The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religion (or non-religion). It also protects practitioners of “double belonging,” people who follow two religions simultaneously. Americans are used to being able to pick and chose from various religious traditions. What’s wrong with a Christian doing yoga or a Jew donning Buddha earrings? So-called double-belongers take it further, embracing two distinctly different traditions with a profound sense of belief and involvement in both. But in religious circles, these people are often criticized as superficial, cafeteria-style spiritualists. Is there a lack of tolerance for the bi-faithful? Can one be truly committed to two religions simultaneously?
Guest:
Rev. Monica A. Coleman, Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religions at Claremont School of Theology and Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies is an ordained elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; author of The Dinah Project: a Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence and Making a Way Out of No Way: a Womanist Theology. In 2005, the interdenominational preaching magazine The African American Pulpit named Coleman one of the “Top 20 to Watch” – The New Generation of Leading Clergy: Preachers under 40.