https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to covid-19 en https://religiondispatches.org/2025/09/02/lying-save-our-lives-why-you-should-say-whatever-it-takes-get-covid-vaccine Hello again from our current public health clusterfuck, in which COVID infections continue to rise domestically and globally while the FDA makes it harder and more confusing for Americans to get vaccinated against the virus. The FDA did approve Moderna’s… Tue, 02 Sep 2025 06:46:44 EDT Rebecca Epstein-Levi 9af9033d-35db-43b2-98e7-17448de2032c https://religiondispatches.org/2022/04/05/demons-held-responsible-these-days-everything-covid-lgbtq-rights-take-visual-tour During our season of political madness , it took a lot to trigger a double-take, and yet a pro-Trump, Covid-denialist pediatrician named Stella Immanuel declaring that illness was caused by the semen of demons was an exemplary case. Dr. Immanuel… Tue, 05 Apr 2022 06:41:18 EDT Ed Simon b56f739c-c520-476b-9177-4d7c90f59b69 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/02/23/turn-news-some-abortion-opponents-may-opt-new-vaccine-behind-their-skepticism-its-often In my younger, snottier days, I would have made short work of this piece by Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service: Q: Could Novavax win over some religious vaccine skeptics? A: No. This has been another edition of ‘Simple Answers… Wed, 23 Feb 2022 05:52:18 EST Daniel Schultz e75359f3-9a2d-4847-9369-8df339555f79 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/01/19/novak-djokovic-extraordinary-tennis-player-ordinary-orthodox-anti-vaxxer The Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic has become a perfectly likely hero in the international movement against Covid-19 vaccinations after his battle with Australian officials ahead of the Australian Open. The all-time great was successfully deported this week after Australia’s… Wed, 19 Jan 2022 05:26:13 EST Katherine Kelaidis 1ad80c5f-5e12-4a16-abac-4173741b7464 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/11/welcome-war-what-creationist-conference-can-teach-us-about-evangelical-vaccine When I signed up to attend a 3-day conference at the flagship young-Earth creationist organization Answers in Genesis, I assumed I would be the only person wearing a mask. I was right—kind of. Although none of my fellow attendees was… Mon, 11 Oct 2021 03:30:52 EDT Caroline Matas 1cbf7793-acb3-4b87-994e-056f8be677b3 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/08/vaccine-mandates-are-constitutional-religious-exemptions-are-unnecessary-and-harmful The Spirit of 1776 was as much about science as it was about freedom. George Washington required the entire Continental Army to get inoculated against smallpox—the first army-wide vaccination in history . Mortality dropped from 30% to 1%. Mandatory vaccinations… Fri, 08 Oct 2021 01:38:49 EDT Andrew L. Seidel 4e35e6a1-86ac-4dd6-8bd7-8436038e120a https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/06/pat-robertson-retires-here-are-10-his-most-cringeworthy-moments After 60 years at the helm of his Christian Broadcasting Network, and 55 hosting its signature “news” magazine broadcast, The 700 Club , the 91-year-old Southern Baptist minister and Christian media mogul Pat Robertson is retiring. Many religion journalists and… Wed, 06 Oct 2021 02:25:04 EDT Chrissy Stroop 8a6ed567-fff8-4249-a05d-4d4ec5236fe6 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/24/setting-low-bar-religious-entities-praised-treating-covid-religious-exemptions Last week, AP published a small, albeit important article, “Many faith leaders say no to endorsing vaccine exemptions,” noting that the leadership of certain Eastern Orthodox churches, Catholic dioceses, mainline Protestant denominations, Mormon leadership, Orthodox Jewish and Muslim organizations, and… Fri, 24 Sep 2021 05:33:39 EDT Chrissy Stroop 349470be-0d05-4a42-aa0c-1e22d313d648 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/13/new-mormon-religion-has-taken-qanon-conspiracies-and-canonized-them-doctrine Over the last year, I’ve scrolled past social media posts by members of diverse religious backgrounds and political opinions. However, because my ethnographic research is based in Mormon fundamentalist communities, a good amount of the commentary I see leans libertarian… Mon, 13 Sep 2021 04:13:59 EDT Cristina Rosetti bdddc8c8-b212-49cb-a666-7dea675238c1 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/07/bill-mill-ennialism-arkansas-end-times-politics-may-be-coming-state-near-you It was the best of the end times. It was the worst of the end times. It was the age of Trump. It was 2019. Trump was compared with the greatest of God’s biblical champions. Things would never be the… Tue, 07 Sep 2021 02:43:35 EDT Frederick Clarkson 77201a1d-2b34-4fdf-a065-5f9e082fb830 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/02/end-roe-verdict-supreme-court-majority-christian-nationalist The Supreme Court ended Roe v. Wade . When the court finally got around to issuing the reprehensible 5-4 shadow docket decision on Texas’s bounty-hunting, 2-week abortion ban, which had already gone into effect and is spreading to other states… Thu, 02 Sep 2021 03:16:51 EDT Andrew L. Seidel 1c89ce88-fe6d-4ec1-b22b-13b561ee68df https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/30/bad-faith-reveals-isnt-first-rodeo-racism-and-religious-right The Religious Right is experiencing another, devastating Covid surge, especially in Southern states with Republican governors. Meanwhile, conservative state legislators are furiously passing laws against voting rights and the teaching of critical race theory, the new conservative Christian bogeyman. What… Mon, 30 Aug 2021 04:03:18 EDT Rita Nakashima-Brock 52ede2a1-5b7c-4519-a44a-d4df55584616 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/26/anti-vaxx-cardinal-burke-just-ventilator-becoming-living-anti-abortion-martyr Earlier this month Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke announced to the world that he had contracted Covid-19 in a strangely triumphant August 10 tweet “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently tested positive for the… Thu, 26 Aug 2021 03:49:48 EDT Karen E. Park 004350d2-e43a-41a3-b937-69379e012ef4 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/25/fake-christian-deflection-and-contrarian-concern-trolling-how-not-write-about Over the last couple of weeks, America’s conservative, mostly white evangelicals have once again generated considerable buzz—and deserved criticism—over their authoritarian attitudes and behaviors. For example, as Christian nationalism has featured prominently at rallies against mask mandates and the Covid… Wed, 25 Aug 2021 05:14:08 EDT Chrissy Stroop 92414ce7-b8dd-4a21-89cd-0a2724e5e381 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/13/latest-diatribe-francis-and-latin-mass-times-launders-history-and-troubling-elements Church councils are never simple things, neither when they’re happening nor in their aftermath. Although often called to confront troubling questions or iron out controversies, they haven’t always been successful in accomplishing those tasks over the past nearly 1,700 years… Fri, 13 Aug 2021 01:39:38 EDT Matthew Gabriele cde509e7-fa50-438c-bd6d-f3efc082c0e0 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/12/abortion-no-longer-significant-evangelicals-or-has-it-just-become-water In 2018, I published an article here on Religion Dispatches about how abortion is a decisive issue for white evangelical voters. As a young evangelical, it became the single issue that determined my vote: The few times I garnered the… Thu, 12 Aug 2021 02:40:36 EDT Bradley Onishi 059bb6a7-55ac-4942-8566-8ebe40f8d308 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/11/new-clashes-portland-confirm-christian-nationalism-remains-clear-and-present-danger On Friday, August 7, the Department of Homeland Security announced to state and local authorities that an uptick in violent online chatter about the Big Lie of “election fraud” might lead to more anti-democratic street violence like what the United… Wed, 11 Aug 2021 02:24:58 EDT Chrissy Stroop 4c313649-5196-479e-8255-2d0fa3a8e7c0 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/06/being-trans-religion-why-christian-right-wants-you-think-so Have you noticed how common it is for right-wingers to describe things they oppose in terms of religion? Back in April, for example, Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab (the social media platform of choice for white supremacists and right-wing… Fri, 06 Aug 2021 03:28:14 EDT Chrissy Stroop a3d0d62e-28c9-4e87-9316-f55328b9103c https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/29/white-evangelical-vaccine-refusal-reminds-us-sometimes-religion-problem This week, you’re likely to encounter a lot of commentary on PRRI and Interfaith Youth Core’s new report on religious groups and vaccine acceptance, most of it optimistic. And to be sure, there are good reasons for optimism relative to… Thu, 29 Jul 2021 12:18:45 EDT Chrissy Stroop a22b63c5-cfdb-4adc-bb4b-4ac92f067bd7 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/26/updated-turning-catholic-schools-anti-mask-theology-faith-argument-just-fine-religious UPDATE, July 27: The Catholic journalist Tony Spence points out that the Diocese of Lansing Schools have their own masking requirement, in keeping with Michigan state law. In an F.A.Q., the district notes that “Faith-based schools must follow State issued… Mon, 26 Jul 2021 02:43:43 EDT Daniel Schultz 74594c75-91fd-4361-9376-e757aad5099f https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/23/sacrificing-children-altar-religious-freedom-flood-mask-and-vaccine-lawsuits-are-warping A new lawsuit filed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-science, anti-vaxxing organization seeks to drag America back to the dark ages—a time of plagues and killing in the name of God. Another lawsuit, well into litigation but just making headlines… Fri, 23 Jul 2021 05:05:05 EDT Andrew L. Seidel 97385ea8-d941-454e-a490-c4546086f8fd https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/12/exclusive-christian-right-bill-mill-project-blitz-hasnt-gone-away-its-just-gotten-more In the Fall of 2019, the secretive Christian Right state legislative campaign, Project Blitz, became even more of a secret. When RD first reported on Project Blitz in April 2018 the website featured their annual state legislative playbook of model… Mon, 12 Jul 2021 04:39:07 EDT Frederick Clarkson 6c54e30d-1e42-45b1-bdd3-9e471c13c6dd https://religiondispatches.org/2021/06/15/we-cant-spiritualize-our-way-out-american-polarization As I noted previously here on RD , when it comes to covering American Christianity in general and conservative, mostly white evangelicals in particular, legacy media outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post have recently begun to… Tue, 15 Jun 2021 04:25:11 EDT Chrissy Stroop 3788243a-1227-4fe6-b0d4-c545006d514b https://religiondispatches.org/2021/06/07/updated-coup-never-ends-whitemanism-and-perils-flimsy-liberalism The following piece has been updated with an adendum titled: Is a Fixation on Race Betraying the Class Struggle? Scroll down to go directly to the update. - eds In her otherwise terrific cri de coeur last week lamenting the… Mon, 07 Jun 2021 01:48:44 EDT Peter Laarman aadf4cb4-4461-40d3-93d8-8754b6433d9f https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/28/what-do-january-6-commission-covid-deaths-and-gun-massacres-all-have-common-gods-chosen I’m going to try connecting things that don’t at first seem related. They’re the fight over a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection; the disproportionate number of Covid deaths in states run by Republican governors; this week’s shooting massacre… Fri, 28 May 2021 01:55:26 EDT John Stoehr 8ed3bb99-0052-43a0-b189-a449e9e246d0