About the show

Crossing Faiths is a podcast where people from diverse religious backgrounds openly discuss everything you're NOT supposed to discuss at the dinner table. Join hosts Jt Pinna, a career national security, international affairs, and D.C. insider, and Elliot Toman, a former media director in the Evangelical church, as they engage in lively conversations about the impact of faith on current events. Crossing Faiths also welcomes guests from various religious and experiential backgrounds to share their insights.

The podcast was initially developed in collaboration with Matt Hawkins, a former policy director for the Southern Baptist Convention. Their conversations are built on a decade of collaboration, advocating in Washington, D.C., for religious freedom domestically and globally. The two developed the podcast to share conversations that model friendship and cooperation despite profound differences in religion and background. The podcast has reached almost 3 million multi-faith listeners, 83% millennials.

Crossing Faiths on social media

Episodes

  • 105: Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett

    February 5th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  1 hr 3 mins
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    IRF Month begins with an interview with Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Afterward, John and Elliot discuss youth involvement in the IRF movement.

  • 104: Adjudicating Islamic Law for Muslim Americans

    January 29th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  55 mins 21 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    John Pinna interviews His Excellency Sayyid M. B. Kashmiri: Religious Scholar, Researcher, Author, Public Speaker, and religious leader

  • IRF 2024 #2: The IRF Industrial Complex?

    January 26th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  48 mins 31 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    John Pinna, a muslim, and John Anderson, an Antiochian Orthodox priest, discuss the current structure and effectiveness of the International Religious Freedom movement.

  • IRF 2024 #1: The Story So Far

    January 26th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  25 mins 33 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    John Pinna, a muslim, and John Anderson, an Antiochian Orthodox priest, discuss the history of their involvement in the International Religious Freedom movement.

  • 103: 103: Ambassador Akiva Tor

    January 22nd, 2024  |  Season 9  |  1 hr 6 mins
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    Akiva Tor is the Ambassador of Israel to the Republic of Korea. In their wide-ranging discussion, Pinna and Tor touch on Israel's ongoing engagement efforts with Jewish communities worldwide, grappling with issues of pluralism and anti-Semitism, while also navigating complex relationships with the Vatican and varying Christian denominations.

  • 102: The Political Perils of Biblical Archeology

    January 20th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  51 mins 50 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    John Pinna hosts journalist and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici for a fascinating discussion about navigating the difficult terrain of Biblical archeology.

  • 101: Public Martyrdom

    January 15th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  1 hr 5 mins
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    A Christian and a Muslim talk religion & politics. John and Elliot discuss American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart's public confession of sin in the late 1980s, exploring ideas around repentance, forgiveness, and redemption in the evangelical Christian tradition.

  • 100: 100: Burma and the Rohingya Genocide

    January 10th, 2024  |  Season 9  |  48 mins 49 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    John Pinna shares an extended conversation with Lucky Karim, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar and Simon Billenness, an expert in human rights advocacy.

  • 98: 98: The Technology of Religion

    January 1st, 2024  |  Season 9  |  1 hr 21 mins
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    John and Elliot have a wide-ranging conversation touching on technology, cultural change, politics, education, immigration, religion, and more. They discuss how modern cars and devices constantly "ping" people with notifications and alerts, creating a sense of anxiety, versus the simplicity yet risk of vintage vehicles. This leads into a dialogue about rapid technological advances, like AI, transforming societies and economies faster than institutions and mindsets can adapt. They debate controversial political issues like immigration and cultural integration in Europe. Looking through a historical lens, they conclude that change is inevitable, but healthy cultures openly negotiate to balance preserving identity with pragmatically incorporating outsiders. Ultimately, they see religion and technology as parallel tools for bringing order and meaning to human lives amidst chaos.

  • 97: What Do Unitarians and Satanists Have In Common?

    December 24th, 2023  |  Season 9  |  49 mins 17 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    A Christian and a Muslim talk religion & politics. This week, John and Elliot discuss the contrast between religious systems that value free thought and individualism, and those that value dogma and strict adherence to maxims.

  • 96: The Candy Cane Conspiracy

    December 18th, 2023  |  Season 9  |  1 hr 5 mins
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    A Christian and a Muslim talk religion & politics. Today, an evangelistic bookmark that purports to tell the Christian origins of the candy cane sparks a discussion about religious persecution, propaganda, and the manipulation of narratives.

  • 95: 95: Millennialism and Antisemitism

    December 11th, 2023  |  Season 9  |  50 mins 56 secs
    bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion

    A Jew and a Muslim talk religion & politics. In this conversation, Jessica and John discuss issues around antisemitism and tensions between Israel and Palestine. They examine why there has historically been resentment and persecution of Jews in European countries, including due to beliefs that Jews killed Jesus, outrage over Jewish lending practices, and a desire by some Christians to expel Jews to Israel to fulfill prophecies around the second coming of Christ. The speakers criticize extremism on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They believe peace negotiations have failed and it will take reasonable compromises from Israelis and Palestinians, potentially with outside arbiter lawyers overseeing land distribution, to make progress. There is also discussion around the role of Hamas, concerns over one-sided media coverage favoring Palestinians, and whether a two-state solution can gain acceptance.