John Thomas Pinna is Director of Strategic Partnerships and Development for Religion News Foundation. Over his 20-year career, Pinna has personally secured and managed $600 million dollars and $12.7 billion dollars as a leader of a team across 43 projects, with engagement in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa and Asia.
After leaving an international career in industry in 2009 to focus on positioning the Muslim community positively with other faiths, Pinna joined the American Islamic Congress (AIC) as their Director of Government and International Relations. After AIC, he continued for three years to develop multi-faith events while executing international programming as the executive director at the Development Organization for Societies in Transition (DOST), culminating in events with Muslim leaders and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
In 2016, Pinna was named the Vice President of Development for the USAID-funded American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) where he managed the non-academic departments and established several functional departments. Pinna also managed two USG funded projects: the Business Innovation Hub and the International Center for Afghan Women's Economic Development, and USG and non-USG funded projects. Pinna also drafted parts of the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) and supported the logistics of the first DOS Ministerial. He advises the National Security Council Directorates on Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tunisia, and international religious freedom (IRF), as well as DOS bureaus on Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia, and the Ukraine, and on countering radical ideology.
John Pinna has hosted 158 Episodes.
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16: 16: Reliable Jesus?
December 4th, 2019 | Season 1 | 31 mins 56 secs
bible, christianity, isa, islam, jesus, new testament, religion
A Christian and a Muslim talk religion & politics.
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15: 15: Special guest: Kristina Arriaga explains her resignation from USCIRF
November 27th, 2019 | Season 1 | 47 mins 33 secs
andrew brunson, christianity, diplomacy, islam, politics, religion, state department, uscirf
A Christian and a Muslim talk religion & politics.
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14: 14: On Location: London. John is shocked by Kurdistan's Multifaith Capacity
November 21st, 2019 | Season 1 | 53 mins 20 secs
christianity, islam, kurdistan, politics, religion, syria
A Christian & a Muslim talk religion and politics.
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12: 12: On location: Erbil, Kurdistan; A multi-faith community responds in crisis
November 4th, 2019 | Season 1 | 1 hr 52 secs
christianity, greek orthodox, islam, kurdistan, multifaith, politics, religion
After the United States withdraws troops from Kurdistan, precipitating a brutal invasion of the region by Turkey, John and a Greek Orthodox priest discuss with Matt the situation on the ground, on location from Erbil.
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10: 10: Bonus: What to expect from Afghanistan election
October 25th, 2019 | Season 1 | 12 mins 1 sec
afghanistan, election, politics, religion
John Pinna relays his expectations and hopes for Afghanistan following the September 28th election.
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9: 9: Headline edition: Impeachment, Security in houses of worship
October 3rd, 2019 | Season 1 | 55 mins
christianity, impeachment, islam, politics
Matt and John talk impeachment and one evangelical predicting civil war. Also what houses of worship are increasing security to face mass shootings.
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8: 8: Fake Muslim?
September 26th, 2019 | Season 1 | 1 hr 13 mins
christianity, human rights, islam, politics, religion
Who are the real Muslims? Who are Fake? Cohosts Matt and John discuss.
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7: 7: Headline edition: Self-flagellation, Hindu-Muslim joint prayer, and more
September 17th, 2019 | Season 1 | 1 hr 6 mins
Matt and John talk religion headlines including self-flagellation commemorating Ashura, joint Hindus & Muslims prayers, and U.S. Senate passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
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6: 6: John tells of his American Muslim life after 9-11
September 11th, 2019 | Season 1 | 1 hr 16 mins
Matt asks John to share his experiences as an American Muslim following 9-11-01.
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5: 5: Netflix's The Family
September 3rd, 2019 | Season 1 | 58 mins 10 secs
Matt and John review the Netflix series "The Family."
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4: 4: Messiah Complex?
August 27th, 2019 | Season 1 | 44 mins 20 secs
evangelicals, presidents, trump
Is president trump Messianic? Matt and John analyze the apocalyptic news cycle.
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3: 3: Halal pork and military parades (Pilot)
July 3rd, 2019 | Season 0 | 57 mins 40 secs
But will John eat the halal pork?