UNIT 3: America the “Melting Pot?”

In Unit 3 of Religion and Science in Conversation, we have guests Bishop Michael Curry (former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church) and Professor Tyler Anbinder (George Washington University) talking about “America the Melting Pot?" How does the Bible tell us to treat people from different backgrounds? How has the immigration situation changed—or stayed the same—in the last four centuries of American history? And can churches truly help create one out of many?

Skip to Videos
  • Part 1: Welcoming the Stranger—Congregations, History, and the Psychology of the Other
    8/29/25

    Part 1: Welcoming the Stranger—Congregations, History, and the Psychology of the Other

    Bishop Michael Curry and historian Tyler Anbinder explore how immigration plays out inside congregations — from a 19th-century clash between Irish and Italian Catholics to the biblical roots of "welcoming the stranger." Includes a personal story about a church quietly resolving a conflict between rival immigrant communities' flags.

  • Part 2: Beyond Status Anxiety—Debunking the Myths of American Immigration
    8/29/25

    Part 2: Beyond Status Anxiety—Debunking the Myths of American Immigration

    Historian Tyler Anbinder debunks some of the most persistent myths about American immigration — that today's immigrants assimilate less, that they get more government support, and that they refuse to "wait in line." As he shows, for most of history there was no line, and the same myths get recycled with every new generation of immigrants.

  • Part 3: Flipping the Algorithm—Global Lessons, Media Myths, and a Path Forward
    8/29/25

    Part 3: Flipping the Algorithm—Global Lessons, Media Myths, and a Path Forward

    A wider lens on immigration: Canada and Australia's more welcoming approaches, the surprising real history of the 1850s "Know-Nothing" movement, and how media algorithms reward fear over accuracy. Curry and Anbinder close by reflecting on what faith communities most need from historians to help "flip the algorithm."