We are better together.
Thanks for dropping in. I'm Matt Hartley, and I'll tell you what I have told my students every day for the last two decades: it's good to see you and I hope you're doing well.
Faith in Diversity is an independent publication launched in April 2024 featuring a weekly newsletter with analysis and discussion on the intersections of religion and diversity. Topics range across themes like Interfaith, DEI, ecological diversity, cosmic diversity (Is that just jargon for me to include my nerdiness about space? You decide) pop culture and religion scholarship, all animated by a commitment to justice, peace and human rights for all.
For a more niche Christian audience (or for those who want to understand how Christians can make Interfaith connections), particularly Mainline Protestants who follow the Revised Common Lectionary, there will also be a monthly Interfaith Lectionary guide, with quotations from texts and people of different religions and commentary on Interfaith insights to the weekly readings. A preview post of this guide is available for May 19, 2024.
More generally, this website was born out of a desire to speak to the most burning, crucial topics with regard to diversity and religion, whether that is celebrating the beauty of religious diversity or exploring its hotter areas. If a topic is considered divisive or someone says we should not talk about something, that is what I want to talk about. I've become concerned that we censor talk of justice and peace, when we need to talk about it. Religious diversity is beautiful, and confusing, and difficult. We should talk about all of it and I'm willing to start the conversation. With jokes.
This is what I mean by Faith in Diversity - both the reality of diversity in our world, and the hope of what we can achieve together if we find ways of honoring difference and breaking down the unjust and violent ways which weaponize difference.
You'll find here a weekly newsletter with original writing, recommended reads and TV shows and movies, and the latest news at the intersections of religion and various forms of diversity. I'll host a monthly zoom conversation as well, on different topics. We may throw a book club and movie club in for good measure as we go!
And who is Matt Hartley to found this website, you may ask? I'm an Interfaith guy - for the last decade, I have professionally brought together people of different faiths and nonreligious people too, in Higher Education and in Jacksonville, Florida.
I'm also a social gospel, creation loving Christian, shaped by Liberation theologies and Celtic spirituality.
Finally, I am an adjunct faculty in religious studies, with M.A. in Religion from the University of Florida. I wrote a thesis on Muslim youth growing up in the American South.
I am writing from a place of experience, academically and professionally, in the field of religious diversity but also offering my moral perspective. This website is committed to justice, peace, and human rights. In a time of war, it feels especially important to point out that diversity itself can be weaponized for dehumanization and violence. I'll speak out against all forms of that and against war. I'll get specific when I need to - and I am ok with the controversy that will cause. If you are too, please consider subscribing and joining the conversation.
My hope is this website will help you feel more informed about how religion and diversity come together, in good ways and bad, and that you care about all your neighbors. My words are just a blip in human history, but if I can nudge things a little closer to a just world where all can have their human rights and even thrive, then I'll be happy. It's my way of living my religion - loving my neighbor as myself.
If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows Faith in Diversity to continue to exist. Thank you!
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By becoming a paid subscriber, you'll get access to the full archive of everything that's been published before and everything that's still to come, both newsletters and the Interfaith Lectionary.
There are 3 tiers, all with the same benefits, with a discount for the yearly rate: $50/ year, $100/year, $250/year. If you can invest more than the minimum, that helps me sustain this website! The monthly rates are $5/month, $10/month, and $25/month.
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