John Pinna
Co-Host of Crossing Faiths
John Thomas Pinna is Director of Strategic Partnerships and Development for Religion News Foundation. Over his 20-year career, Pinna has personally secured and managed $600 million dollars and $12.7 billion dollars as a leader of a team across 43 projects, with engagement in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa and Asia.
After leaving an international career in industry in 2009 to focus on positioning the Muslim community positively with other faiths, Pinna joined the American Islamic Congress (AIC) as their Director of Government and International Relations. After AIC, he continued for three years to develop multi-faith events while executing international programming as the executive director at the Development Organization for Societies in Transition (DOST), culminating in events with Muslim leaders and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
In 2016, Pinna was named the Vice President of Development for the USAID-funded American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) where he managed the non-academic departments and established several functional departments. Pinna also managed two USG funded projects: the Business Innovation Hub and the International Center for Afghan Women's Economic Development, and USG and non-USG funded projects. Pinna also drafted parts of the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) and supported the logistics of the first DOS Ministerial. He advises the National Security Council Directorates on Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tunisia, and international religious freedom (IRF), as well as DOS bureaus on Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia, and the Ukraine, and on countering radical ideology.
John Pinna has hosted 116 Episodes.
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Practical Interfaith Engagement with Peter Henne
April 29th, 2024 | Season 9 | 36 mins 23 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
Peter S. Henne is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Middle East Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences in the University of Vermont.
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Congressman Frank Wolf
April 22nd, 2024 | Season 9 | 41 mins 18 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
A conversation about international religious freedom with Frank Wolf, retired U.S. Member of Congress, Founder and former Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
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114: Dr. Daisy Khan: The Rise of Islamophobia
April 15th, 2024 | Season 9 | 50 mins 34 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
Dr. Daisy Khan is an award winning speaker, author and Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), a women-led organization committed to peacebuilding, equality, and justice for Muslims around the globe. Dr. Khan launched the most ambitious peacebuilding tool, WISE Up, a book and campaign aimed at fighting extremism and Islamophobia.
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113: There's No Islam in Easter!
March 30th, 2024 | Season 9 | 1 hr 26 mins
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
A Christian and a Muslim talk religion & politics. In this episode, Elliot and John engage in a lively Easter-themed discussion when Elliot starts by posing the question: What to Muslims believe about the Resurrection?
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112: Lou Ann Sabatier
March 25th, 2024 | Season 9 | 53 mins 40 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
In this episode, John interviews Lou Ann Sabatier. Sabatier serves as the Director of Communications for 21Wilberforce where she oversees external communications and the International Religious Freedom Congressional Scorecard.
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111: Dr. John Morrow
March 18th, 2024 | Season 9 | 55 mins 33 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
In this episode, John Pinna interviews Dr. John Andrew Morrow, a Muslim academic and author of "The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World."
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Sal Litvak
March 11th, 2024 | Season 9 | 38 mins 24 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
In this episode, John Pina interviews Sal Litvak, "The Accidental Talmudist." Sal's channel has become popular on TikTok because of his ability to use humor to grapple with the difficult challenges of Jewish life and history.
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Dr. James Tabor
March 4th, 2024 | Season 9 | 55 mins 51 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
A conversation with Dr. James Tabor, author of "Paul & Jesus" and "The Jesus Dynasty." Tabor has just completed a new book on the historical Mary and is at work on another entitled "Jesus Betrayed: How Christianity Lost its Way".
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Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett
February 26th, 2024 | Season 9 | 59 mins 23 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett is the Director of Cardus Faith Communities at Cardus, Canada’s faith-based think-tank. He also serves as Senior Fellow at the Washington, DC-based Religious Freedom Institute.
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Knox Thames
February 19th, 2024 | Season 9 | 39 mins
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
This episode features an interview with Knox Thames, an international human rights lawyer, advocate, and author who has dedicated his career to promoting human rights, defending religious minorities, and combatting persecution.
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Sam Nagasaka: The Unification Church in Japan
February 14th, 2024 | Season 9 | 42 mins 10 secs
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
An interview from the IRF Summit with Sam Nagasaka, Secretary General of the Public Relations Committee for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
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106: David Curry - Violence against religious minorities
February 12th, 2024 | Season 9 | 50 mins
bible, christianity, islam, politics, quran, religion
John Pinna interviews David Curry, head of Global Christian Relief and former commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, about the state of international religious freedom.