https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to theocracy en 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/2024/07/29/rising-influence-new-apostolic-reformation-teachings-ominous-sign-us-especially-lgbtq Whether or not anyone recognizes it by name, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is hitting its stride. After his June declaration that “every teacher, every classroom… will be teaching from the Bible,” Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, who… Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:48:35 EDT Jonathon Sawyer 5e940aa4-aa08-44ac-b58e-d8e19bf46bb7 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/07/10/white-nationalist-mottos-fate-jews-new-christian-state-and-appeal-heaven-humor-day-2 No friends on the “other side of the aisle”—only enemies In a morning panel of the second day of NatCon 2024, a group of Republican senators hammered home a confrontational message. Sen. Jim DeMint : “There is no reasonable consensus… Wed, 10 Jul 2024 06:29:12 EDT Annika Brockschmidt, Ben Lorber f0e00bda-e8a2-4670-935a-2c1be898b490 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/05/23/first-it-was-insurrection-flag-now-supreme-court-justice-alito-caught-flying-another-far Some things regarding the Supreme Court are not surprising. For example: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito who, along with Clarence Thomas forms the extreme Right flank of this Court (which is saying something), doesn’t like women very much. Or abortion… Thu, 23 May 2024 08:58:44 EDT Annika Brockschmidt dea7d5c3-022f-4f73-9b22-4e6e12cc4482 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/05/10/wheres-wallnau-nar-apostle-takes-aim-swing-counties-battle-mountain-government Just as they prophesied Trump’s victory and collaborated in the 2020 attempted coup, the Trump wing of the New Apostolic Reformation is on the offensive once again, waging a campaign in counties they think will swing the 2024 presidential election… Fri, 10 May 2024 05:22:29 EDT Frederick Clarkson 8198eb41-dfac-463b-b7a7-3c59af04b5d8 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/04/08/doing-dukakis-jesus-biden-does-not-need-be-more-publicly-christian There are many factors that may determine whether incumbent president Joe Biden wins reelection this November. Whether the very Catholic president is visibly “religious enough,” however, is absolutely not one of them. If you’re one of my regular readers, this… Mon, 08 Apr 2024 10:03:25 EDT Chrissy Stroop 550d23c1-06c8-4187-bcce-b7f7f27b75bd https://religiondispatches.org/2024/03/05/alabamas-ivf-ruling-reveals-deep-ties-increasingly-influential-christian-right-movement In the Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF ruling that sent shockwaves through the country, the word “God” appears 41 times—and that’s no coincidence. Embryos, according to Alabama’s highest court, are in fact “extrauterine children”—a phrase so dystopian it would make Margaret… Tue, 05 Mar 2024 05:29:17 EST Annika Brockschmidt e4a60f3b-6173-4b0b-ab29-7719222b2f20 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/02/12/meet-bronze-age-zionists-far-right-jews-embracing-fascism-wake-october-7 The US online hard-right isn’t exactly known as the friendliest place for Jews. It’s the place where antisemitic conspiracies thrive and cries of ‘Jews will not replace us’ resound. It’s where the Pittsburgh and Poway synagogue shooters (and many more… Mon, 12 Feb 2024 04:47:08 EST Ben Lorber 5e2d253c-8c97-43ba-9cba-d801317b3a91 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/01/26/seeking-broad-appeal-us-christians-god-country-rise-christian-nationalism-glosses-over I wanted to like God & Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism , the new Rob Reiner-produced documentary on “the dangerous implications” of Christian nationalism. I wanted to like it in spite of the trailer’s focus on the ostensible “threat”… Fri, 26 Jan 2024 05:41:54 EST Chrissy Stroop f14d8443-ebe1-4887-8c80-2386cf209eb1 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/2023/11/09/constitutional-attorney-changes-drag-during-talk-cancelation-west-texas-am-drag-show For those who have been following it, the saga of the banned drag show fundraiser at West Texas A&M took a new twist on Wednesday when Andrew Seidel —a constitutional lawyer, RD senior correspondent, and vice president of strategic communications… Thu, 09 Nov 2023 12:28:51 EST Chrissy Stroop f7a11d64-611d-4cee-a1e1-2a8f661f2adb https://religiondispatches.org/2023/11/05/mike-johnson-isnt-just-your-average-christian-right-avatar-hes-influenced-fringe Who is Mike Johnson, the man with horn-rimmed glasses who managed to become Speaker of the House—something Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer all failed to do? And what does he have that the other three didn’t? Johnson comes… Sun, 05 Nov 2023 03:24:57 EST Annika Brockschmidt f2fd3406-8411-42fd-b1ae-3b41f2c5dbf9 https://religiondispatches.org/2023/01/10/celebrating-religious-freedom-day-taking-back-revolutionary-meaning-religious-freedom Religious freedom has been at the center of American history since the founding. (And by the founding , I mean of the United States of America , not including the roughly century-and-a-half of colonial era.) There’s a story of religious… Tue, 10 Jan 2023 12:09:48 EST Frederick Clarkson 53ffc929-a1d7-4534-854e-e4b4545b0011 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/12/16/what-protests-and-executions-iran-can-tell-us-about-america-and-fall-roe-v-wade The separation of religion and government is a basic human right. The protests in Iran and the theocratic regime’s lethal attempts to suffocate the spark of human freedom are a case study proving this truism. But that regime’s obsessive imposition… Fri, 16 Dec 2022 02:43:52 EST Andrew L. Seidel 1fac4284-04f8-4052-882c-05facba50153 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/11/14/shofars-hammers-spiritual-warriors-maga-are-reawakening-political-violence For two days in late October, I attended Clay Clarke’s MAGA-driven ReAwaken America Tour near my home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Keynote speakers included a predictable Who’s Who of Trump surrogates, including Michael Flynn, Mike Lindell, Roger Stone, and Eric… Mon, 14 Nov 2022 04:07:16 EST Mark Clatterbuck f0233696-9d5c-4bd0-907d-393c56014327 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/10/18/midterms-approach-white-christian-nationalism-mainstream-gop-and-its-only-getting-worse As one might imagine, Yale University’s recent conference on White Christian nationalism and the midterm elections was full of sobering information. And yet, two conclusions managed to stand apart from the rest. First, that the phenomenon is firmly anchored within… Tue, 18 Oct 2022 02:07:54 EDT Annika Brockschmidt 5abda3cf-c269-4995-9ab0-0de8255d981b https://religiondispatches.org/2022/10/04/white-nationalist-ideology-shines-through-elite-maga-conference-inside-natcon-part-ii Below is the second of a two-part report on the third National Conservatism Conference that took place in Miami, FL from September 11 - September 13, 2022. Read Part I here . “Exercise your dominion, O Lord, over this nation”… Tue, 04 Oct 2022 05:23:09 EDT Ben Lorber 8b40abd3-629f-4727-a893-35feb44bb83d https://religiondispatches.org/2022/09/16/desantis-no-show-rights-secret-sauce-and-final-thoughts-pray-vote-stand This is the final post of RD and PRA’s special coverage of the Pray Vote Stand Summit. All posts can be found here. - eds 9/16/2022 Afternoon The election reform panel is a study in fear mongering and misinformation. Jason… Fri, 16 Sep 2022 04:58:40 EDT PRA Staff 547c4892-ab34-4340-aef1-45189accdf35 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/09/16/barna-plays-god-school-board-boot-camp-and-birth-sagecon-day-3 The following is part of RD and PRA’s special coverage of the Pray Vote Stand Summit. All posts can be found here. - eds 9/16/2022 Morning Attendance is down a bit this morning at Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand… Fri, 16 Sep 2022 04:37:20 EDT PRA Staff defd183e-470f-47e7-9d9a-68ad26667093 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/09/15/pray-vote-stand-2022-kicks-some-head-scratchers-predictable-topics The following kicks off RD and PRA’s special coverage of the Pray Vote Stand Summit. All subsequent posts can be found here. - eds 9/14/2022 Evening The Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit starts with a flourish as a… Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:19:04 EDT PRA Staff ec29157a-389f-486c-b96e-61597cfe461b https://religiondispatches.org/2022/06/29/problems-pregnant-people-increase-catholic-bishops-claim-theyre-heroes-ending-abortion Now that Roe and Casey have been overturned, the roles of the institutional Roman Catholic Church and of most of the Catholic Supreme Court justices are transparent. Their ‘victory’ was the fruit of long, persistent work that many Catholics, myself… Wed, 29 Jun 2022 04:21:34 EDT Mary Hunt df21a91b-7295-4c4a-a01f-bb78f46c7970 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/24/its-theology-stupid-why-shocking-sbc-report-anything-surprising On Sunday, an investigation firm called Guidepost Solutions released a 300-page report recounting a disturbingly familiar pattern of abuse and cover-up in the Southern Baptist Convention, the mostly white, evangelical Protestant denomination that accounts for over 5% of the adult… Tue, 24 May 2022 05:22:59 EDT Chrissy Stroop, Jessica Johnson 2c4cfa52-e3ce-47fa-aafd-0aeba8705786 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/03/29/gary-north-1942-2022-sought-deny-religious-liberty-enemies-god-he-was-willing-wait If you’ve never heard of Gary North that may be because he wanted it that way. Nevertheless, when North died in Georgia recently at age 80, he’d quietly become one of the notable religious and political architects of our time… Tue, 29 Mar 2022 05:27:33 EDT Frederick Clarkson b9dbb688-b255-45df-88e8-264dfa63f325 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/21/manslaughter-conviction-brittney-poolaw-represents-pattern-white-christian-policing In light of new developments in right-wing, heavily evangelical states, it is both laughable and deeply upsetting that certain scholars have recently argued , irresponsibly, that abortion isn’t as significant an issue to white evangelicals as it once was. And… Thu, 21 Oct 2021 03:52:54 EDT Chrissy Stroop 3c68aced-6c23-49fa-b291-05de04324578 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