Nancy Ammerman is a professor of sociology of religion at BU, and is serving as a coordinating lead author for Chapter 16: Religions, Communities, Ideas, and Practices. In this interview, she explains the importance of understanding why social progress does not require the abolition of religion, and how the existence of religious groups can influence policies to promote social progress. She notes that one of the biggest challenges of the IPSP is to think about which types of policies would allow religions to contribute to society rather than seeing them as hinderances.