In 2015

This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, host Rev. Welton Gaddy will sit down with Denise Brogan-Kator, senior legislative counsel at Family Equality Council about an anti-gay near-miss in Florida’s adoption laws that would have hurt LGBT families. Sarah Posner, investigative reporter, will speak to Welton about the religious appeals some 2016 presidential candidates have already included in the rhetoric on the road to the White House. Lastly, Welton will discuss the recent phenomenon of ultra-Orthodox Jewish male airline passengers who are delaying flights due to their seat assignments next to women with Dr. Elana Sztokman. Download Icon

Adopting in the Sunshine State
According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, 102,000 children living in foster care in the United States are eligible for adoption. While there is no shortage of children to be adopted and placed into loving families, lawmakers in Florida have proposed changes to Florida’s adoption laws that would allow agencies to refuse to place children in LGBT families based on the religious convictions of the agency. Denise Brogran-Kator, senior legislative counsel at Family Equality Council, will speak to Welton about this recent initiative in Florida and ways listeners can get involved in the work of Family Equality Council.

Religious Language on the Road to 2016
Over the past week, two additional White House contenders entered the 2016 presidential election. As the nation gears up for this election cycle, there will be no shortage of political and religious rhetoric included in campaign and fundraising speeches. Some of the candidates have not been shy about inserting religious language into their appeals for support. Sarah Posner, will discuss where these appeals – always conservative Christian – have popped up in the 2016 presidential campaigns, and how voters should evaluate candidate positions on religion.

Planes, Trains and Religious Liberty
What happens when ultra-orthodox Jewish airline passengers demand to be moved away from women to accommodate their religious need to not sit next to female passengers? For passengers on a recent flight to Israel, this tension between religious liberty of the orthodox Jewish men and the rights of their fellow passengers meant a flight delay of several hours. Dr. Elana Sztokman, author and scholar of Orthodox Judaism and feminism, will join Welton from Israel to discuss how this phenomenon is more than an inconvenience to fellow passengers and share her thoughts on how to resolve these conflicts. Dr. Sztokman is the author of the book The War on Women in Israel: A Story of Religious Radicalism and the Women Fighting for Freedom.

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