In a special session marking the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate (the Vatican II declaration on non-Christian religions), I'm presenting this morning at 9:00 "Cardinal Cushing and the Jews: An American Context for Nostra Aetate." #AARSBL25

Took the Green Line this afternoon to Brighton to see the cardinal's residence, where Cardinal Cushing lived; it's now the @bostoncollege.bsky.social art museum. Tomorrow at #AARSBL25 I'm presenting "Cardinal Cushing and the Jews: An American Context for Nostra Aetate."

The Episcopal Church of All Saints, a liberal Anglo-Catholic parish in Indianapolis.

Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church, Indianapolis (which occupies the space that was once First Congregational Church). The attached St. Seraphim Bookstore is the only place I know in downtown Indianapolis where one can buy books on Orthodox theology.

Heard a wonderful lecture yesterday by my emerita @iuindianapolis.bsky.social colleague Susan Hyatt about her community engaged work, including on Black and Jewish residents of the Old Southside neighborhood. Her work was profiled in the @nytimes.com 13 years ago: www.nytimes.com/2012/04/07/u...

Today's the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II declaration on non-Christian religions. Here's a great list of resources (see especially the op-ed listed at the bottom). There's also a special joint session upcoming at the @aarweb.bsky.social annual meeting in which... (1/2)

There's no better place on the @iuindianapolis.bsky.social campus on a Friday morning than the University Library.

Happy 279th birthday to @princeton.edu, my graduate alma mater, founded as the College of New Jersey in 1746. I've always been grateful to that institution for making my grad studies possible. Here's the Graduate College (photo taken on a visit a decade ago).

UPS just delivered Jonathan Stapley's Holiness to the Lord: Latter-day Saint Temple Worship, hot off the press from @oxfordacademic.bsky.social. A welcome addition to OUP's extensive list in Mormon studies.

Every Democrat who hopes to win in 2026 and 2028 needs to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest (to quote the BCP) this @nytopinion.nytimes.com editorial. America Still Has a Political Center, and It’s the Key to Winning www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...

Breakfast w an octogenarian friend disappointed all the frog suits were sold out. Morning show and tell with Declaration of Independence to hundreds at the library. All ages in our family showing up and speaking out across the country. Texts and socials full of patriotic protest. A good day.

No Kings today in the shadow of George Washington on the lawn of the Indiana Statehouse in downtown Indianapolis. State police estimated 5K crowd size; seemed larger to me. Ought to give Gov. Braun pause on Trump's push to redistrict—which polls already show Hoosiers don't want.

Another reason to like Indianapolis International Airport (IND). www.indystar.com/story/news/l...

A good reminder for students and professors alike!

The flags of the United Nations member nations inside the Indiana University Indianapolis Campus Center for this month's International Festival. Always an inspiring reminder of how higher education embraces the world.

This op-ed by @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social dean Erwin Chemerinsky hits the nail on the head: Trump's "compact" with universities is pure extortion. There will be hell to pay for American higher ed if any universities capitulate. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

It's worth noting that there have been women as primates of national churches for a while—among them Antje Jackelén of the Church of Sweden & Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church. But the appointment of Sarah Mullally as Abp. of Canterbury will certainly reignite ecumenical debate.

Congratulations to the Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London and a former nurse, on her historic appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury! What great news for ecumenical Christianity! (Was pleased too to see she studied theology at @kent.ac.uk, where my daughter also studied last year.)

Sorry we had to cancel your cancer treatment, but the Secretary of Defense had to fly all the generals in so he could call them fat.

Back from South Bend and the Cushwa Center's Dolan Seminar in American Religion, which featured a rousing discussion this morning of Tom Tweed's remarkable new book, Religion in the Lands That Became America: A New History (@yalepress.bsky.social). What a treat!

The Jesuit founder keeping watch over the Congregation of Holy Cross in the basilica at @notredame.bsky.social.

The Golden Dome at @notredame.bsky.social earlier this afternoon.

Always glad to be back at the Cushwa Center at @notredame.bsky.social for the Dolan Seminar in American Religion, this time featuring Thomas Tweed's Religion in the Lands That Became America (@yalepress.bsky.social). I arrived on campus in time to hear organ practice in the Basilica. Glorious!

Are we really still in the United States of America??

A beautiful piece by one of my favorite historians. thecatholicherald.com/article/eamo...

A new book by John Turner is always an event, and this book is an especially big event! So glad to see this, @yalepress.bsky.social! The vitality of Mormon history as a subfield has been nothing short of remarkable.

Yes, this certainly vindicates your line of inquiry. So believing in God is a precondition of freedom? It’s like they’ve never heard of the Establishment Clause!

He's a grave danger to American public health. The senators knew he's a wacko when they confirmed him. Now it's time for Congress to remove him. thehill.com/policy/healt...

Caught a glimpse of this majestic bird this evening at IND. Pleased that Aer Lingus now has a direct connection between Indianapolis and Dublin. I'm now accepting speaking invitations to Dublin! (Cardinal Cushing, anyone?)

Really enjoying this new Oxford UP book by one of my Princeton grad school mentors, @rwuth.bsky.social, who is as prolific as ever in retirement. Adept at both history and sociology, he shows how different leaders and groups cultivated happiness as a religious practice. @princetonccsr.bsky.social

It's a crystal clear morning and a blessed 57 degrees for the start of a new semester at IU Indianapolis. Yes, we're still here teaching the liberal arts in downtown Indianapolis.

Had an all-day meeting today at the State Library in Indianapolis, where the card catalogue is a reminder of an earlier age of information.

I'll say it a thousand times -- any account of the past that only celebrates the good parts of a nation without reckoning with the bad is not what we call "history" It is propaganda, pure and simple.

I've seen a lot of discussion lately on social media about the Latin Mass. In my latest blog post, I write about my recent visit to a vibrant Latin Mass parish in Indianapolis—and about the dilemma facing Pope Leo XIV: www.peterthuesen.com/blog/2025/7/...

A rambling and incoherent Trump wants to turn DC into his personal police state despite a 30-year low in crime. He's a pathetic wannabe dictator who wants to distract you from his connection to the Epstein files, skyrocketing costs, and his weak job numbers. Don't let him.

Brings back fond memories of my research trip there 10 years ago. In these dark times for research—in both the sciences and the humanities—we’ve got to seek out the glimmers of light!

This miserable fraud has poisoned the national conversation about lifesaving vaccines with his conspiracy theories, but he is also doing so much more to destroy science and progress. This will grind lifesaving research to a halt and set us back decades for no good reason.

RFK Jr. has just cancelled all HHS research projects on mRNA vaccines, announcing that HHS has ended $500 million in funding for them. This is a man who just demanded randomized clinical trials for COVID19 vaccines, and now he’s refusing to fund them.

More bare-knuckled, norm-shattering GOP tactics, this time from our great "Christian" VP, J.D. Vance. We hardly even have a democracy anymore. www.indystar.com/story/news/p...

Shot this in our neighborhood yesterday. Was alarmed to read in the @nytimes.com this morning about the looming threat to honeybees from the Tropilaelaps mite. But the Trump administration has of course cut research dollars directed toward the problem. A tiny drop in the bucket of the fed budget.

American religion tonight on @cbseveningnews.bsky.social, celebrating the 5,000th broadcast of "Music & the Spoken Word," which premiered on radio in 1929. Story had a brief clip of LDS hymn "The Morning Breaks" (one of my favorites, even though I'm not LDS) sung by the Tabernacle Choir. Congrats!

Our nation's federal employees are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. They make sure we have clean water. They protect us from financial fraud. They provide healthcare to our communities. They make our government actually work for people. Do not forget this.

Won’t be long before we learn of an ICE detention center setting up in a former regional hospital Sorry, no beds for cancer patients, we’ve got to lock up this father of three who works as a roofer.

Via: @matthewcappucci.bsky.social: @noaa.gov's 2026 budget proposes to eliminate the 61-year-old National Severe Storms Laboratory, whose vital importance I learned of when I was writing about tornadoes. The Trump admin couldn't be more shortsighted and just plain stupid. x.com/MatthewCappu...

This beautiful commencement address by a Northwestern University undergrad argues that the value of a humanities field like philosophy is that it teaches us to doubt. wapo.st/4lt43BU

This is what happens when you have a snake oil salesman in charge of U.S. vaccine policy. We're all going to suffer from RFK Jr.'s idiocy. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/h...

Speaking at the Pentagon just now, Pete Hegseth said, “We give glory to God for his providence.” Sounds like typical rhetoric from Iran.

Where’s Congress?

Seen in the neighborhood in Indianapolis

America Must Not Rush Into a War Against Iran www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/o...