Reflection. Risks and Rewards of Declaring Your Religion (Meli Solomon)

Episode 91.    

In this episode, I delve into the complex intersection of personal faith and public roles. I reflect on my recent conversation with Chris Stevenson, founder of the National Museum of American Religion, who chooses to leave his Mormon faith outside the museum to maintain an inclusive environment. I also explore the balance between personal religious identity, intention, and situational appropriateness, sharing my experience of being Jewish in Germany and interacting with diverse cultures and traditions. I highlight the importance of respectful dialogue and awareness, drawing connections to the observance of Ramadan and the values it emphasizes, such as mindfulness and community. 

Bio:

I am a public scholar and interreligious leader with a keen interest in understanding the nature of similarities and differences––especially religious and cultural.  The Talking with God Project is currently my main focus, and I am actively expanding its reach through workshops, articles, panels, talks and a podcast.  

Raised in the Boston area, I have lived in Seattle, WA and Berlin, Germany, before returning to Boston in 2017.  Carving out a varied educational and professional path, I hold a B.A. in Fine Art from Oberlin College (1984), an M.B.A. from Northeastern University (1997), a Certificate in Coaching from the International Coach Academy (2015), and a Master of Jewish Liberal Studies (MJLS) from Hebrew College with a focus on Global Interreligious Studies (2019).  Professionally, I have worked as a business manager, an art dealer and founder of Solomon Fine Art gallery, language trainer, text editor, business coach and now public scholar and podcaster. 

Though raised in an interfaith non-observant home. my Conservative Jewish practice and wide range of personal and professional experiences inform my research and life.

Resources:

Chris Stevenson podcast episode

National Museum of American Religion

Zeyneb Sayilgan blog 

The Big Kahuna movie

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Transcript

Reflection Mar 2025 transcript

 Risks and Rewards of Declaring Your Religion

Méli [00:00:05]:

Hello, and welcome to Living Our Beliefs, a home for open conversations with fellow Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Through personal stories and reflection, we explore how our religious traditions show up in daily life. I am your host, Meli Solomon. So glad you could join us. This podcast is part of my Talking with God Project. To learn more, check out the link in the show notes. On my recent podcast episode with Chris Stevenson, founder of the National Museum of American Religion, I was surprised by his choice to leave his religion outside the museum doors. He feels that it is not appropriate that it would be somehow harmful to the museum's purpose to visibly include his Mormon faith.

Méli [00:01:00]:

His comment that he wants everyone to feel welcome and to maintain a religious studies lens seems sound. Clearly, he's given it much thought, and I completely respect that as a strategic decision. That said, he's not a dispassionate academic and knowing the perspective of the organizers will be helpful to the viewer, I believe. And I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they have an atheist on the board. Wondering about the issue of input since our conversation, I checked the museum's website and was likewise glad to see that the religions advisory committee includes 23 people from a range of faiths. This clarity and range of input is critical given the aim of the museum to explore what religion has done to America and what America has done to religion. This committee is in addition to the 80 board members representing various fields and religious traditions. That is a lot of input.

Méli [00:02:10]:

So I'm now thinking more about Chris's decision and the issues besides input. My answer is that it's about intention and situational appropriateness. The Museum's historical and religious focus, their intention to look at the broad sweep of mutual impact across time and religious activity demands an equally broad sweep of input. So I applaud the development of such a robust committee and board. And I suppose Chris as a founder wants to avoid putting his thumb on the scale, so to speak, though the podcast episode is, is letting the cat out of the bag if it wasn't out already. This business of situational appropriateness in particular brings to mind times when I have revealed my religious identity and beliefs. When I lived in Germany, I was very careful about sharing that information, revealing it only to friends and students I'd gotten to know better. This caution felt appropriate given the history of Jews in Germany.

Méli [00:03:22]:

I was always pleasantly surprised when people were receptive and curious about Judaism. The prompt for a conversation was usually around a current holiday, like when I was carrying matzah around during Passover. I always relish these exchanges of life experiences and how the conversations would draw us closer. Getting to know life in Germany was, after all, a part of my reason for moving abroad. I intentionally moved to a foreign country with another culture, another language, and its own history in order to get to know some other stories and to see how it affected me. I also think about the film The Big Kahuna, where the young sales guy was instructed to leave sex, politics and religion out of the conversation. What his hapless bosses didn't figure on though, was their young charge connecting with a prospective customer that they were hoping to reel in, the aforementioned big kahuna, precisely over religion as it was a point of honest connection for them. Despite their years of experience, these bosses were so stuck in their cheesy and gimmicky approach that they weren't relating to customers honestly or authentically.

Méli [00:04:47]:

The supposed wisdom on appropriate topics of conversation blinded them to a core point of connection with their desired customer. Of course, this lent a great deal of humor to the film, but while their intention was to land a big contract, they bungled the situational awareness and missed the boat completely. Situational awareness can be tricky this way. It can be surprising where you find connection and where it feels wrong. Certainly in my interviews for the Talking with God project and the Living Our Beliefs podcast, I'm very upfront about my Jewish beliefs and identity. That feels appropriate. And all the people I have interviewed have been observant Jews, Christians, and Muslims. So we have religious observance in common.

Méli [00:05:42]:

We often have different beliefs and practices, but are all observant. Besides respecting each other, there's the issue of interest. I have certainly been in many situations with friends and family where religion is simply not of interest. It's not a part of their thinking and so it's not a topic and alters my behavior as a result. For instance, when I'm sharing a meal with non observant folks, I say my prayer quietly to myself and don't make a show of it. Whereas, if I'm breaking bread with folks who are observant, we will do a prayer out loud. If the group includes more than one tradition, someone from each faith might share their own prayer, which increases our connection and mutual understanding. But all this has to be a positive connection.

Méli [00:06:37]:

Otherwise, it's imposing and I'm not supportive of that. Again, it's showing helpful intention and situational appropriateness. Ramadan has just begun bringing with it issues of awareness, sensitivity towards others, and mindfulness of a peaceful connection. These also come into play. While Chris and I spoke about the role of faith at work often called workplace spirituality, how we respect those around us in our speech and general expression stretches far beyond the workplace. I was reminded of the tie to Ramadan by a thoughtful, informative blog post by Zaineb Sayedel Egan that she posted the other day. She is a Muslim scholar at ICJS, the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, Maryland. In this recent post, she notes that Ramadan is about more than fasting, that it includes having time to reflect on simplicity, clearing out stress and unhealthy things in one's life, as well as how we are interdependent and the sense of community we share.

Méli [00:07:54]:

While those are Quranic values Muslims observing Ramadan are thinking about, we can all benefit from these ideas. These days, looking at the bullying and narcissistic behavior of some world leaders, it seems not such a bad thing to be reminded of these Islamic values. So in closing, I'm wishing Ramadan Mubarak to all those observing Ramadan. May Allah grant you success, prosperity, and contentment. May you have relief from struggles and gain peace in your heart. May the rest of us take a deep breath, think about how we could be more mindful of our intention and situational appropriateness of our speech and behavior. There is much at stake. Thank you for listening.

Méli [00:08:52]:

This podcast is an outgrowth of my Talking with God Project. If you'd like to learn more about that project, a link to the website is in the show notes. Thanks so much for tuning in. Till next time. Bye bye.