Kalpana Jain
Senior editor for ethics and religion at The Conversation and director of its Global Religion Journalism Initiative; an investigative journalist and former Times of India reporter focused on religion, public health and social justice.
The “Nones” Category Obscures Americans’ Spiritual and Moral Lives
Harvard’s Richard Parker and USC’s Diane Winston argue that journalists should not treat the 29% of Americans labeled religious “nones” as people without belief, moral commitments or sources of meaning. In a Faith Angle Forum discussion, Winston contends that the secular-sacred divide obscures how religion, politics, markets, culture and technology shape one another, while Parker warns that survey categories and polling trends cannot provide a full account of a person’s life. Their shared prescription is to report beyond affiliation labels without collapsing every cultural or political commitment into religion.
Political Neutrality Leaves Immigration Advocacy Threshold Unresolved
Latter-day Saint apostle Clark Gilbert argues that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should remain politically neutral on immigration while serving members affected by enforcement through legal aid, education, humanitarian assistance and local ministry. At the Faith Angle Forum, journalists pressed him on whether care within the existing system is enough when detention and deportation threaten congregations. Gilbert defended neutrality as protection against partisan capture but did not identify when public opposition to government policy would be required.