A few weeks ago I spoke with professors John Inazu and Mark Valeri to discuss some aspects of the 2020 election. Both professors brought up topics unrelated to the election, like religion in academia, that I found fascinating. The following Q&A is a combination of our first and second talks, shortened and edited for clarity.

As for what incentive atheists might have to lead good lives or behave morally, the general desire for the well-being of yourself and others is not as elusive as one might think.

At the beginning of the semester, the Office for Religious, Spiritual and Ethical Life introduced open hours at Graham Chapel.

Rev. Callista Isabelle will join the Center for Diversity and Inclusion as the Director of Religious, Spiritual and Ethical Life, this semester.

Washington University Interfaith Alliance (WUIA) is hosting its second annual Interfaith Week April 5-12. The week of programming was designed to bring students of various faiths together for worship and discussion.

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics hosted political experts Melissa
Rogers and Peter Wehner to discuss the topic of religion and political polarization in the U.S., Feb. 12.

Home to more than 20 religious groups, Washington University’s students have taken the organizing and encouragement of religious life into their own hands.

To address the lack of a current unifying body for religious students on campus, members of Interfaith Alliance are advocating for the establishment of an Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Religion on this campus isn’t a clear-cut thing. There are people who are ingrained in religious communities through and through, people who live split time between their faith-friends and their other friends, people who merge both worlds peacefully, people who abandon their religion completely and people who have never been exposed to religion in the first place.

Two panel discussions—one on religion and the common good and the other on religion and national politics—were held at Graham Chapel this Saturday to accompany Sunday’s presidential debate.