The majority of the American people, in my heart, I feel, are good, decent individuals who care for their neighbors and the members of their communities.

Alia Bilal|Chief Executive Director, Inner-City Muslim Action Network

Art by Raven Jiang for Henry Luce Foundation

In Episode 4 of Luce Change, Faith in Civic Life: Practice Not Just Belief, we explore how faith exists not only within institutions but also in public life. From protest chants to mutual aid networks, religion has long influenced how communities organize, resist, and rebuild. However, it has also been used to divide, manipulate, and exclude.

As Henry Luce Foundation’s Interim President Sean Buffington reflects, “Faith can help us build a more just and equitable polity. It can also become an instrument of division and distrust.” This episode poses the question: What would it look like to reclaim faith as a civic practice, rather than merely a private belief?

We are joined by two leaders who exemplify this approach. Alia Bilal, Chief Executive Director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, discusses how the organization combines health, housing, and the arts with faith-driven organizing—from Chicago’s South Side to Atlanta’s West End. She speaks about the tension between how faith is used politically and how it is practiced in everyday life: “The root word for the devil in the Quran means to despair… the ultimate goal of demonic forces is to cause people to lose hope.”

Simran Jeet Singh, author of The Light We Give and founding executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program, examines how religious traditions can serve as both sources of moral clarity and civic division. “What we see repeatedly as the negative aspect of religion is its use to manipulate people for the sake of power,” he states. Instead, he emphasizes solidarity as a spiritual imperative: “Our flourishing and our liberation are intertwined with one another’s.”

Since its founding in 1936, the Henry Luce Foundation has supported leaders, scholars, and communities that engage with faith not as dogma, but as a dynamic force for belonging and creativity. As this episode reminds us, democracy is built in the public sphere. And, as Alia put it, “we have no right to lose hope.”

Listen now!