haunt and shape American politics? Noelle Cook, author of The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging, joins us to discuss the women who sto ...
June 29 · 45 min
Wellness Culture and Religion
What are the limits of today’s wellness culture and how might thinking about the religious roots of wellness trends give them more meaning? Liz Bucar, author of Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us, jo ...
May 27 · 38 min
Evangelicals and Queer Activism
What is the history of evangelical queer activism? William Stell, author of Born Again Queer: A History of Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity, joins us to discuss what gay evangelical activists set out to achieve. Who wer ...
April 29 · 40 min
Vaccine Hesitancy and Religion
How is vaccine hesitancy in America like a religion? Kira Ganga Kieffer, author of Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America, joins us to discuss connections between vaccine hesitancy and religion. What factors contribu ...
March 30 · 37 min
Puerto Rican Converts to Islam
What is contributing to the number of Puerto Ricans converting to Islam, and what is the longer history of Latino Muslims in the Americas? Ken Chitwood, author of Borícua Muslims: Everyday Cosmopolitanism among Puerto Rican Converts to Islam, joins u ...
February 27 · 49 min
Understanding Gaza
What was life like in Gaza before October 7, 2023, and what has it been like since the ceasefire at the end of 2025? Gilbert Achcar, author of Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective, joins us to discuss Gaza today and historic ...
January 28 · 49 min
Guns and White Evangelicals
Why do so many white evangelicals, the religious group with the highest gun ownership rates in the country, believe they have a “God-given right” to possess firearms? William Kole, author of In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, ...
Nov 24, 2025 · 42 min
Intersex and Religious
What does it mean to be intersex, and how have religious communities responded to the presence of intersex people? M. Wolff, author of Body Problems: What Intersex Priest Sally Gross Teaches Us about Embodiment, Justice, and Belonging, joins us to di ...
Oct 28, 2025 · 49 min
Transgender Perspectives on the Bible
Why turn to the Bible to look for insights on transgender people and gender variation, especially when so many anti-trans people use the Bible to justify bigotry? Joseph Marchal and Melissa Harl Sellew, two editors of the book Trans Biblical: New App ...
Sep 29, 2025 · 43 min
Religious Communities Supporting Undocumented Immigrants
How are some religious communities working to support and protect undocumented immigrants in the United States? Barbara Sostaita, author of Sanctuary Everywhere: The Fugitive Sacred in the Sonoran Desert, joins us to discuss why some religious people ...
Aug 27, 2025 · 34 min
Black Catholics and Racism in the U.S. Catholic Church
What is the history of Black Catholics in the United States, and what are the most pressing issues facing Black Catholics today? Tia Noelle Pratt, author of Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion, joins us to discuss Black Catholics and r ...
Jul 30, 2025 · 41 min
Protestant Sex Scandals in America
Why have sex scandals been such a common feature of Protestant leadership in the United States? Suzanna Krivulskaya, author of Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism, joins us to discuss the history of public sex scandals amon ...
Jun 25, 2025 · 37 min
The Rightwing Radicalization of White Christian Boys
What factors are contributing to the rightwing momentum among adolescent males in the United States? Angela Denker, author of Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood, joins us to discuss the rightward movement of white Christ ...
May 21, 2025 · 42 min
Borders, Immigration, and Religion
What are the connections between borders, immigration, and religion? Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, author of Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States, joins us to discuss the United States’ deep investment in and fixation on natio ...
Apr 29, 2025 · 34 min
A Black Panther Woman, Spirituality, and Today’s Activism
What exactly was the Black Panther Party, what did it set out to achieve, and what parallels exist between today and when the Black Panthers first started? Mary Frances Phillips, author of Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Eric ...
Mar 25, 2025 · 45 min
Police, Prisons, and the Religion of Mass Criminalization
Given the amount of police and prisons in the United States, why is there still so much crime and what does that say about the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of policing and incarceration? Andrew Krinks, author of White Property, Black Trespass: Rac ...
Feb 26, 2025 · 34 min
The People Destroying Democracy
Who are the organizations, people, religious communities, and think tanks that are working to erode America’s democracy and push the country to authoritarianism? Acclaimed investigative journalist Katherine Stewart, author of Money, Lies, and God: In ...
Jan 29, 2025 · 35 min
Religion Is Everywhere and Why That Matters
What are the countless insidious ways religion manifests in our culture, in our politics, and in our daily lives even if we ourselves are not religious people? Megan Goodwin and Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, authors of Religion Is Not Done with You: Or, ...
Dec 9, 2024 · 30 min
The Limits of Forgiveness
Why does our culture celebrate forgiveness and how can the pressures to forgive cause harm to people who have already been wronged? What role does Christianity play in this cultural pressure, and what are common Christian message about forgiveness? K ...

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