https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to holidays en https://religiondispatches.org/2025/06/18/why-dont-white-people-show-juneteenth-way-they-showed-george-floyd Originally published on June 22, 2023, A.E. Brooks-Key’s ‘Juneteenth conundrum’ is still with us. With each passing year it becomes clearer no one knows quite what to do with this newest addition to the civic calendar. Since 2020 when Juneteenth… Wed, 18 Jun 2025 04:40:55 EDT A. E. Brooks-Key d248f2c4-8e91-4ebe-97c2-fbaf244e3eee https://religiondispatches.org/2024/07/03/editors-picks-remembering-broken-promises-and-possibilities-independence-day Independence Day doesn’t tend to cause as much dissonance as Thanksgiving, as much confusion as Juneteenth, and isn’t as widely reviled as Columbus Day (aka Indigenous People’s Day). Yet, while it “is not America’s birthday,” as Peter Laarman argued nearly… Wed, 03 Jul 2024 06:54:48 EDT The Editors 551330db-41d9-43af-945e-fec847b2f2d1 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/04/17/one-early-20th-century-rabbi-skeptical-zionism-passover-isnt-simply-celebration-freedom For Jews, Passover is a time of liberation. The Exodus story tells the tale of a slave population liberated by divine intervention. It’s a story of hope for many persecuted peoples, including the Black Church in America, inspiring African American… Wed, 17 Apr 2024 02:19:19 EDT Shaul Magid 8df04130-9661-4e04-8ebe-af3566de7a4b https://religiondispatches.org/2024/04/02/right-peddles-conspiracy-about-trans-people-and-easter-reflection-spiritual-nature-my Sunday was Transgender Day of Visibility; it was also Easter, a holy day for many people. This incidental confluence (Transgender Day of Visibility is always on March 31, and Easter just happened to fall on that date this year), gave… Tue, 02 Apr 2024 03:59:48 EDT Willow Schenwar d1d24146-971e-46c1-86d9-3ce40274a63b https://religiondispatches.org/2024/03/14/new-age-fantasy-celtic-church-revered-nature-and-divine-feminine-never-existed-so-what From Fifth Avenue to Dorchester Heights, this St. Patrick’s Day will feature the traditional uilleann pipers and Irish step dancers; in Chicago the river will be dyed green, and in Washington DC the Taoiseach will present the president with a… Thu, 14 Mar 2024 04:01:08 EDT Ed Simon bc922e94-64be-4ee1-86a5-e7c46040f3ff https://religiondispatches.org/2024/01/04/pop-culture-angels-are-more-just-embarrassing-kitsch Cloying sentimentality, saccharine pablum, ridiculous camp and embarrassing kitsch—in the contemporary moment the word “angel” hasn’t fared well among those who describe themselves as sophisticates or intellectuals. To many, angels don’t simply conjure superstitious beliefs, but embarrassing superstitious beliefs. Faith… Thu, 04 Jan 2024 05:19:00 EST Ed Simon 0c60b7d3-2a6a-4a2a-8060-4bd1224a4b8a https://religiondispatches.org/2023/12/24/2023-review-year-one-without-roe-gop-code-red-scotus-gone-wild-and-ray-hope As the New Year approaches and gift guides (and pleas for support) litter our inboxes, let’s take some time to reflect upon 2023. As I’ve previously stated , this is rarely a joyous occasion in my line of work, but… Sun, 24 Dec 2023 10:02:43 EST Annika Brockschmidt b379a8b7-7e53-4222-afea-e932631f30ad https://religiondispatches.org/2023/12/13/anti-zionism-antisemitism-isnt-just-wrong-its-problem Earlier this year, before Hamas’ attack and Israel’s siege of Gaza, and before the House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring it so, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said the following: “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Full stop.” This phrase encapsulates precisely… Wed, 13 Dec 2023 04:24:43 EST Shaul Magid 5ecf7ee7-d331-41ac-82cc-2dd95c94ac94 https://religiondispatches.org/2023/12/05/hail-santa-war-christmas-outrage-over-satanic-tree-reveals-self-serving-ambiguity Forget ugly sweater parties , this is our new national Christmas tradition: 1) a public venue creates a forum and invites everyone to erect displays; 2) Secular Humanists, Satanists, and other subversives participate; 3) moral entrepreneurs feign outrage that the… Tue, 05 Dec 2023 04:35:24 EST Joseph Laycock 8d7487a3-0cae-44ab-8245-ce570939c83d https://religiondispatches.org/2023/10/11/story-post-holocaust-group-seeking-revenge-against-nazis-part-story-israel-itself “I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it,” said Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, earlier this year. Though shocking to many at the time, it now seems like… Wed, 11 Oct 2023 05:19:57 EDT Shane Burley f4fea449-bb00-4e8a-a39d-e2d2f986d7dc https://religiondispatches.org/2023/10/05/columbus-day-celebrates-christian-doctrine-authorized-centuries-violence-and-continues Of the 12 federal holidays, Columbus Day is one of only three celebrating a person. Among that trinity, which includes the celebrations of the births of George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr., it remains peculiar. Unlike the first president… Thu, 05 Oct 2023 03:55:11 EDT Robert P. Jones c719df94-1cf0-421d-8f46-9943f7fcab88 https://religiondispatches.org/2023/03/23/clues-data-suggest-increase-lgbtq-acceptance-may-be-skewed-conservative-desire It’s well established that people lie to pollsters , or at the very least put their need to believe they are “good people” over their actual feelings for, and commitments toward, the marginalized groups they may be asked about. This… Thu, 23 Mar 2023 05:16:43 EDT Chrissy Stroop 8a0c9a99-0bf7-4e8f-a444-b376e1fa2cff https://religiondispatches.org/2023/03/07/did-you-read-about-conservative-judaisms-anti-black-antisemitic-smearing-hebrew Did you catch the press release from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) denouncing the slander against the International Israelite Board of Rabbis (IIBR), a Black rabbinical organization, by leaders of Conservative Judaism? No, you say? What about the press release from… Tue, 07 Mar 2023 01:12:34 EST A. E. Brooks-Key 4f7fc960-4e42-485d-952e-aa98c11e3d95 https://religiondispatches.org/2023/01/12/enjoy-kosher-collard-greens-understand-hebrew-israelites-have-something-say-rest-jewish At the 1995 Source Awards, Outkast’s Andre3000, delivered his now iconic shot across the bow in which he informed the hip-hop world that “The South Got Something to Say.” Moving from the margins of the culture to its center, the… Thu, 12 Jan 2023 03:23:05 EST Andre E. Key, Walter Isaac, Tamar Manasseh 6b5aa547-4ec5-467a-97ad-f91c5013867e https://religiondispatches.org/2022/11/08/what-did-kyrie-say-was-so-wrong-when-black-antisemitism-meets-white-jewish-privilege So, let’s start with a joke. A Black nationalist female rabbi, a Black male womanist rabbi, and Black Jewish apostate walk into a bar… There’s been nonstop controversy since NBA star Kyrie Irving tweeted a link to a film, Hebrews… Tue, 08 Nov 2022 07:05:26 EST A. E. Brooks-Key d4a65fee-ce51-4675-9ad2-6212eca20619 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/10/26/skip-sexy-nun-costume-halloween Over the last several years, there has been growing attention to the role of cultural appropriation in Halloween traditions . And yet, costumes based on religious clothing—such as the sexy nun—seem to get a pass. Sexy nun and similar costumes… Wed, 26 Oct 2022 02:36:51 EDT Liz Bucar, Emma Cieslik 16fe1032-22ae-499e-871c-7571d320c645 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/09/23/sermon-birth-fatherland-putins-patriarch-kirill-equates-invasion-ukraine-defense If you’ve been educated in North America or Western Europe, you might be forgiven for having never heard of the Battle of Kulikovo, a battle between Russian forces and the Golden Horde, on September 8, 1380, in which the Russian… Fri, 23 Sep 2022 12:30:46 EDT Katherine Kelaidis f8ee2255-f7d7-4495-94b4-7c3b6fc0aef1 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/12/whos-really-jewish-sefardi-floridian-ashkenazi-californian-or-new-york-jew-choice Jared Armstrong was raised Jewish in the United States and wants nothing more than to become an Israeli citizen and pursue his career as a professional basketball player for one of Israel’s leading teams. But Israeli authorities have challenged the… Thu, 12 May 2022 03:19:49 EDT Benjamin Spratt, Joshua Stanton 4aef8e56-5d77-4208-af94-d224ce7443da https://religiondispatches.org/2022/03/30/palestinian-orthodox-christians-desperate-help-have-caught-attention-russia In case you’re thinking that Ukraine is the only place in the world where Orthodox Christianity is entangled in a global hotspot, please turn your eyes to Jerusalem. Two days ago, following an eighteen-year struggle, members of the Israeli settler… Wed, 30 Mar 2022 05:26:06 EDT Katherine Kelaidis 8ad48250-1a76-42ad-9530-a5c8d9ef485f https://religiondispatches.org/2022/03/07/his-forgiveness-day-sermon-slightly-more-sophisticated-globohomo-rant-kirill-lays-out Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been complicit in the political rhetoric used by Vladimir Putin. In one of her first articles on the topic, Katie Kelaidis reminded… Mon, 07 Mar 2022 01:31:04 EST Sarah Riccardi-Swartz 1f11723d-b69e-4480-a3b3-7cc5f8418e2c https://religiondispatches.org/2022/02/25/no-patriarch-kirill-moscow-not-calling-peace-fact-hes-putins-accomplice Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus is not calling for peace in Ukraine, and the fact that some in the Western media seem to think he has done so is evidence of how much the West has to learn… Fri, 25 Feb 2022 03:56:44 EST Katherine Kelaidis 9398d1c8-4be8-4f31-a9d3-9fdab37eebef https://religiondispatches.org/2022/01/13/uses-and-abuses-legacy-dr-martin-luther-king-jr In January 1994, a week after the King holiday, I walked into the lobby of my dorm to listen to representatives from the Israeli School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK), a Black Israelite group. Someone asked about Dr. Martin Luther… Thu, 13 Jan 2022 05:59:52 EST A. E. Brooks-Key 70673a15-ab26-42c1-a20b-d2130e0bb39a https://religiondispatches.org/2022/01/12/proselytizing-ever-okay-are-we-all-proselytizing-all-time Excuse me, reader, but would you have a moment to talk about the obnoxious practice of asking people to talk about “our” lord and savior? In a previous piece for RD , one of the reasons I gave for why… Wed, 12 Jan 2022 04:47:18 EST Chrissy Stroop 76a5cc97-b1de-4f1d-bb91-4b047b3e7dab https://religiondispatches.org/2021/12/28/will-religion-finally-give-peace-chance-rising-challenge-nonviolence-armageddon-looms So here we are, some of us, still calling out “peace on earth, goodwill to all!” as another ghastly year grinds to a close in a season ostensibly given to light and hope. Peace on earth: it’s a nice thought… Tue, 28 Dec 2021 02:26:59 EST Peter Laarman eaa01ea9-f291-4f43-add3-bfda3b13ab77 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/12/20/nones-are-alright-end-year-open-letter-pearl-clutching-pundits Are you the kind of person who thinks “more religion” is the answer to all our social ills? Does news about American secularization send you into a sort of frenzied moral panic , in which you feel the need to… Mon, 20 Dec 2021 04:18:45 EST Chrissy Stroop cb9e4c88-5151-416c-be7f-68e50967da5a