WQED airs town hall on religious diversity

WQED will examine religious diversity and the American promise in “Our Compelling Interests.”

The program will air at 8 p.m. June 13.

The town hall format focuses on the importance of religious diversity. Organizers selected Pittsburgh as host city in part because of the October Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting, according to the broadcast station.

WQED partnered with the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, the Center for African American Urban Studies & the Economy and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for this endeavor.

The panel discussion with studio audience includes Interfaith Youth Core’s founder and President Eboo Patel, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers from Tree of Life synagogue and Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute.

Lisa Washington from KDKA-TV moderated a discussion with Q&A on religious diversity and its importance in American life.

According to WQED, Patel draws on his personal experience as a Muslim in America to examine broader questions about the importance of religious diversity in the cultural, political and economic life of the nation.