Tom Gjelten
Tom Gjelten reports on religion, faith, and belief for NPR News, a beat that encompasses such areas as the changing religious landscape in America, the formation of personal identity, the role of religion in politics, and conflict arising from religious differences. His reporting draws on his many years covering national and international news from posts in Washington and around the world.
In 1986, Gjelten became one of NPR's pioneer foreign correspondents, posted first in Latin America and then in Central Europe. Over the next decade, he covered social and political strife in Central and South America, the first Gulf War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
His reporting from Sarajevo from 1992 to 1994 was the basis for his book Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege (HarperCollins), praised by the New York Times as "a chilling portrayal of a city's slow murder." He is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent's View (Carnegie Corporation) and a contributor to Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know (W. W. Norton).
After returning from his overseas assignments, Gjelten covered U.S. diplomacy and military affairs, first from the State Department and then from the Pentagon. He was reporting live from the Pentagon at the moment it was hit on September 11, 2001, and he was NPR's lead Pentagon reporter during the early war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. Gjelten has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years. His 2008 book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (Viking), is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. The New York Times selected it as a "Notable Nonfiction Book," and the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and San Francisco Chronicle all listed it among their "Best Books of 2008." His latest book, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story (Simon & Schuster), published in 2015, recounts the impact on America of the 1965 Immigration Act, which officially opened the country's doors to immigrants of color. He has also contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other outlets.
Since joining NPR in 1982 as labor and education reporter, Gjelten has won numerous awards for his work, including two Overseas Press Club Awards, a George Polk Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he began his professional career as a public school teacher and freelance writer.
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Even as President Trump is warming relationships with Muslim nations in the Middle East, he is antagonizing U.S. Muslims with his choice of a new national security adviser and secretary of state. -
Conservative Christian colleges are worried that their doctrinal commitments with respect to LGBT issues could run afoul of sex discrimination law under Title IX and jeopardize federal financial aid.
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Conservative Christian colleges worry their official positions on LGBT issues could run afoul of sex discrimination law and harm relations with their own students. -
Billy Graham's funeral in Charlotte, N.C., Friday was a celebration of his global reach and ministry. More than 2000 guests were invited, including all of the living U.S. presidents.
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Billy Graham had not been a public figure for at least a decade, but his death marks a turning point. His son Franklin aims to carry on his father's ministry but his approach is more strident.
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Billy Graham, the most famous American evangelist of the 20th century, has died. He preached during a time when the U.S. was less polarized politically and culturally, and he was known as "America's Pastor." Largely silenced by illness in his final years, Graham was somewhat eclipsed by his son Franklin, who took his father's ministry in a far more conservative direction.
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One of the most influential religious figures of the 20th century, he radically changed the face of born-again Christianity from fundamentalism to a more embracing evangelicalism. -
The increased dependence on immigrants to fill U.S. church pews means that Christian leaders have a big stake in the current debate over immigration policy. -
The U.S. immigration policy that allows U.S. citizens and green card holders to sponsor other relatives to come to the U.S. was first introduced 50 years ago by an immigration hard liner in Congress. President Trump now wants to end "chain migration."
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Christians focus deeply on a narrative of sin and redemption, but that theme can complicate how church leaders respond to sexual misconduct within their own ranks.
