International Association of Religion Journalists

The IARJ board has voted to appoint Uday Basu, a prominent writer on religion from India, as our new chair. Peggy Fletcher Stack, an award-winning religion reporter from the United States, has been voted in as our new interim executive director.

IARJ Executive Director Endy Bayuni reports on the intersection of faith, morality and wealth in Indonesia and other countries included in a Pew Research Center study. Pew researchers found that people’s thoughts on whether belief in God is necessary to be moral vary by economic development.

This open letter from IARJ Board Chair Douglas Todd announces the appointment of IARJ Executive Director Endy Bayuni to the new Facebook Oversight Board. The article also includes a link to the new organization’s website to learn more.

In early May, religion reporters around the world are preparing stories on Eid al-Fitr, the closing festival of Ramadan. Reporting from his home in Algeria, Larbi Megari describes both the optimism and the anxieties common in Muslim communities as families experience their second Ramadan during the COVID pandemic.

As the IARJ’s co-managing director, based in Italy, Elisa Di Benedetto reports on the Vatican’s leading role in trying to motivate faith-related institutions and communities around the world to focus on the global crisis in caregiving for the world’s elderly.