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, June 22, 2025 Born Again Queer: Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity
William Stell, Faculty Fellow at New York University and author of the upcoming book Born Again Queer, uncovers the hidden history of gay evangelicals and the opposition they faced within the evangelical movement. Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Zack Nyein at
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
June 29 The Reverend Mihee Kim-Kort, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, Maryland, on queerness and faith
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
As the celebration of the Lunar New Year comes to a close with the Lantern Festival, Ying Yen, Executive Director of the New York Chinese Cultural Center, provides background on the multi-week observance and its place within Chinese culture.
Professor Emeritus at Yale Divinity School John Collins, author of the book "What Are Biblical Values?", tells us what the Bible really says about highly debated ethical issues.
Rob Radtke, President & CEO of Episcopal Relief & Development, reflects on his recent sabbatical, during which he walked the famous Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Reverend Dr. Maurice Wallace, Professor of English at Rutgers, explains how Martin Luther King, Jr.'s voice served as an asset to him in his ministry.
Scott Thumma, Director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford International University, looks at how the church has transformed in the COVID-19 period and contemplates its future.
Simran Jeet Singh, Executive Director of The Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program, talks about growing up as Sikh in South Texas and reflects on the lessons he continues to learn from the teachings of his tradition...
Amy-Jill Levine, prolific author and the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, places Jesus and Paul within their Jewish context and...
David Silverman, Professor of History at George Washington University and author of This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth County, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, offers a true history of the holiday we celebrate...