Professor Damon Berry Featured on Season 5 of ReligionWise Podcast

Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies Dr. Damon Berry was recently featured on season 5 of ReligionWise podcast titled “From Theory to Practice: Academic Expertise and Counter-Extremism.”  ReligionWise features educators, researchers, and other professionals discussing their work and the place of religion in the public conversation. Host Chip Gruen, the Director of the Institute for Religious and Cultural Understanding of Muhlenberg College, facilitates conversations that aim to provide better understanding of varieties of religious expression and their impacts on the human experience.   

Dr. Berry regularly consults with federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI and FBI’s BAU-1 (Behavioral Analysis Unit One) on cases involving religious extremism and alt-right movements. In this conversation, we explore the challenges of translating academic research into practical guidance for investigators, including the difficult work of understanding belief systems and worldviews that are dangerous and toxic to pluralistic society. Berry discusses what law enforcement agencies understand well about these movements and how empathetic scholarship can inform counter-extremism efforts.

To listen to the podcast, click here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1848778/episodes/17836236