The cover of the book "This Earthly Frame," depicting clouds swirling around the US Capitol dome.

The Struggle to Make the United States Secular

How progressives came to think that any recognition of Christianity by a public institution violates others’ rights.
Image of a cross combined with a scale to symbolize the connection of religion and justice in today's America.

The Supreme Court Has Ushered In a New Era of Religion at School

For two centuries, America had kept questions of church and state at bay. The country is not ready for the ones to come.
Eugene Sandow lifting a dumbell.

Buff Boys of America: Eugen Sandow and Jesus

Under the influence of Muscular Christianity, Jesus transformed into a muscle-bound Aryan, saving souls through strength and masculinity.
"Submission of the Mohawk," illustration of Native Americans making offerings to Europeans.

America and the "Heathen": How We Set Ourselves Apart From "Sh**hole Countries"

The concept of "heathenism" may seem outmoded, but it defines race and religion in America.
A Denmark Vesey monument in Hampton Park in Charleston, South Carolina.

Denmark Vesey’s Bible

The leader of a would-be South Carolina slave rebellion was hanged 200 years ago. A new account is a must-read.
Painting of pilgrims on a boat embarking towards the New World

One Manner of Law

The religious origins of American liberalism.
People pray outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2022.

Separation of Church and State Has Always Been Good for Religion

The US Supreme Court's most recent decisions undermine centuries of established secularism within American government.
Lt. Col. Oliver North in 1987 before testifying to a committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal.
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The 1980s Hearings That Explain Why Trump’s Base Still Loves Him

Bombshell revelations won’t hurt the former president with his core supporters. We have only to look at Oliver North to know why.
Pauli Murray, with a bookshelf and a cross behind her.

The Episcopal Saint Whose Journey For Social Justice Took Many Forms, From Sit-Ins To Priesthood

Pauli Murray, the first Black woman to be ordained by the Episcopal Church, was an advocate for women’s rights and racial justice.
The Supreme Court Building in the nation's capital.

A Family’s Journey From a School Prayer Dispute to the Supreme Court

The Weisman family objected to religious prayers at a 1986 school graduation. The case went to the Supreme Court, which is again ruling on prayer in schools.
Attendees pray during a worship service at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California, on June 14, 2022.

The History of Southern Baptists Shows They Have Not Always Opposed Abortion

How the Southern Baptist Convention’s views on abortion changed during the 1980s, when a more conservative wing seized control of the denomination.
Daniel Mytens' painting of George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore (1578-1632). (Collection of the Enoch Pratt Free Library / Baltimore, Maryland).

The English Origins of American Toleration

Can the origins of American religious freedom be traced to the religious and political history of England and its empire?

“A Very Curious Religious Game”: Spiritual Maps and Material Culture in Early America

The Quaker spiritual journey, often invisible due to its silent, humble and individual nature, is illustrated in this map.
Sign for the Community of Faith church in Houston, lit up at night near dark railroad tracks.

The Racist Roots of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sex Scandal “Apocalypse”

The Southern Baptist Convention is tearing itself apart over its leaders’ long-running cover-up of abusers in its ranks. But there’s a deeper reckoning below.
The First Presbyterian Church at 48 Fifth Avenue, Greenwich Village, New York City.

The Sermon That Divided America

Harry Emerson Fosdick's ‘Shall the Fundamentalists Win?’
Abortion rights demonstrators confront an antiabortion protester on May 14 outside the Supreme Court.
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What Everyone Gets Wrong About Evangelicals and Abortion

Evangelicals started speaking out against legal abortion long before the late 1970s.
Man holding bible outside Capitol with Trump supporters
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Christian Nationalism Is Surging. It Wasn’t Inevitable.

How the decline of liberal religion transformed American Christianity — and politics.
Statue of Jefferson in front of white columns of building facade

The Decline of Church-State Separation

The author of new book explains the fraught and turbulent relationship between religion and government in the U.S.
“Mrs. Lavin coming out of shul in fur,” 1952.

At the Lower East Side Passover Parade, Immigrants Created New American Identities

Some accounts suggest that the Passover Parade was even more glamorous than its famous counterpart, the Easter Parade.
Elle Hardy and the cover of her book, Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is Taking Over the World.

The Rise of Pentecostal Christianity

While the world’s fastest-growing religious faith offers material benefits and psychological uplift to many, it also pushes a reactionary political agenda.
Reverend Jerry Falwell, speaking from a pulpit.

Evangelical Groundhog Day

The NYT identifies the 'religious fervor in the American right' — around four decades late.
A Denmark Vesey monument is seen in Hampton Park in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.
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The Formerly Enslaved Man Whose Faith Inspired a Slave Revolt

Denmark Vesey expressed the Bible’s anti-slavery messages.
Man holding a poster of Malcolm X, African American Day Parade, 2010 in Harlem.

Malcolm X’s Gospel

A look into how Malcolm X employed gospel rhetoric to critique the mainstream civil rights movement for catering to white Christianity.
Illustration of Nation of Islam members holding hands with Muslims from the Middle East over globe.

The Nation of Islam's Role in U.S. Prisons

The Nation of Islam is controversial. Its practical purposes for incarcerated people transcend both politics and religion.
Elijah Muhammad, who was then the leader of the Nation of Islam, speaks to a crowd in Chicago in 1966.

What Do the Nation of Islam and Marjorie Taylor Greene Have in Common?

Stuart compares the shared values of Christian nationalists and the Nation of Islam in the 1960's and today.
Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers speaking before the appearance of former president Donald Trump at a Save America Rally on Jan 15th in Florence, Arizona.
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The Bond That Explains Why Some on the Christian Right Support Putin’s War

Russia has become an ally in a global movement.
American Catholic book cover

Americanism and the ‘Roman’ Catholic

Daniel James Sundahl reviews D. G. Hart’s American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War.
Undated photograph by “Miss Carter” of William James in a séance with the medium Mrs. Walden.

“Pajamas from Spirit Land”: Searching for William James

After the passing of William James, mediums across the US began receiving messages from the late Harvard professor.
A lithograph of a Shaker congregation worshipping by performing a step dance.

The Sects That Rejected 19th-Century Sex

Why three religious groups traded monogamy for celibacy, polygamy, and complex marriage.
Man playing drum

Music and Spirit in the African Diaspora

The musical traditions found in contemporary Black U.S. and Caribbean Christian worship originated hundreds of years ago, continents away.