Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush likes to say that he has an “interfaith heart.”
He is the great-grandson of Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court, and Walter Raushenbush, a prominent 19th-century Baptist pastor who was a proponent of the Social Gospel, one of the origins of social justice in the United States.
“If you look at Louis Brandeis, if you look at Walter Raushenbush, if you look at my grandmother, they all were deeply committed [to interfaith efforts],” Rev. Raushenbush told Washington Jewish Week. “[They were] all people imagining a future together in this country and how this country could best provide for all of its people.”
Like his predecessors, Raushenbush is an interfaith leader — he’s the president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, a pro-democracy faith movement founded in 1994 to counteract religious extremism.
“This has been a throughline for my family, and I feel like I’m carrying it on in my work today,” Raushenbush said.
The reverend served as the associate dean of the chapel at Princeton University from 2003 to 2011. He also founded the religion section of The Huffington Post, which sought to platform “as many religious voices as possible.”
Raushenbush discussed faith and social justice in America on March 21 at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda.
“I think many Jews are concerned about the not-so-gradual slide into authoritarianism in this country and the erosion of democratic values that’s coming from the current Trump administration,” said Adat Shalom Founding Rabbi Sid Schwarz, a longtime friend of Raushenbush. “And people are really looking for a playbook — how does one respond to this?”
Faith could be the answer, Raushenbush believes.
“Religion gets a bad rap oftentimes, as being a little bit retro,” said Schwarz. “One of the things Rev. Raushenbush talk[ed] about is how religion can save American democracy. That’s the work he does at Interfaith Alliance.”
The March 21 event was part of the synagogue’s “Shabbat Voices” series, a monthly gathering from December to June featuring a thought leader, activist or artist as the guest speaker on Shabbat morning and after oneg lunch. “Shabbat Voices” is now in its fourth year.
In the afternoon, Raushenbush, the great-grandson of two leading figures of the late 19th and early 20th century, told a family story about religion and social justice.
“Paul is this really interesting blend because he both has lineage from Louis Brandeis and from one of the most influential and open-hearted and empathetic American ministers that there ever was,” Adat Shalom’s Rabbi Scott Perlo said.
He spoke to the importance of learning from members of other faiths.
“You can’t just look inside your own community,” Perlo said. “Paul is someone, not only as the president and CEO of the Interfaith Alliance, who understands what happens when you look beyond the walls of your synagogue.”
Perlo added that sometimes in the Jewish world, members tend to invite Jewish guest speakers and hear from fellow members of the Jewish community. But he asked, “how are we going to get anything done in this world if not together?”
Raushenbush, who was raised in a Christian home open to all traditions, said he would be “sad” if he served within the religious world and didn’t make interfaith relations one of his priorities. “I just was brought up in such a way,” he explained.
“I think what’s most important in this case is that no one group can defend democracy alone,” Schwarz said. “We need to do this in coalition with other groups.”
He cited the maxim, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
“I think if all folks who value American democracy find ways to join forces, we will be a much more formidable force to protect American democracy than if we did it alone,” Schwarz said.
This value of working together for a greater cause is familiar to members of Adat Shalom, one of the most progressive and politically active synagogues in Greater Washington since its founding in 1988, according to Schwarz.
“I came up in the Soviet Jewry movement,” Schwarz said. “I was very active in a whole range of interfaith issues and social justice issues, so my instincts are very political, and, not surprisingly, because I’m the founding rabbi, congregations do get shaped to some extent by the rabbi who helps create a congregation.”
Raushenbuch spoke to the importance of learning American history and how many different people have contributed over the years to shape our country as we know it today.
“I hope people leave with [the knowledge] that we’re part of a long tradition of amazing, wonderful people — my family being just one example of Americans who have been imagining a democracy,” Raushenbush said. “I hope people feel strengthened in this moment when I feel democracy is under attack, to know that they have strong roots and that people have been arguing for this for a long time.”
