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This story map is best viewed on the Arcgis website on a computer.

The Spiritual Exemplars Project (SEP), funded by a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust, has spent the last two years collecting stories of individuals who are inspired by their faith or spiritual values to do extraordinary good in the world. SEP’s team of two-dozen journalists and social scientists has collected stories from exemplars around the world like Dr. Tom Catena, who left everything behind to direct the only hospital in a war zone in South Sudan. And Julie Coyne, who left her home in Connecticut to work with some of the poorest communities in highland Guatemala. Thirty years later, Coyne is still there, as is Dr. Catena—who married a local nurse.

As scholars of religion, we believe such views fail to acknowledge – let alone engage with – the rich spiritual and religious pluralism of Black Lives Matter. For the past few years, we have been observing the way the movement and affiliated organizations express faith and spirituality.

Mourners enter the inner sanctum as if entering a holy space. They quiet themselves. They kneel. They cry. They sit in silence to reflect and grieve. The sites where black people are killed by police often become altars—sacred spaces to mourn Black death.