‘Immigrant’ and ‘refugee’ legally do not mean the same thing, although the terms are often used interchangeably. The distinction matters, especially at this time of year, when the U.S. announces refugee totals for the following year. And the recently released number is small: just 17,500 compared to 92,000 before Trump. Our two guests work in refugee resettlement across religious lines: Beth Oppenheim runs the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and Krish O’Mara Vignarajah runs Global Refuge. Each shares why this work matters and what religion and family history call us to do.

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Sister Norma Pimintel has worked at the Texas-Mexico border for decades. She has witnessed the struggles of immigrants, along with recent changes in immigration policy firsthand. With Catholic Charities, she has provided shelter, safety, and dignity. Hear what she wants you to know about how her resolve, faith and spirituality keep her going. This conversation was recorded live at TribFest 2026 and was sponsored by Religion News Service.

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How does a Buddhist monk deal with information overload and a world rife with misinformation? Brother Chân Pháp Dung gives us his techniques and insights.

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Last week on Oh God Now What, we talked about the Pope’s encyclical on AI. But buried in that encyclical was something astonishing: the church’s first direct apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. This week, we look at his spiritual wisdom with Dr. Shannen D. Williams. Not only has she personally grappled with what it means to be Black in the American Catholic church, it’s also her life’s academic work. Also joining us is Father Tim Kesicki, the past president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States; their mission is one of justice and reconciliation.

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Each week brings new scary headlines about AI. Buddhist monk Tenzin Priyadarshi Rinpoche says Big Tech executives he has worked with lack the ‘discerning empathy’ to understand how AI will affect the masses. He is our guest along with Father James Martin, editor-at-large of America magazine. They help us navigate an industry they say has made outsourcing, efficiency, and potential “free time” God-like without us questioning if that is even a good idea.

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In 2001, just before 9/11, Haroon Moghul was head of the Muslim Student Association at NYU, but he had not yet solidified his own relationship with Islam. Then, everything changed, and he had to navigate his beliefs when islamophobia was suddenly everywhere. He is now a chaplain at Xavier University, and offers his take on shifting the focus away from rampant islamophobia onto what we can control.

Mentioned in the show:

• Register here for Religion News Service's event moderated by Niala, "The 9/11 Generation: 25 Years Later"
• El-Sayed's interview on FOX

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What makes travel sacred? With so many flight delays and skyrocketing hotel prices, we look to two spiritual guides to remind us that any kind of trip can be a soul-nurturing experience — even the seemingly mundane.

Phil Cousineau is a an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and travel leader. He's the author of The Art of Pilgrimage, and a new book called The Wisdom of the Odyssey: 24 Life Lessons from Homer's Epic. Rabbi Shira Stutman is a frequent traveler who hosts the weekly Jewish advice podcast, Chutzpod, about how to live life better. She's also senior rabbi at Aspen Jewish Congregation and was the founding rabbi at Sixth & I Synagogue in DC.

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The concept of a “just war" is foundational to Christianity, but lately we’ve seen it improperly used – or ignored. Even in his May encyclical, Pope Leo called the concept “outdated.”

We’ll break apart “just war" with the first rabbi to have been designated a U.S. ambassador, Rabbi David Saperstein, and with Miroslav Volf, a Croatian Protestant theologian at Yale University.

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