Each week, guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines join the Reverend Peter Thompson and other St. Bart's clergy for deep and insightful conversations about topics that matter to our lives as responsible citizens and people of faith. Speakers in recent years have included winners of the Tony Award, the Emmy Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize, professors from prominent universities like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and journalists from New York, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
Sunday, August 24, 2025 Gendered Islamophobia: Deconstructing 30 Rights of Muslim Women
Dr. Daisy Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality (WISE), discusses how Muslim women’s lives can be improved by connecting them to beliefs that affirm human dignity and gender equality at the core of the Islamic faith.Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Meredith Ward at
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
August 31 Conversation with Clergy: What Did You Do This Summer?
The Forum is on hiatus for Labor Day weekend. In its place, join the clergy for an in person conversation about summer vacations and the fall season ahead.
September 7 Forum with Former Rector Buddy Stallings
The Reverend Buddy Stallings reflects on the decade since he retired as Rector of St. Bart’s and the state of the world today.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
In an age of information overload and political polarization, how do we discern what truly serves the common good? CUNY Law professor and St. Bart’s parishioner Ally Coll explores the promises and pitfalls of both evidence-based and...
As we begin our Lenten series, “I’m the problem. It’s me: Reflections on Self-Reflection,” Kevin Christopher Robles of America Media reviews the many ways in which Taylor Swift has reinvented herself many times throughout...
The Reverend Dr. Timothy Peoples, Senior Pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, explores how worshipers’ perceptions of those who preach to them impacts the messages they hear.
What did it mean for early Christians to center their communal gatherings on "the breaking of the bread"? The Very Reverend Andrew McGowan, Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, draws on recent archaeological and other evidence...
The Reverend Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York, speaks about the work ICNY is doing, particularly relating to the migrant crisis.
Rabbi Sarah Berman, Director of Adult Education at Central Synagogue and Dr. Daisy Khan, Executive Director of Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality speak about their faith traditions and what their traditions teach...
Percy Preston, Jr., Archivist and Honorary Warden, marks the centenary of a momentous and highly controversial sermon preached at St. Bart’s that was featured on the front page of The New York Times. (For the original Times article, click...
The Right Reverend A. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop of New Hampshire, reflects on the current mental health crisis and how the Christian faith can provide support to those who are struggling.
Author Fiona Davis delves into the history of the Radio City Rockettes and their famous Christmas Spectacular, now in its ninetieth year, as she introduces her novel The Spectacular.