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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From The White House to a lunch with homeless people, from the halls of Congress to a Philadelphia prison, Pope Francis made waves during six-day US visit among U.S. Catholics and the public at large.
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Francis made the unannounced visit on the last day of his six-day trip to the U.S., which will conclude with a huge Mass in Philadelphia.
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Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. on Tuesday. From his reception at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to a meeting with immigrants in Philadelphia, here's a look at moments that could prove momentous. -
About 40 percent of U.S. Catholics are foreign-born or the children of immigrants. The change is having profound effects, from reviving dying parishes to shifting the church's geographical center.
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released documents Tuesday that give more information on the origins of the founding of the religion by Joseph Smith in the 19th century.
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The National Security Agency's chief risk officer grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that didn't encourage women to work outside the home. But she credits her faith for her achievements. -
Hundreds of conservative pastors around the country are so upset about what they see as a moral crisis in government that they are preparing to run for public office themselves. -
The Pentagon's ban on facial hair and religious headgear has long been an obstacle for Sikh men, who wear turbans and don't cut their hair. Sikhs are hoping a court ruling might lead to a rule change. -
As a young priest, Michael Fitzgerald studied Islam and served the Vatican in Muslim countries. Devoted to promoting Catholic-Muslim understanding, he's now teaching Jesuit students about the Quran. -
Christian conservatives who say that servicing a same-sex wedding violates their religious beliefs cite New Testament verses that suggest it is sinful not only to engage in homosexual behavior, but also to "approve" of it. Moderate theologians say such a literalist reading takes the lessons of the Bible out of context.
