2026 Religion and Foreign Policy Workshop

FASKIANOS: Good evening, everybody. If I can have your attention that would be great. It is so great that everybody is so excited to be here. (Laughs.) All right. So I’m going to clink my glass. Here we go.
OK. So good evening. Thank you all for being with us here today and joining us for the 2026 Religion and Foreign Policy Workshop. I’m Irina Faskianos, the vice president of the national program and outreach here at CFR, and we’re so delighted to have you.
As you know, this workshop is part of our Religion and Foreign Policy Program. We are a convener of a national network of faith leaders, policymakers, scholars of religion, seminary heads, and representatives of faith-based organizations to discuss issues at the intersection of religion and global affairs. This year we would like to thank the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim Foundation for their generous support.
So we’re delighted to have you with us, representing thirty-two states and Washington, D.C. You each bring perspectives rooted in distinct communities and congregations, and we really hope that over the next day and a half you will exchange ideas with each other and consider strategies to foster...

BOODHOO: Good morning, everyone.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Good morning.
BOODHOO: I love this is, like, a crowd that everyone speaks back. It’s so nice.
So today we’re going to be talking about artificial intelligence. I know there’s so much interest in this conversation. And as I was thinking about this, and particularly as we think about AI when it sort of intersects with faith and religion, I kind of think about this in three ways, right? Like, we’re thinking about the way religious communities are engaging with AI in everyday life, like the chatbot Jesus. There’s also this other kind of idea of religious fervor when we think about technologists themselves, and are they trying to build a god, or I think just as significantly, do they believe they’re creating a god? And I think as many of people in this room are people of belief, I don’t want to minimize that. But I think the big question that all of this comes down to is the idea of how AI is going to change our lives. Is it going to fundamentally reshape our ethics or our spirituality?
Fortunately, we have an hour to answer all of...

EWERS: Good morning. I get to welcome you again. I know you’ve been together since last night, but I would like to welcome you again especially to this panel session on the Middle East and “Conflict in the Middle East.” I’m Elisa Catalano Ewers. I’m a senior fellow for the Middle East studies here at the Council on Foreign Relations, and I’ll preside over today’s discussion.
A reminder, this discussion in particular is on the record. We’re still going to have what I hope is a rich and frank discussion amongst us.
You have the bios of our panelists in your program, but I’m going to briefly introduce them, starting with Rabbi David Saperstein, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom; Christina Bouri, Middle East fellow for the Episcopal Church; Ani Zonneveld, the founder and president of Muslims for Progressive Values; and Dr. Neda Bolourchi, among other things a nonresident fellow at the Institute for Global Affairs at the Eurasia Group.
So, we’re talking about the Middle East. By definition, it is a crossroads, right? It is a crossroads of civilizations, of histories, of cultures, of ethnicities, and, of course, of religious traditions. Today’s Middle East...

FASKIANOS: I’m pleased to announce that Jeanne Atkinson, vice president and chief program officer of the National Immigration Forum will be moderating. She’ll introduce herself and the panel as well. Thank you.
ATKINSON: Good afternoon. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming back, and we are now back on the record.
So my name is Jeanne Atkinson. I’m the chief program officer at the National Immigration Forum. I oversee our work with law enforcement, national security, businesses, and faith on immigration matters.
The call to protect the vulnerable is deeply rooted in our faith traditions. Over the centuries, as waves of immigrants have arrived in previous centuries, immigration—as immigrants have been coming for reasons of persecution, war, famine, and faith communities have been here to welcome immigrants and help them make this their own home. We have formed social service agencies, hospitals, schools to welcome immigrants.
We’re fortunate to have with us three panelists who continue this work with and on behalf of immigrants.
I’d like to introduce Gabriel Salguero, who is the president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and a pastor at the gathering.
Next to Gabe we have Krish...