Reminder that your IL state senator would rather hand-deliver an electoral vote to Idaho than legalize starter homes in Peoria. I hope they’re proud of themselves in 2032 when 86 year old Donald J. Trump is elected to his fourth term as president!

Joseph Miscimarra 🇺🇸@jmisci.bsky.social · 20h ago

“Texas built 620 homes per 100,000 people, four times the rate in Illinois. The Carolinas were even higher: 773 in North Carolina and 829 in South Carolina.” www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/...

I was giving this progressive defense of "masculinity" a chance, but now that I've gotten to the part that explicitly says that men should disregard what lesbians think of them... That's just misogyny. It's almost a definition of misogyny.

"Ecclesial worldview thinking uses pluralism to give itself a seat at the table, which it then uses to burn the table." @dwcongdon.com in Who Is a True Christian?, p. 172

I'm late to this, but an absolute banger from @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com here (full piece: www.liberalcurrents.com/editors-note...)

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 3d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

It seems relevant that the thing Isaiah is being sent to do in that passage is to deliver a prophecy of doom to his own people for having fallen away from the path of righteousness. So if these guys were like, Isaiah, that would be robustly bad news for...the United States.

Matt Thiessen@mattthiessen.bsky.social · 3d ago

American Christianity in one social media post.

I missed this, wow

Juan Linz was right. Many people are saying.

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 4d ago

It’s not a panacea, but the fascists are getting 20-25% of the vote & aren’t dominating politics in multiparty systems. Also, Americans love to point to 🇮🇱 & 🇬🇧, which are two of the worst-designed parliamentary systems. Anyway, more & stronger parties are absolutely a bulwark against fascism.

NEW: Nate Schatzline is a voting fraud conspiracy theorist who believes he is at war with demonic forces and has close ties to a movement of "prophets" that helped spark Jan 6. So why did Gov. Greg Abbott just give him a $275,000 job as a senior advisor on "election integrity" issues? (Gift link).

He Sees Politics as a Spiritual Battle Against Demonic Forces. Now He’s Advising the Governor.

Meet Nate Schatzline, the Christian nationalist and former state representative who is helping Greg Abbott manage “election integrity.”

texasmonthly.com

Part of the thing that's so offputting to me is when actual Constitutional content gets invoked (like the Senate or the Electoral College), it's basically cited like a sacred text that cannot and should not be altered or even thought about in any serious way. If that's how one handles sacred texts.

Stephen@stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 5d ago

One thing we saw with the Tea Party movement is that "The Constitution" for these people is essentially a stand-in for whiteness. The vast majority never read or think about the actual text, but the are vaguely familiar with originalists using it as a political tool.

This article touches on something I'm writing about in my book: the charismatic dominionism of the NAR and adjacent circles should be understood against the backdrop of 1990s revivals that did not lead to the right-wing sociopolitical changes that many Pentecostals and charismatics had hoped for.

Leah Payne@drleahpayne.bsky.social · 6d ago

“Brian Doerksen gave evangelicalism its soundtrack but not its current theology” - Yours Truly on how the “Jesus is my boyfriend” sounds of Doerksen & the Vineyard gave way to the rock ‘em sock ‘em militarism of top-selling worship music today: religionnews.com/2026/07/30/b...

“Brian Doerksen gave evangelicalism its soundtrack but not its current theology” - Yours Truly on how the “Jesus is my boyfriend” sounds of Doerksen & the Vineyard gave way to the rock ‘em sock ‘em militarism of top-selling worship music today: religionnews.com/2026/07/30/b...

Brian Doerksen gave evangelicalism its soundtrack but not its current theology

(RNS) — Today's evangelical worship culture often reflects a very different vision of God than the one Doerksen’s songs proclaimed.

religionnews.com

For those who haven’t read William Stell’s excellent new book, this is a great little teaser—the stunning revelation that Elisabeth Elliott likely had a couple romantic relationships with women, including with a young Virginia Mollenkott. arcmag.org/a-rickety-cl...

A Rickety Closet | ARC: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera

I did not know that Virginia Mollenkott would die several months later. But I imagine that she suspected it. And that’s why she told me. I was interviewing Mollenkott for a new history of evangelicali...

arcmag.org

The GOP is trying to kill public transit, full stop.

Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · last wk.

Congress appropriated billions of dollars for new transit projects. Why is the Trump administration spending none of it? Why are even transit projects in red states going unfounded? New reporting in @nytimes.com (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/u...

Important point that Christian re-reading of the Bible should grapple with the reality and the goodness of worldview pluralism and avoid the long-standing tendency toward Christian supremacy.

Dean Dettloff@deandettloff.bsky.social · last wk.

And surely also important to note the reality that there are many, many people (a majority even) we share the world with for whom the Bible is simply not an authoritative text, and for whom the Bible isn't even a fundamental point of orientation for life, self-understanding, spirituality, etc.

Yes. Social gospellers, dialectical theologians, liberation theologians, and feminist theologians have been doing this, and it's necessary to learn and build on what they have done.

Hannah Bowman@hannahnpbowman.com · last wk.

At the risk of being unpopular here, I *do* think reinterpreting the kerygma to give it new power for the moment is essential. That’s not identical with demythologization as people talk about it (“you don’t have to believe any of this”) but it is ALSO not “you have to believe these myths”

For a lot of reasons, theologically literate Christians have been trained to think of the kingdom of God in terms of either present or future: a question of timing. The pressing question now is, instead, is the kingdom hierarchical and violent or is it a peaceful, egalitarian commonwealth?

Mitch McConnell never promised or predicted a literal, bodily return to the senate; rather, his return is enacted symbolically when we obstruct legislation in his name.

Reading through the program of this year's AAR (American Academy of Religion) conference and thinking that, 2 years later, this still has mostly not gotten through to a lot of academics. open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

#FollowFriday (also following the OP’s religion theme) Accounts that should be bigger & I haven’t seen mentioned: @mpgphd.bsky.social (Megan rules & will KEEP YOU HONEST!) @tlecaque.bsky.social (delicious bluster!) @gregjarrell.com @stephenwaldron.bsky.social (looking forward to his new book!)

Alan Elrod@aselrod.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ok so #FollowFriday recs of some brilliant people who should be way bigger on here. I’ll probably try and theme these each week. This time, religion. @hollybfletcher.bsky.social, @bradleyonishi.bsky.social, & @angeladenker.bsky.social for brilliant analysis of Christian nationalism

I think he's assuming that the Olive Garden customer drove there? Not sure how else this makes sense.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Scalise: "For God's sake -- you can't get pasta at Olive Garden without a picture ID! Why not be able to show a picture ID to vote?"

So gratifying to hear US mayors articulate this kind of stuff

Crystal Fincher@finchfrii.bsky.social · 2w ago

Seattle, the World Cup brought possibility. Let’s build on it

Holy hell Katie Wilson is on fire here.

Crystal Fincher@finchfrii.bsky.social · 2w ago

Seattle, the World Cup brought possibility. Let’s build on it

Anyways, got mad about this mostly because a new Chicago mayoral candidate made relatively tame suggestions about improving rider experiences, and left-leaning commenters ranted about things like "gentrification" and acted like a relatively bad system doesn't even need improvement.

Stephen@stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 3w ago

The one kind of leftist I'm losing all patience with is the kind who excuses crime and disorder on public transit in the name of social justice. Mass transit systems exist to safely move people around, not to be a weed-smoking facility.

We need to enforce rules around behaviors, ideally through infrastructure and not cops. I don't think there is ever some special reason why smoking pot in an enclosed space with elders, children, and disabled people should be excused. It has nothing to do with being homeless, imo.

Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 3w ago

I don’t have all the answers. But I’d make a sharp distinction between a person, homeless or not, doing drugs on transit — and a homeless person simply existing or riding.

I don’t have all the answers. But I’d make a sharp distinction between a person, homeless or not, doing drugs on transit — and a homeless person simply existing or riding.

Michael DeMoor@michaeldemoor.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is right but it’s also genuinely difficult to make people feel safe on public transit without treating unhoused folks unjustly. People do not only feel unsafe when they are actually unsafe, not infrequently the mere presence of poverty or addiction makes people feel unsafe.

The one kind of leftist I'm losing all patience with is the kind who excuses crime and disorder on public transit in the name of social justice. Mass transit systems exist to safely move people around, not to be a weed-smoking facility.

This brouhaha is really important for US religion history and New Testament studies and theology imo

Stephen@stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 3w ago

One fascinating thing about biblical inerrancy is that there was a huge battle about it between theological liberals and conservatives from 1880-1930, then conservatives started fighting moderates about it in the LCMS, SBC, and at evangelical institutions.

One fascinating thing about biblical inerrancy is that there was a huge battle about it between theological liberals and conservatives from 1880-1930, then conservatives started fighting moderates about it in the LCMS, SBC, and at evangelical institutions.

At the Reflecting "Pool," where a Freemason is arguing with Jehovah's Witnesses about medical ethics and a Muslim guy is praying. America...