Meet Dr. Liz Bucar, 2025 Meneilly Visiting Scholar
by Mary Lehoczky
Have you ever wondered why religion and religious values are used prominently as a reference in some public discussions and yet at other times they’re hardly mentioned? Who or what determines when those values matter? What is religious appropriation? And if it’s not a good thing to do, why not? What does it mean that the majority of Americans now claim they’re not religious? What does ‘religious’ mean and how is it different from ‘spiritual?’
Questions like these fascinate Dr. Liz Bucar, the 2025 Meneilly Visiting Scholar. She is recognized as a leading expert in religious ethics and has written on topics as diverse as sexual reassignment surgery and the politics of religious clothing. She believes a more thorough understanding of religious differences will bring greater cultural connection—yet too often the people who think most about religion are not included in public conversation about religion. The situation is complicated because academic and journalist cultures are quite different, but that doesn’t change the fact that “religion is always in the room,” as she puts it.
Due to Dr. Bucar’s concern that religion scholars typically don’t have the language and training to write for general audiences, she applied for a grant to teach a university course called Reporting Religion. Out of that experience, and with additional grant funding, she created “Sacred Writes,” a public training program for religious scholars and working journalists to help them better understand and talk to one another. As its website explains: “Increased public understanding of religion can make meaningful space for religious difference, vibrant democracy, and social justice. And yet the mainstream media often ignores religion or contributes to misinformation about it. Public religious literacy would be improved if scholars of religion more regularly contributed to mainstream media. But graduate training seldom equips scholars to communicate their insights beyond the academy.”
Dr. Bucar holds a degree in government from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in religious ethics from the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is Professor of Religion at Northeastern University where she teaches courses on sexual ethics, Islam, cultural appropriation, and comparative religion. She delights in leading students on Spain’s Camino de Santiago pilgrimage and challenges them to ponder the ethical pros and cons of study abroad. She is also a certified yoga instructor even as she questions whether the practice of yoga by Westerners is a form of cultural appropriation.
She is the author of several books: “Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation” (2022); “Pious Fashion: How Muslim Women Dress” (2019), “The Islamic Veil: A Beginner’s Guide” (2012), and “Does Human Rights Need God?” (2005). She is researching her next book, “The Religion Factor,” forecast for publication in 2026.
Interesting tidbit: Dr. Bucar participated in sound baths as part of her research. What is a sound bath? It is a meditation practice that some believe is thousands of years old, where one is “bathed” in deep sound vibrations at specific tones and frequencies to achieve calm, pain relief, better sleep, etc.
Dr. Bucar has written for a variety of publications, including The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Religion News Service and Religion & Politics, appeared in several print, radio, and podcast interviews, and received prestigious grants for her scholarship. She’s also on Instagram and Tiktok which she says lets her be a part of conversations she wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
There’s more to say about Dr. Bucar, but please come meet her yourself: Friday evening, Feb. 28, 2025 and Saturday morning, March 1, to learn more about the interplay between religion and public conversation. (In addition to the accomplishments listed, she and Rev. Chad Herring were in seminary together and he recommends her highly!)