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Excremental Empire

John Gregory Bourke’s "Scatalogic Rites of All Nations" and the American West.
Demonstrators protesting new history curriculum
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How The Culture Wars Destroyed Public Education

The left's Pyrrhic victory in the culture wars.

Talking God in the United States

What are Americans really talking about when they talk about religious freedom?
Illustration of the harmful effects of alcohol on a Seneca village

America's First Addiction Epidemic

The alcohol epidemic devastated Native American communities, leading to crippling poverty, high mortality rates — and a successful sobriety movement.

Orphan Utopia

The story of a spiritual visionary who in 1884, set out to create a colony of orphans in the New Mexico desert.
Watson Heston cartoon of two people at a crossroads--one direction is the "Free Thought Road" which leads to truth, and the other direction is "Orthodox Road" and the "Vale of Tears."

Atheists in the Pantheon

Leigh Eric Schmidt profiles the nineteenth century's notable "village atheists."

The Freedom to Choose Your Religion Comes With a Price

In a new book, a historian explores the American fascination with conversion, and its costs. 
Flag in front of a church.

What Politicians Mean When They Say The United States Was Founded As A Christian Nation

Today's Christian nationalists and liberal secularists both oversimplify the history of the nation's founding.

The True Story of the Fight for Religious Equality in the US

The U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, but the fight for religious equality was only just beginning.

The Artifacts of White Supremacy

Why fiery crosses, white robes, and the American flag were seized upon by the 1920s Klan in its campaign for white nationalism.

A “Thorough Deist?” The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin

Historian Thomas S. Kidd examines the tension between Benjamin Franklin's deism and his frequent religious rhetoric

The Most Successful First 100 Days Of An Administration Didn't Belong To Who You Think

Dwight Eisenhower did more in his first hundred days than change laws—he changed a culture.
Artists' rendering of Cahokia mounds with buildings and people on them.

Finding North America’s Lost Medieval City

Cahokia was bigger than Paris — then it was completely abandoned. I went there to find out why.
Person carrying live Thanksgiving turkey
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American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

Why Pilgrims would be stunned by our "traditional" Thanksgiving table, and other surprising truths about the invention of our national holiday.

Freedom vs. Liberty: Why Religious Conservatives Have Begun to Chose One Over the Other

Religious "freedom" and "liberty" have always had different connotations.

American Secular

The founding moment of the United States brought a society newly freed from religion. What went wrong?
Lakewood megachurch.

Supersized Christianity: Protestant Megachurches in America

Megachurches represent an enduring model of ecclesial organization in Protestantism.

TIME's 'Is God Dead?' Cover Turns 50

How the April 8, 1966, cover of TIME set off a firestorm.
Woman sniffing perfume in a magazine ad.

Our Pungent History: Sweat, Perfume, and the Scent of Death

Throughout the long and pungent history of humanity, smelling healthy has been as delightful as it has disgusting.

Bernie Sanders Bids for Jewish History

The Vermont senator isn’t religious, but a victory in Iowa or New Hampshire would be the first ever for a Jewish presidential candidate.
Students and teacher talking about homework at Islamic School in Seattle.
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Islam and the U.S.

What does it mean to be Muslim in America? And how has the practice of Islam in the U.S. changed over time?
Engraving of Hawaiian high chief Ka‘iana

When Hawaii Was Ruled by Shark-Like Gods

19th century Hawai‘i attracted traders, entrepreneurs, and capitalists, who displaced, a flourishing and elaborate culture.
Billy Graham and Richard Nixon

The King’s Chapel and the King’s Court

Richard Nixon, Billy Graham, and their White House church services.
Visa as the Mark of the Beast, as imagined by a 1960s Christian tract.

Technology and Apocalypse in America

Some sects of Christian belief have long held that various forms of technology were signs of an approaching apocalypse.
C. L. Franklin and his daughter Aretha.

The Man with the Million Dollar Voice

The mighty but divided soul of C.L. Franklin.
Brigham Young

The Reds Under Romney’s Bed

The most ambitious social experiment in American history that until 1877, explicitly rejected the core values of Victorian capitalism.
Photo of a newspaper referring to Jewish riots in the New York Times

The Festive Meal

There once was a time when Yom Kippur was a time to eat, drink, and be merry.
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The Truth About Thanksgiving Is that the Debunkers Are Wrong

A response to claims that the First Thanksgiving was not a "thanksgiving" as the Pilgrims understood it.
Church with graveyard.

Divided Providence

Faith’s pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War.
A painting of a group of Puritans walking through a snowy forest, with the men carrying rifles.

The Puritans Were Book Banners, But They Weren’t Sexless Sourpusses

From early New England to the present day, censors have acted out of fear, not prudishness.

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