Dr. Russell M. Jeung
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Dr. Russell M. Jeung, professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and a leading sociologist of race, religion, and social movements, was named one of in recognition of his work launching Stop AAPI Hate is a U.S.-based coalition dedicated to fighting racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. As the nation’s largest reporting center tracking anti-AAPI hate acts, the coalition works to create a safer, more equitable future for all. Jeung, who learned to integrate social activism and faith as a community activist in...
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Gary Dorrien Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Gary Dorrien, the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University, is the author of 24 books and more than 300 articles that range across the fields of social ethics, philosophy, theology, political economics, social and political theory, religious history, cultural criticism, and intellectual history. Social critic Michael Eric Dyson called him: “the greatest theological ethicist of the twenty-first century, our most compelling political theologian, and one of the most gifted historians of ideas in the...
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Crystal Williams Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Crystal Williams – writer, poet, advocate, leader, and President of the Rhode Island School of Design – believes that education, art and design, and commitments to equity and justice are essential to transforming our society. For more than two decades, her work to elevate and amplify the multiplicity of human experience in higher education has galvanized the imagination about who we have been and who we can become. In her inaugural address, she asked: “Can you imagine a single national or international movement in which the arts were not a motivating and defining...
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Malcolm Harris Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Malcolm Harris Forum Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Just as humans have caused climate change, we hold the power to avert a climate apocalypse, but that will only happen through collective political action. In , bestselling author Malcolm Harris cuts through the noise and gets real about our remaining options for saving the world. Harris outlines the three strategies—progressive, socialist, and revolutionary—that have any chance of succeeding, while also revealing that none of them can succeed on their own. is a vital and...
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Bishop Budde Conversation
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Mariann Edgar Budde is the bishop and spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and the Washington National Cathedral. On January 21, 2025, many Americans were introduced to Bishop Budde thanks to what The New York Times called “an extraordinary act of public resistance.” During her prayer service for Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration, Bishop Budde addressed the president directly, imploring him “to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now,” from those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, to immigrants and refugees. But...
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Yuria Celidwen Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
How do we cultivate collective flourishing? When facing the monumental challenges of our world, we often end up disconnecting to focus on our mental health. Dr. Yuria Celidwen explains this focus on our state of mind alone is precisely why so many of us struggle to flourish. “What’s been overlooked is the Indigenous perspective of relationality,” she says. “It is the understanding that happiness is only possible in community, when we cultivate our relationships toward all kin, from human to more-than-human, and our living Earth.” Dr. Celidwen’s research shows the...
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Shelia Warren Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco The internet is broken, and it’s urgent that we fix it. We can – and must – do more to safeguard the health and well-being of our children, our democracy, and our society as a whole. Project Liberty is stitching together an ecosystem of technologists, academics, policymakers, and citizens committed to building a better internet—where the data is ours to manage, the platforms are ours to govern, and the power is ours to reclaim. Join Malcolm Clemens Young, Dean of Grace Cathedral, for a conversation with Sheila Warren, Chief Strategy and...
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Conversation with Nico Lang on American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
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Tom Steyer Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
Every day the news is filled with stories of extreme weather that threatens our cities, our health, our futures: tornadoes wiping out whole communities; droughts that ignite catastrophic wildfires; storms flooding roads and destroying infrastructure; rising water levels that jeopardize entire nations; new climate-related diseases that threaten our health. Just as World War II raised an existential threat that united Americans in a common cause, the dangers of climate change are similarly challenging all of our previously held notions of the future—and our only hope is to unite together to...
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Amy-Jill Levine Forum
The Forum at Grace Cathedral
In her book Jesus For Everyone, Not Just Christians renowned biblical scholar and author Amy-Jill Levine uses stories told by and about Jesus to address the issues dividing us today: economics, family values, the legacy of slavery, nationalism, healthcare, and politics. Join Malcolm Clemens Young, Dean of Grace Cathedral, for a conversation with Dr. Levine about why Jesus’s historic and cultural influence makes him fascinating, provocative, and relevant for everyone, not only Christians. Recorded on April 12, 2025. Give to Grace You can help us bring the arts to life at...
info_outlineMany American policy makers are squeamish about religion’s role in diplomacy. Nevertheless, religion plays a crucial and complex part in global affairs, such as in sustainable development, various human rights issues, and fomenting and mitigating conflict. Shaun A. Casey, the founding director of the US Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, makes a compelling case for the necessity of understanding global religion in his book, Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom.
In this fresh and provocative narrative, Casey writes frankly about his work integrating sophisticated, research-driven policy into the State Department under Secretary of State John Kerry. Their new strategy went beyond older paradigms that focused myopically on religious freedom or countering violent extremism. Such reductive approaches, Casey insists, cost thousands of lives and trillions of dollars in the US’s ill-fated invasion of Iraq in 2003. Witty and astute, Casey recounts his team’s challenges in DC politics as well as in the major global events of his tenure, including climate change, the rise of ISIL, and the refugee crisis.
On a global stage with higher stakes than ever, effective diplomacy is imperative. Yet in this critical moment, the United States’ reputation has faltered. Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom offers a path forward to better foreign policy.
Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Casey about how understanding the role of religion in global politics is crucial for effective diplomacy.
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About the Guest
Shaun Casey was Special Representative for Religion and Global Affairs at the US Department of State and Director of the Office of Religion and Global Affairs from 2013 to 2017. He has taught at Harvard Divinity School, Wesley Theological Seminary, and the Walsh School of Foreign Service and directed the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.
About the Moderator
The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.
About The Forum
The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. gracecathedral.org/the-forum