In this episode of The Story of Us, Jeff Ellison sits down with Eric Brazau for a challenging and wide-ranging conversation about religion, Islam, identity, certainty, prejudice, and the assumptions beneath what we believe.

Eric's story is unusual because his interest in Islam did not begin academically. It grew out of conflict, fear, strong opinions, and eventually personal experiences that forced him to look more closely at both Muslims and the ideas he associated with them.

The result wasn't a simple conversion from one worldview to another.

Instead, Eric became fascinated with how human beings form beliefs—and why changing them can be so difficult.

Throughout the conversation, Eric argues that facts alone rarely change deeply held convictions. Beliefs are connected to  ...