Today, African-American woman leader, qualities this presidential election has at times pitted

at odds.

My guest this hour, Bishop Fashtime Murphy McKenzie, holds them all together.

She also sheds light on the socially critical tradition of African-American Christianity that

became a point of political controversy in this election year.

We offer her wisdom and good humor as an edifying lens on the American past, present,

and future.

I live for the day, I live for the day, I sit over and over again, I live for the day.

When my gender and my race means nothing, it means nothing that my gifts, my skills,

my character, my mental astuteness, these things qualify me to do the job.

Period.

This is speaking of faith, stay with us.

This public radio podcast is supported by the Fetzer Institute as part of its campaign

for Love and Forgiveness, online at lovinforgive.org.

I'm Krista Tippet.

I've been wanting to interview Bishop Fashtime Murphy McKenzie all year.

The current U.S. election has illustrated how gender, race, and religion can become lightning

rods and seen as potential stumbling blocks to leadership.

Fashtime McKenzie is a pioneering figure on all these fronts and all at the same time.

When she became the first woman bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the

oldest of the historic black churches dating back to the early days of the American Republic,

she declared, the stained glass ceiling has been pierced and broken.

...