Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & Culture
Episode: Religion and Modern Slavery: Moral Blindness, Religious Responsibility, and the Psychology of Power / Kevin Bales and Michael Rota
Description: Slavery did not end in the nineteenth century—it persists today, hidden in global supply chains, religious justifications, and systems of power. Kevin Bales and Michael Rota join Evan Rosa to explore modern slavery through history, psychology, and theology, asking why it remains so difficult to see and confront.“It’s time some person should see these calamities to their end.” (Thomas Clarkson, 1785)“There are millions of slaves in the world today.” (Kevin Bales, 2025)In this episode, they consider how conscience, power, and religious belief can either sustain enslavement or become forces for abolition. T...