Religion Dispatches

all I’ll add is Bondi, as Florida AG, used “fighting sex trafficking” to elevate herself—empowering cops at the expense of survivors. long before Trump she was like this

The Times Blithely Dismisses Concerns Over New Apostolic Reformation Two days before Christmas, readers of the New York Times opinion page were treated to a spectacle of pooh-poohery over portrayals of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) as a significant and dangerous ...

Two days before Christmas, readers of the NYT opinion page were treated to a spectacle of pooh-poohery by an academic who claimed (without evidence) that concerns about the dangerously anti-democracit New Apostolic Reformation are overblown. My response @religiondispatches.org

bit.ly/RDonNYTonNAR

and the all-white outfits were giving Lucumi, no?

(okay seriously who's writing this for me and @religiondispatches.org)

ICYMI

Terribly sad news today- Chip Berlet was a legend in the research of right-wing movements. His investigative work was trail-blazing. He co-founded Political Research Associates, the organisation which continues his work.

Anne Frank wasn’t invoked because she was identical to today’s undocumented immigrants. She was invoked because she was a child destroyed by a regime that transformed paperwork, registries, and enforcement into mechanisms of terror—while insisting, all along, that it was merely following the law. This is why ICE cannot be excluded from the conversation. ICE targets people whose defining feature is their lack of state-recognized papers; people who work, form families, and build communities while living under constant threat of detention and expulsion. The claim isn’t that Minneapolis under ICE occupation is exactly the same as Nazi Germany. The claim is that systems of bureaucratic cruelty justified by legality aren’t historical aberrations. They are recurring political, juridical technologies.

Such an important essay by @joelhs.bsky.social @religiondispatches.org on Tim Walz, the Anne Frank analogy (and broader Holocaust analogies) and ICE terrorizing Minneapolis and elsewhere. religiondispatches.org/2026/02/05/f...

Black Religion Is American Religion In honor of Black History Month, we’re highlighting some of our favorite pieces from 2025 by or about Black experts, activists, and artists. What an incredible year for Black creativity, insight, and ...

the latest from RD: looking back at some of the amazing work done by Black experts, artists, and organizers last year

featuring Dr. Yvonne Chireau, @jalaneschmidt.bsky.social, @santiholley.bsky.social, @natemup.com, and @ahmadgreene.com

religiondispatches.org/2026/02/05/b...

🫡

tfw you hook up bestie Reb @grace-oedel.bsky.social with @mpgphd.bsky.social for Dispatches and it’s this good

Praying with Frozen Legs Last week, I joined a clergy delegation to stand against ICE—a gathering convened by MARCH, a Minneapolis-based organization for Multifaith AntiRacism and Change. And we did march! As part of the Janu...

the latest from RD: Rabbi Grace Oedel on joining a clergy delegation to oppose ICE in Minneapolis last week

religiondispatches.org/2026/01/29/p...

In 2020, I wrote @religiondispatches.org about a prominent MN Christian Right operative who foreshadowed recent events when he agreed with a commenter on Facebook that Rep. Ilhan Omar “needs to be Hung” adding that “I can think of other treasonous persons who can join that parade.” bit.ly/45ATG9Q

Praying with Frozen Legs Last week, I joined a clergy delegation to stand against ICE—a gathering convened by MARCH, a Minneapolis-based organization for Multifaith AntiRacism and Change. And we did march! As part of the Janu...

I'm so glad and honored to have worked with Rabbi Grace Oedel on this piece for @religiondispatches.org

religiondispatches.org/2026/01/29/p...

Trump Orders 1500 Paratroopers on Standby Following threats to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows federal troops to engage in law enforcement activities, President Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to place two battalions of ...

“He wants the chaos, but he wants to be able to control it—keeping the threat of escalation as leverage.”

PRA’s @vetanthropology.bsky.social breaks down Trump’s threats to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis in his piece for @religiondispatches.org : religiondispatches.org/2026/01/19/t....

seems low tbh

while we're waiting for the academy to disappoint us once again:

have y'all read @religiondispatches.org' interview with Ryan Coogler's Hoodoo consultant, Dr. Yvonne Chireau?

religiondispatches.org/2025/04/24/i...

The Purity Movement Was Never About Pledges and Rings — It's About Naturalizing White Femininity as America’s Moral Center Recent headlines about the denim ad wars—Levi’s tapping Beyoncé, American Eagle turning to Sydney Sweeney, Gap retreating after backlash—have offered a telling glimpse of how American brands still…

Seeing how purity culture persists—even after purity—is the 1st step toward refusing the world it keeps trying to rebuild through our bodies and stories. Reading Sara Moslener’s AFTER PURITY is that first step. 😉 @religiondispatches.org

thanks!! still smoothing out some bugs but we think it looks p snazzy

Our Lady of the Upside Down Note: The following piece contains major spoilers for the final episode of Stranger Things.Stranger Things, Netflix’s critically acclaimed sci-fi/horror/fantasy series, is a love letter to 1980s pop c...

the latest from RD: @sohinipillai.bsky.social on how Stranger Things' Kali resembles the Goddess -- and why that matters

religiondispatches.org/2026/01/20/o...

Our Lady of the Upside Down Note: The following piece contains major spoilers for the final episode of Stranger Things.Stranger Things, Netflix’s critically acclaimed sci-fi/horror/fantasy series, is a love letter to 1980’s pop ...

I learned some cool stuff about the Goddess Kali from this piece @sohinipillai.bsky.social wrote for @religiondispatches.org!

religiondispatches.org/2026/01/20/o...

It’s concerning that we’re enabling a police and surveillance state of unprecedented scale at the same moment when the veracity of any textual or visual document has become structurally suspect

lol I got *one* draft that left in ChatGPT language and was so offended I immediately updated our submissions page 😂

we're wee but y'all know @religiondispatches.org absolutely does not fuck with AI

Lumbee Recognition through the NDAA Jeopardizes All Native Sovereignty The Senate approved the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, authorizing nearly $900 billion in military spending next year—and all but guaranteeing federal recognition for the Lu...

Lianna Constantino, Director of the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, explains why using the NDAA to gain Lumbee recognition endangers all Native sovereignty

religiondispatches.org/lumbee-recog...

FUCKING GROSS

Lumbee Recognition through the NDAA Jeopardizes All Native Sovereignty The Senate approved the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, authorizing nearly $900 billion in military spending next year—and all but guaranteeing federal recognition for the Lu...

the latest from RD: Lianna Constantino of the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds explains why using the NDAA to gain Lumbee recognition endangers all Native sovereignty

(this situation is *complicated*, y'all)

religiondispatches.org/lumbee-recog...

That Jerusalem Cross is a Commitment to a Military Operation so Far Beyond the Mere Disruption of Drug Trafficking It’s never a good sign when the Jerusalem Cross hits the news in the United States. Which is unfortunate, since the symbol, which features prominently on the flag of Georgia (the country, not the stat...

Despite the writer's block and with an awful lot of help from my friends, @ardenthistorian.bsky.social and I have a piece up on @religiondispatches.org on the Jerusalem Cross patch Southcom posted.

religiondispatches.org/that-jerusal...

also ICYMI:

@santiholley.bsky.social wrote a really fun piece about AI theophanies for @religiondispatches.org this week

religiondispatches.org/are-you-ther...

Infected: Weaponizing Science to Sicken the Least of Us Contrary to the beliefs of some in the anti-vaxx world, infectious diseases spread through bacteria and viruses, microscopic organisms that invade our bodies and make us sick. They seem natural, gover...

the latest from RD: @suscrockford.bsky.social reviews Muhammad H. Zaman's *Infected*

religiondispatches.org/infected-wea...

RD + @saramoslener.bsky.social = BFF

religiondispatches.org/i-will-alway...

To Persuade Pro-Israel Jews in the US and Israel Requires an Understanding of the Moral Frameworks that Guide Them Donald Trump’s Gaza “peace plan,” endorsed last week by the UN Security Council, has been met with skepticism from a number of the conflict’s more astute observers. Outlining steps toward ceasefire an...

"Research with Jewish college students suggests that changing minds...demands grappling with the fundamentally different moral frameworks through which people interpret this violence," writes @amyadamczyk.bsky.social in this @religiondispatches.org op-ed.

Read the piece. ⤵️

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee Spoke at a Conference Designed to Convert Jews and Hasten End Times Last week, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke at a Christian Zionist church in Jerusalem, whose unambiguous purpose is to convert Israeli Jews to belief in Jesus in order to bring about the E...

For @religiondispatches.org I looked at US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s recent visit to a Messianic church in Jerusalem. Many prominent Christian Zionists are allying with efforts to bring Jews to faith in Jesus— breaking a longstanding movement taboo