Collegeville, MN rules so hard y'all.

I think I just experienced the most engaging and theoretically impressive presidential address in my career from @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social at the annual meeting for the @sssreligion.bsky.social. Legit masterful. Wish y'all could have experienced it.

Hello! I'm coming up from the dissertation bunker to say that if you will be at SSSR I'll be putting together some fun Bluesky content with @dacuetovilla.bsky.social for the @asareligion.bsky.social account. COME TELL US WHAT YOU'RE WORKING ON. We'd love to amplify some voices.

If the American church wants to be taken with any seriousness by the Vatican they will not elect Barron to any leadership position. What a joke.

UVA's Sociology department is looking to hire a tenured sociologist of religion at the Associate or Full level. Here is the advertisement. @sssreligion.bsky.social @asareligion.bsky.social Details here: apply.interfolio.com/173879

The ASA Religion Section extends our congratulations to @ntammerman.bsky.social on her election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences!! www.amacad.org/person/nancy...

The nice folks at @npr.org gave me a minute of their air to talk about Dilexi Te. Listen to: Pope Leo XIV is drawing the world's attention to poverty - one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5563...

Many of you know how much @matthewdtaylor.bsky.social’s work shaped my research on spiritual warfare. His book The Violent Take It By Force is essential reading.

Pope Leo has given us his first teaching document today. It gives no comfort to the Napa Institute, billionaires, or anybody who wants a powerful or integralist church. This below is the takeaway. We go on in Francis's direction. share.google/jLb2vAGT1c57...

Intercessors for America’s “Propaganda Report” warns believers to spot manipulation—then models it. A civics lesson turns into spiritual warfare, complete with demons, distrust, and a link to partisan media. Read @andrewmackey.com’s newest here:

We will try again on Tuesday. #RepDETROIT #ALDS #Tigers

After a fantastic first month on Substack, Every Knee Shall Bend (eksb.org & @eksb.org) will be moving to weekly articles on Wednesday going forward. Thanks so much for subscribing and reading.

"The White House has taken an action that is sweeping in its rhetoric yet almost certainly empty of formal legal effect." Such great work on #antifa by Thomas Brzozowski, shedding light on a critically important (and thorny) question for @lawfaremedia.org. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/you-...

This NY Times article has more about the OOO messaging war being waged.

Live look at the header of state.gov

Always impressed by @julthomson.bsky.social’s work (giving all us doctoral candidates a good name!) With Mark Rozell they just published an important piece on the global challenges of protecting religious freedom for Ethos. PDF in English here czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/et...

This is my 16th time this year at a Midway layover and every time I walk around and then just get a Billy Goat Tavern cheezborger.

“Trad cath” is, weirdly, code for “unfamiliar with Catholicism”

Big fan of no context Pope Leo content.

Leo continued: "Someone who says, 'I'm against abortion but I'm in favor of the death penalty,' is not really pro-life. Someone who says, 'I'm against abortion, but I'm in favor of the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life."

Original footage from Pete Hegseth's speech today

To military brass, Trump called cities “training grounds.” In Chicago and Washington, the Church proclaimed “we are not afraid.” Fear vs. hope in the public square. Today in @eksb.org.

NYT features @ryanburge.bsky.social on why the left lacks a Charlie Kirk. Drawing on years of research in religion & politics, he explains why the GOP’s religious base has no parallel among Democrats.

When facts are erased and faith claims take their place, empathy is recast as sin and politics becomes holy war. This essay in @eksb.org asks what it means to keep “picking up serpents” and whether friendship and service can still heal a poisoned public square.

(Updates literature review)

Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Compare the White House tweet w/ the contents page of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (w/ @profsamperry.bsky.social) Resonant.

If Kirk was a champion of free speech, than it seems the worst way to honor his legacy is to silence anyone for what they said about him, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Delighted to have the incredible insights of @tessstarman.bsky.social and Ron Hopson in today’s @eksb.org. Check it out!

As it says in The West Wing...

This is so needed to be said right now.

I returned to the wasteland of X to capture these screenshots from the official channels, please read today’s @eksb.org on the religious imagery coming from official government channels to make that sacrifice worthy. I also think it’s a pretty interesting look at the scholarship and these posts.

Great birthday meal tonight! I’ve now reached the age of the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

Enjoyed this well written and sourced piece by @rns.org and @fiona-ndre.bsky.social with great insights from @briankaylor.bsky.social. Must read if you’re researching #christiannationalism

Excellent piece in @commonweal.bsky.social looking at this issue as well. Fantastic work @dominicpreziosi.bsky.social. www.commonwealmagazine.org/preziosi-kir...

I first admired Bishop Barron for his sleek, polished, intellectually confident brand. But his impassioned reflection on Kirk’s assassination contrasts sharply with the cooler tone he struck in 2020. I examine that in my new piece for @everykneeshallbend.bsky.social. www.eksb.org/p/the-sacral...

Calgary is such a cool city. Banff, tikka masala pizza, and proper hockey hockey what more could you want.

Sheets decries division, but his language of persecution relies on identity politics. What he condemns is also what sustains his movement and that tension is reshaping American democracy. open.substack.com/pub/everykne...

Inspired by @stevenpmillies.com, my latest @everykneeshallbend.bsky.social looks at EWTN, Napa Institute, Word on Fire & Legatus—and how they shape an alternative authority inside Catholicism.

Join our new @asareligion.bsky.social community! Thank you to @andrewmackey.com for setting it up! And please share your new publications and other opportunities through this handle.

Happy to share that my paper, “I’m Not Saying We Won’t Get Our Hair Mussed”: American Exceptionalism and the Apocalyptic Imagination, was accepted for the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference next February.

This essay brings the wrong mindset. I’m sorry her feelings were hurt, but framing this as anti-Catholic misses the point—48,000 children die every year from gun violence because of inaction. www.americamagazine.org/short-take/2...

As part of the growing my hair out until my Spring defense process I believe we’ve reached “lettuce” stage.

“Give me my first love!” Go Buckeyes!

Prayer is not enough. And they know that. When it comes to recruiting people to use guns they say "Lord Here I am Send Me". When it's time to protect young people from guns, it's "prayers up." #james2:14 #karolineleavitt #jdvance