21: Calum McCracken I

My conversation with Calum began during his undergraduate studies. We talked about his interests in the political life of a number of countries, on international relations and issues of human rights as both a civil gift and a challenge for some cultural communities. We have also talked about the difficult issues often found in the public square and how we might deepen public understanding across the usual political silos.

Calum did a lovely piece of research exploring culture, pluralism and human rights focused on how this theme unfolded in Quebec and the work of Charles Taylor on this issue. He was also engaged by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and I had the pleasure of discussing some of his work and having larger conversations with him on international challenges we face given the legacy of colonialism. 

We begin these three podcasts thinking about his own intellectual growth over the last few years. We explore the Civil Right Movement, the place of religion and religious ideas in the growth of this movement with particular emphasis on the prophetic tradition. We touch on the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, his drawing on the thinking of Reinhold Niebuhr and Gandhi, on Malcolm X and Dorothy Day, and the political landscape in which they worked and which they sought to transform.  

In our next podcast we will explore the policy changes in the United States that endeavoured to address racism and poverty. 

Our third podcast digs into the roots of Christian Nationalism and its current rise in liberal democratic societies.

Welcome to our conversation.