https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to popular culture en https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/16/what-feeds-your-soul In 1992, an 18-year-old preacher’s son sat at an upright piano before the congregation of Refuge Assembly of Yahweh—a Pentecostal church outside Richmond, his family’s church. Thu, 16 Oct 2025 12:00:00 EDT Santi Elijah Holley 4c590e2d-dcd8-4806-8be2-2b0e0c462186 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/08/18/chatgpt-cant-teach-us-about-religion-or-anything-else-matter This article includes analysis of ChatGPT use in classrooms. With due respect to the author: given its devastating and demonstrably racialized environmental impact, its replication of white supremacy and other forms of injustice, and its specious contributions to knowledge creation… Mon, 18 Aug 2025 02:58:48 EDT Beatrice Marovich 9c1c9057-7047-4921-9aae-82f8c059d0d7 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/08/12/sydney-sweeneys-american-eagle-ad-tangled-blue-jeans-and-white-supremacy In today’s brave new world of fascism rebranded, white nationalism is trading in brown shirts for boot-cut jeans—and the new master race apparently shops at American Eagle. Because nothing says “the future is white” quite like a mall brand that… Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:09:04 EDT Mary Rambaran-Olm 204edc5a-9610-4c1b-883a-516b39e6322c https://religiondispatches.org/2025/07/29/hell-yeah-brother-hulk-hogan-dies-he-lived-anti-democratic-white-supremacist Wrestling icon and longtime racial liability Hulk (Terry Gene Bollea) Hogan has died at the age of 71. Sources close to the situation say he passed from a heart attack amidst being a legendary racist, a union-busting snitch, and a… Tue, 29 Jul 2025 01:36:26 EDT Mary Rambaran-Olm aaf0f9f4-ebd1-49bd-8364-88eacc9e7217 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/07/25/obsessed-trumps-penis-south-park-premiere-media-ignore-larger-issue Spoiler Alert: The article below discusses virtually everything that happened in this week’s South Park.If you haven’t seen this week’s season premiere of South Park , you might be forgiven for thinking it’s mostly about Pres. Donald Trump’s small penis… Fri, 25 Jul 2025 02:48:13 EDT Jonathan Larsen 29d60254-eff2-4d24-a96a-10ac9ae28b8c https://religiondispatches.org/2025/07/07/erasing-caste-american-television-we-were-liars-shows-representation-isnt-enough We Were Liars is the latest in a series of television shows about obscenely wealthy people’s lavish holiday accommodations and shenanigans, a genre Americans apparently can’t get enough of these days. We Were Liars premiered June 18th and is currently… Mon, 07 Jul 2025 02:09:23 EDT Sohini Sarah Pillai 70de3cd7-2b6c-45f6-bb47-d8cc00e8d6c1 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/04/24/i-dont-do-horror-ryan-coogler It was my absolute pleasure to chat with Dr. Yvonne Chireau, author of the iconic Black Magic and official Hoodoo consultant for Ryan Coogler’s latest smash hit, Sinners . If you don’t know her work, please stop reading this and… Thu, 24 Apr 2025 07:16:40 EDT Megan Goodwin 2f5d7880-5b1d-44cd-92c8-735076acb9de https://religiondispatches.org/2025/04/09/amber-ruffin-wasnt-cancelled-whca-just-because-shes-queer-black-woman-who-rejects-both Comedian Amber Ruffin was literally cancelled from hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner recently after the president’s team caught wind of the fact that she might be mean to the Trembling Tyrant rather than participate in toothless both-sidesing… Wed, 09 Apr 2025 05:06:24 EDT Mary Rambaran-Olm b83c5171-66cf-4c68-a4b3-2d40a0dcfa60 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/02/21/clever-girl-explains-why-dinosaurs-are-queer-and-feminist-and-jurassic-park-toolkit Everything happens so much these days, and so very much of it is very bad indeed. In the last few weeks alone, we’ve had another school shooting , the passing of a social justice icon , the VP’s ‘cleansing’ visit… Fri, 21 Feb 2025 09:41:12 EST Megan Goodwin 10263eb6-b1bb-418d-81a0-05254466d288 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/02/07/silence-nuns-oscar-darling-conclave-contains-subtle-indictment-catholic-churchs-views Please note: The following article contains some spoilers. There are many pleasures for students of the Catholic Church in Conclave —which recently received eight Oscar nominations—from the glimpses behind the doors of the uber-secretive papal conclave itself to the spot-on… Fri, 07 Feb 2025 04:36:05 EST Patricia Miller f50c3436-e0fe-48b1-b852-1254d530d373 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/01/22/proud-be-real-american-lee-greenwoods-god-bless-usa-and-politics-apolitical When you’re raised in an authoritarian Christian community you can never quite comfortably fit into, you learn early on about the ambiguity of language. Words like “love,” for example, mean very different things to a person who respects others’ bodily… Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:42:00 EST Chrissy Stroop 93d080cb-e63a-43c0-a013-4fdf4fa8fb05 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/01/17/american-primeval-doesnt-try-get-history-right-problem-it-doesnt-get-western Note: The following essay contains some spoilers. But not too many. American Primeval , Netflix’s flashy (and quite gory) new series depicts the clash between zealous Mormons, imperial federal troops, crude trappers, and bloodthirsty Natives. Think Under the Banner of… Fri, 17 Jan 2025 03:03:34 EST Benjamin E. Park b080305d-42b5-4508-97b4-2f90e0d2d540 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/01/10/sing-sing-may-be-beautiful-testament-human-spirit-can-humanizing-narratives-bring-about The prison occupies a powerful place in the American imagination. In film and television it offers a context through which to explore the worst imaginable qualities of humanity—the dangerous, monstrous, deranged, and obscene. The stereotypes, fantasies, and voyeuristic consumption promoted… Fri, 10 Jan 2025 05:10:33 EST Laura Simpson bca7b6fa-5c7e-40f9-87da-4c04cd0ad196 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/01/07/saint-luigi-patron-saint-healthcare-access-all-enraged-corporate-health-care-some-view When Luigi Mangione was arrested for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson he had in his possession a handwritten document in which he described healthcare corporations as “mafiosa have gotten too powerful,” and declared that he was “the first… Tue, 07 Jan 2025 01:09:41 EST Emma Cieslik a337dc7a-8bbb-4900-a4ab-3216fc607400 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/2024/07/02/grab-n-go-investigative-thriller-follows-covert-efforts-control-source-life-comes-short Mainly curiosity—along with a nudge from RD—got me to pay my eight bucks to watch The Grab , a new documentary just released on Amazon Prime.* Written and directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the film treats a small team of journalists… Tue, 02 Jul 2024 05:12:30 EDT Peter Laarman 15e3af55-287d-41f1-8e89-1f242d4d688d https://religiondispatches.org/2024/05/20/between-butker-candace-owens-and-nick-fuentes-tradcaths-are-having-moment-moment Trads (or traditionalist Catholics) are having a moment. In the last four weeks alone, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a controversial commencement speech at a conservative Catholic college, right-wing media personality Candace Owens announced her conversion to Catholicism… Mon, 20 May 2024 12:14:42 EDT Lauren Horn Griffin 39fdd2b3-3db2-4b44-b89b-5ea71d4e35d8 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/04/23/controversy-over-jay-shettys-authenticity-masks-bigger-question-why-west-drawn-such From his popular podcast, to his travels with Will and Jada Smith, to GAP ads with wife Radhi—the ones that feature his toothpaste-ad smile and eyes that rival that one famous National Geographic cover —it’s hard to escape Jay Shetty… Tue, 23 Apr 2024 03:54:42 EDT Prea Persaud d8c43677-7946-430f-9acf-7ec53ed94ad0 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/03/28/step-right-and-get-your-low-priced-pro-god-content-donald-trump-enters-bible-business Nearly four years ago on June 1, 2020, Federal officers violently cleared peaceful protestors from Washington DC’s Lafayette Square in order to make way for Trump to stand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church and hold a Bible .*… Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:56:40 EDT Karen E. Park f5f9a12c-75de-494e-a2f3-207933825a18 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/03/26/late-night-devil-reflects-role-talk-shows-sensationalizing-satanic-panic-1980s Late Night with the Devil premiered in select cities this past weekend, allegedly raking in $666,666 on Sunday. This indie gem by Cameron and Colin Caernes is a “found footage” horror film, purporting to be a lost episode of a… Tue, 26 Mar 2024 05:24:01 EDT Joseph Laycock c5ccf9c4-8452-40e5-8cb5-a46a37cde320 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/2024/03/12/new-research-suggests-belief-demons-may-help-explain-christian-support-trump In a strange way, I envy the people who were raised as evangelical Christians in the 1980s and 1990s, because many of them got to experience This Present Darkness in a way I never could. For the uninitiated, This Present… Tue, 12 Mar 2024 01:57:54 EDT Robert Repino 897d1df0-d1b6-4c44-bff6-e5cbc042879a https://religiondispatches.org/2024/02/14/does-right-even-know-why-its-so-threatened-taylor-swift-and-travis-kelce Stop the presses! If you’ve been living in a neighboring cave, you too will know nothing about the latest scandal to shock the masses. According to Google and iconic director Martin Scorsese , American songwriter/singer Taylor Swift is dating NFL… Wed, 14 Feb 2024 05:36:07 EST Mary Rambaran-Olm 83a0df14-bf98-4adf-a405-591e68950c40 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/01/25/amid-anticipation-government-disclosure-we-are-not-alone-follows-those-who-claim-alien UFOs are in. The current wave of enthusiasm began in 2017 when major newspapers reported on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which spent $22 million investigating Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), with media homing in on the idea that… Thu, 25 Jan 2024 01:18:26 EST Joseph Laycock da8c022c-a386-4566-b683-badda974fc1a 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