NEW from @haydenroyster.bsky.social and me: The Bay Area pastor who was filmed last year being shot in the face with a pepper round by a DHS agent is now filing a $5M claim against federal government —> religionnews.com/2026/02/19/b...

Latest for @rns.org : In Dec., I drove down to LA to check in with displaced congregations in Altadena, one year after the Eaton Fire. Of 9,400 buildings destroyed, 12 were houses of worship. Some congregations—and residents—are moving toward rebuilding. But for most, that day is distant.

my report today on what Twin Cities churches are trying to do in this moment: www.christianitytoday.com/2026/01/ice-...

As someone who has gotten fairly into watching and predicting potential Oscar noms, did NOT expect to add F1 to my @letterboxd.social watchlist… sure it will be fun. But better than No Other Choice? Or Sorry, Baby? Not so sure…

Throughout 2025, numerous news outlets highlighted a growing embrace of evangelicalism in the Bay Area. religionnews.com/2026/01/02/t...

My latest for @rns.org : On. Dec. 6, I joined 500 people at the Bay Area's Secular Solstice, a multi-hour production with a live band and 28-person choir. It's become a "sacred" tradition for Rationalists, a community with profound impact on the AI space. This year, especially, was for AI Doomers.

The Rationalist community first arose in the mid-2000s, coalescing around the work of AI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky. religionnews.com/2025/12/19/a...

My latest for @rns.org : On. Dec. 6, I joined 500 people at the Bay Area's Secular Solstice, a multi-hour production with a live band and 28-person choir. It's become a "sacred" tradition for Rationalists, a community with profound impact on the AI space. This year, especially, was for AI Doomers.

My first official story for the @rns.org / @interfaithamerica.bsky.social Fellowship: I chatted with Buddhist technologists like Chris Scammell, former COO of AI safety startup Conjecture, about how they’re working to shape—and perhaps enlighten—the future of AI and AGI.

Saturday’s pepper-balling of Baptist pastor Michael Woolf is not an isolated incident. Several other clergy have been shot, teargassed, and violently arrested during peaceful protests, including Rev. David Black (PCUSA), Rev. Hannah Kardon (UMC), and Rev. Jorge Bautista (UCC).

Hey, I wrote this! Glad @maddow.msnbc.com is highlighting Rev. Bautista’s story and words. “Our presence as pastors, rabbis, imams and lay leaders is meant to be a moral mirror,” he told me. “It reminds the world that this is not normal.”

FYI: it’s, uh, *not nothing* that the head of an entire Christian denomination — here Rev. Karen Georgia A. Thompson of the United Church of Christ — issued a statement decrying DHS agents for shooting one of her pastors in the face with a pepper round, adding, “No one is safe from tyranny."

NEW: Rev. Bautista spoke with @haydenroyster.bsky.social about his harrowing experience being shot in the face with a pepper round by IVE. “I immediately felt burning pain,” he said. “I was in shock, disoriented and terrified that I might stop breathing altogether.” religionnews.com/2025/10/24/a...

Church for Today, founded in 1957, was a multiracial hub known for its concert series showcasing Black opera stars and classical musicians.

My new story out in @berkeleyside.org: Church for Today, a multiracial congregation founded in 1957 by a civil rights leader and classical music promoter, will soon make way for a trio of homes.

I flapped my way over to BlueSky for a bit a self-promo! Here's my first story with @rns.org about a beloved and contentious San Francisco Easter tradition: Hunky Jesus. religionnews.com/2025/04/17/s...