religion and politics

Religion under Attack? | Discourse! March 2023

Podcast
Join host Suzanne Newcombe, Carmen Becker, and Michael Munnik for this month's episode of Discourse! They discuss discrimination in a few European cases, including the SNP, protests at an abortion clinic, and more!

Sovereignty, Historical Memory, and the Importance of Aliite Worldviews

Response
"The processes by which the Aliites imagine their history reveal much about how state sanctioned ideas and institutions gain and maintain seeming natural validity," writes Chernoh Sesay, Jr., in response to our interview with Spencer Dew on the Aliites.

The New Satanic Panic and the Return of Blasphemy | Discourse! April 2021

Podcast
Join this month's host Dan Gorman and guests Maxinne Connolly-Panagopoulos and Sidney Castillo to find out what connects Lil' Nas X, Alabama's yoga ban and Polish black metal. As politics moves rightwards across Europe and the US, are we entering a period of pushback from conservative religious institutions against minority religions and secularism?

The U.S. Military Chaplaincy and Twentieth-Century Society

Podcast
Dr. Ronit Y. Stahl and Dan Gorman discuss the United States military chaplaincy as a site of pluralism and cultural tension in the twentieth century.

Politics and Conspirituality | Discourse! January 2021

Podcast
In this January episode of our current events podcast, Discourse!, Savannah Finver speaks with Candace Mixon and Suzanne Newcombe as the team wrestles with the QAnon Shaman and the January 6th attack on the U.S. Presidential election certification, pandemic anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns, and growing evidence of the "conspirituality."

Presidentialism, or “Who’s Your Daddy?” | Discourse! October 2020

Podcast
In this October 2020 episode of Discourse!, Andie Alexander, Hina Muneeruddin, and Leslie Dorrough Smith explore ideas of infantile citizens, political debates as spectacle, rhetoric as bumper bowling, fist-fighting viruses, and fake news in the discourses surrounding the US Presidential election.

The Roots of QAnon | Discourse! August 2020

Podcast
What is QAnon? In this August 2020 episode of Discourse!, David Robertson, Megan Goodwin, Savannah Finver and Jonathon O'Donnell discuss this conspiracy movement's links to American religious history and contemporary political discourse.

Discourse! March 2020 with Theo Wildcroft, Dan Gorman, & Vivian Asimos

Podcast
In this month's episode of Discourse!, Theo Wildcroft, Dan Gorman and special emergency guest Vivian Asimos discuss the US Supreme Court's relationship to Christianity, how the Independent dealt with criticism of a review of a book critical of paganism, and religion, abuse and the idea of a ‘witch hunt’ in yoga and academia. Oh and something called coronavirus?

Discourse! February 2020 with Sierra Lawson and Sidney Castillo

Podcast
Breann Fallon sits down with Sierra Lawson and Sidney Castillo to discuss the recent Peruvian Congress elections and the controversial new book "American Dirt."

Straight White American Jesus, the podcast

Podcast
In this week's podcast, Skidmore College Professor Bradley Onishi speaks about Straight White American Jesus, a podcast he co-hosts with Dan Miller that blends insider religious experience with academic expertise about American Evangelicalism.

The secularization of discourse in contemporary Latin American neoconservatism

Podcast
In this week’s podcast, Professor Jerry Espinoza Rivera explains how Latin American conservatism became neoconservatism. Though Latin America is diverse, conservatism has been a widespread in the region shaping not only the political power plays of religious institutions but the people's daily experience of the world. Recently, however, neoconservatism has managed to develop a language of its own that blends science and philosophy with historical analysis of the contemporary world political landscape to become an significant religio-cultural force.

“Soka Gakkai, Kōmeitō and the religious voices of Japan’s political arena

Podcast
Throughout Japanese history, religion has always coloured and influenced the matters of the state. Religious validation of imperialist aggression and Japan’s war efforts in the first half of the 20th century is just one example of this.

The Religious and Political Landscape in Peru: A Historic and Cautionary Tale

Response
I can’t help but see the parallels between the Peruvian religious and political history which Fonseca outlines in his interview and the events currently taking place in the United States where religion and politics are more intricately entwined than ever before by a minority Far-Right Conservative Christian movement and its dominant media presence. This intriguing parallel makes Fonseca’s interview timely and important as history repeats itself.

New Religious Movements and Contemporary Discourses About Religion

Response
Increased attention to religion by international governments and NGOs has not necessarily resulted in less problematic models of religion being used by these governments and groups. As I listened to Susan Palmer’s RSP interview and read about her new co-authored book (with Stuart A. Wright) Storming Zion: Government Raids on Religious Communities (2015), I was reminded why NRMs make such useful case studies in the religious studies classroom. From a pedagogical perspective, ...

Conference report: Rethinking Boundaries in the Study of Religion and Politics

Response
"Oganessian proposed that if we were to view politics, or the public sphere, as a “marketplace of ideas,” that would allow us to move beyond the religious/secular binary that dominates western thought. In this “marketplace of ideas” framework, we should view all ideologies, concepts, or moralities as having a societal value, and politics as a kind of flea market for any given worldview to sell their perspective on how to govern the society. This framework frees religious thought of its unfair stereotype of only being suited for one’s private life, putting it on an even footing with all other worldviews."

Rebecca Rushdoony Once Condemned a Cat as a Heretic

Response
Rushdoony, as he emerges in McVicar’s narrative, does not seem inspired by his own vision of biblical families. Rebecca Rushdoony once condemned a cat as a heretic. The eldest child of R.J. Rushdoony, an American theologian dedicated to helping Christians learn to build God’s kingdom on earth, Rebecca was mad the stray cat wouldn’t stay put. So she pronounced the cat damned, much to her father’s amusement.

Religion and the Law

Podcast
Tune in with Chris Duncan and Winnifred Fallers Sullivan as they discuss the role and work of chaplains in mid-20th century America.
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