https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to Christian Right en https://religiondispatches.org/2026/04/02/meet-top-24-leaders-new-apostolic-reformation-us Given the threat to America’s democratic institutions and aspirations posed by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), it’s alarming that the movement’s leading figures aren’t well or widely known. Many, particularly those involved in creating a revolution against established institutions, would… Thu, 02 Apr 2026 03:59:06 EDT Frederick Clarkson, André Gagné a0079a9c-e937-40e8-b5d7-83d9171ec6c3 https://politicalresearch.org/2026/04/02/mulling-over-mullin-and-theocratic-creep-gop On March 24, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Senator Markwayne Mullin as President Trump’s next Secretary of Homeland Security, following the disastrous tenure of Kristi Noem. Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:00 EDT Frederick Clarkson 0aebbfb1-28f5-4e99-8bbf-a5e8a739bc06 https://religiondispatches.org/2026/02/25/allegations-sexual-abuse-emerge-influential-bethel-church Heartbreaking allegations of sexual abuse at Bethel Church , a charismatic megachurch in Redding, California, has recently come to light. Bob Hartley, previously one of the core “prophets” at the International House of Prayer at Kansas City (IHOP-KC), used his… Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:13:13 EST Keri Ladner ea881194-cee7-4dc7-af1d-f7c76b6d6876 https://religiondispatches.org/2026/02/10/times-blithely-dismisses-concerns-over-new-apostolic-reformation Two days before Christmas, readers of the New York Times opinion page were treated to a spectacle of pooh-poohery over portrayals of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) as a significant and dangerous movement whose views have, wittingly or unwittingly, taken… Tue, 10 Feb 2026 05:06:05 EST Frederick Clarkson 2582544c-61b3-4473-a257-28c1a1564437 https://religiondispatches.org/2026/02/09/magaland-religion-stories-you-may-have-missed Trying to cover every religious racket connected to the Trump administration proves to be an exercise in futility. Here are a few of the stories that seemed to fly a bit under the radar. Grifter for God Preys for Melania… Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:33:39 EST Becky Garrison ec93d3d1-75ff-4748-b456-456642898d08 https://politicalresearch.org/2026/01/15/beyond-ballot-rise-competitive-authoritarianism-steven-gardiner In this season finale episode, Koki talks to Steven Gardiner, PRA Principal Research Advisor, to reflect on the first year of Trump’s second term and its implications for U.S. democracy. While the MAGA base remains about 15% of the U.S… Thu, 15 Jan 2026 12:00:00 EST Political Research Associates, Steven Gardiner 91f76dc8-9dd9-4e42-afb2-fa9022b14f3d https://religiondispatches.org/2026/01/09/ugly-religious-history-behind-venezuela-coup Last week, in an attempt to justify his military attack on the sovereign nation of Venezuela and the ensuing arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, Trump stated , “The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a… Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:13:11 EST Brock Bahler a11e2788-f311-4266-a22c-4b477868daf9 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/23/trees-dont-care-who-you-are A week before Christmas—as so many had already begun to tune out the news and focus on holiday plans—the House passed two draconian anti-trans bills fueled by Christian nationalist hatred. So much for a season of peace, generosity, and goodwill… Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Chrissy Stroop 1819ddd5-e54c-43b2-b46c-07d5c88c465c https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/18/not-all-our-relations The Senate approved the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, authorizing nearly $900 billion in military spending next year—and all but guaranteeing federal recognition for the Lumbee People after many contentious decades. Trump is expected to sign the NDAA… Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Lianna Constantino 38c29f20-2ad3-4260-82bf-179cfc23656f https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/17/us-militarys-jerusalem-cross-fetish It’s never a good sign when the Jerusalem Cross hits the news in the United States. Which is unfortunate, since the symbol, which features prominently on the flag of Georgia (the country, not the state), has been used to signify… Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Annika Brockschmidt, Thomas Lecaque 7988ce0d-e3ef-4012-926a-597ffec7de0c https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/11/making-white-femininity-americas-moral-center Recent headlines about the denim ad wars —Levi’s tapping Beyoncé, American Eagle turning to Sydney Sweeney, Gap retreating after backlash—have offered a telling glimpse of how American brands still traffic in gendered norms that signal national belonging. The controversy over… Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Mihee Kim-Kort 088d02ec-4d38-4cdc-8039-e0c81d70724e https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/09/guns-not-meds-are-problem In his latest broadside, amateur poet (and Health and Human Services Secretary) Robert F. Kennedy Jr has promised “massive studies” to investigate a link between school shootings and antidepressants—yet another link that has already been investigated with no credible evidence… Tue, 09 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Susannah Crockford 820b6c43-f410-4703-b7eb-19d34592cf1e https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/05/infected Contrary to the beliefs of some in the anti-vaxx world, infectious diseases spread through bacteria and viruses, microscopic organisms that invade our bodies and make us sick. They seem natural, governed by biological properties. But who gets sick, when… Fri, 05 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Susannah Crockford 756d5fa1-85a0-4e36-8bea-41749a4f5e45 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/04/mike-huckabee-tries-get-apocalypse-started Last week, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke at a Christian Zionist church in Jerusalem, whose unambiguous purpose is to convert Israeli Jews to belief in Jesus in order to bring about the End Times. Pastor Rick Ridings opened… Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Ben Lorber 71a9dd69-7464-4a9c-8cd0-1869f216e034 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/11/21/antisemitism-nationalists-second-nature On November 20, Israeli nationalist Yoram Hazony sat down for an interview with conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat to offer an explanation for the rise of antisemitism on the MAGA Right. After Tucker Carlson’s controversial interview with neo-Nazi… Fri, 21 Nov 2025 12:00:00 EST Ben Lorber f909552e-e9a6-4d44-9fb1-2e4d9f2cfe6a https://religiondispatches.org/2025/11/18/purity-culture-and-jeffrey-epstein Editor’s note: This post mentions child sexual assault and underage marriage. Please be advised. International media outlets and even an actual teenager slammed attorney and media personality Megyn Kelly for claiming (31:40) that the late Jeffrey Epstein was not an… Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:00:00 EST Becky Garrison 2029b7f7-5748-47f9-9222-58033083f529 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/11/10/heaven-his-mind America’s 47th president and aspirational dictator seems particularly concerned lately with where he’s headed when he dies. Trump mused about his chances at eternal salvation with the cast of “Fox and Friends” this August. He explained that he wants to… Mon, 10 Nov 2025 12:00:00 EST Brook Wilensky-Lanford 2599005f-261e-41a4-a0e4-e89b9e473ca9 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/11/06/bad-muslim-good-mayor The name is Mamdani, M-A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it. Because he won . On November 4, 2025, New York City elected Zohran Kwame Mamdani as its first Muslim mayor. Throughout his campaign—from polling at 1% of the… Thu, 06 Nov 2025 12:00:00 EST Ambereen Dadabhoy b93533ab-1b14-4610-bcc1-6517449a1931 https://politicalresearch.org/2025/10/15/its-not-backlash-its-strategy In this roundtable, Chelsea Ebin, Matthew Taylor, and Julie Ingersoll discuss the intersection of today’s New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and the New Christian Right of 1970s and 1980s formed by conservative Catholics and Protestants. Building from Ebin’s The Radical Mind… Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:00:00 EDT Matthew Taylor, Julie Ingersoll, Chelsea Ebin 6d798d19-9554-49e6-972b-e5e5aff1507a https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/01/brain-worm-science In a rambling press conference last week, Donald Trump announced that commonly used over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol is “not good.” Specifically addressing pregnant women, Trump repeated “don’t take Tylenol” around a dozen times, enough for a mantra or EDM remix. No… Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:00:00 EDT Susannah Crockford 0baf9ccd-1c7f-4c86-8ad0-a1f5e0e01e84 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/09/30/charlie-kirk-memorial-seoul On September 13, 2025, echoes of “We are Charlie Kirk” could be heard across Seoul. From Jamsil to Gangnam, thousands of young Koreans commemorated American political activist Charlie Kirk’s death by dressing in black, raising US flags and photographs of… Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 EDT Chanhee Heo 99580078-c280-4d6f-b1df-9cb33665f392 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/09/22/part-maga-rally-part-christian-revival-charlie-kirks-memorial-service-includes-numerous Sunday’s Charlie Kirk memorial service was part MAGA rally, part fundraising event for Turning Point USA—but mostly, it was a religious revival. The more than 70,000 attendees witnessed the canonization of a man who “peddled in paranoid, racist, and Islamophobic… Mon, 22 Sep 2025 05:12:30 EDT Annika Brockschmidt 74bf3a06-d08d-4946-9dec-d37bac7db517 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/09/19/charlie-kirk-well-his-way-political-martyrdom-will-he-become-christian-martyr As soon as he was shot, before he was even pronounced dead, Charlie Kirk was already being transformed into a martyr–not a political martyr who dies for a cause ( although that language is developing too) but an explicitly Christian… Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:57:14 EDT Karen E. Park 59121577-19b2-46af-bf78-8ec571027bc8 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/09/15/sanitizing-fascists-and-white-supremacists-isnt-objective-or-neutral-its-normalizing Formerly fringe figures of the Religious and Political Right met at the National Conservatism conference earlier this month in Washington, DC to bask in their success at mainstreaming their ideas within the GOP. Now in its fifth year, NatCon is… Mon, 15 Sep 2025 01:16:40 EDT Annika Brockschmidt 70c51185-c370-447d-9638-ece89601e79b https://religiondispatches.org/2025/09/11/charlie-kirks-death-makes-visible-what-gun-advocates-would-prefer-deny-violent-culture A shooting is never something to trivialize. Bullets rip through walls, through flesh, and through families. Even when they miss their mark, even when they spare life but not the body, they leave a wound. Bullet wounds are physical, individual… Thu, 11 Sep 2025 11:26:50 EDT Eric Vanden Eykel f7280972-4dce-4a2a-a3fe-5bcfc11b8691