At the Practical Matters conference at Emory University in March 2018, four graduates of Emory’s Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology shared their “big idea” for the study of religious practices. Practical Matters Journal is proud to publish each of these videos in full, including one by Dr. Amy Levad, below.
Recounting her own family’s experience, Levad illuminates the human toll of the increasing incarceration rates in the United States, especially among Black and Latino populations. Levad also emphasizes the deep loneliness and alienation that such families feel as a result of the moral superiority and lack of response from many churches. However, by highlighting the religious practices among various organizations, Levad asserts that we are at “the cusp of a movement” regarding how to better embody our faith, build coalitions, and practice justice in an age of mass incarceration.
