“It’s just a bittersweet symphony that’s life. Try to make ends meet you’re a slave to money then you die.”

To be clear — the worst part of a department closing is the loss of colleagues. Keep your religion scholars.

This experience is what happens with those who remain (survive), maybe even teaching courses, but dealing with universities that can’t quite figure out why anyone would study religion.

You know the worst part of having a religion department close? When faculty in other departments and administrators express total amazement at stories like these: “Can you believe this? I’ve never heard of anything like this. How is no one talking about this?”

You just sort of look at them and nod.

It’s been a minute since I was in a Christian studies classroom, but I do seem to recall a general early Christian message that resonated throughout late antiquity that appealed to the impoverished, the criminals and the social outcast against Roman excess.

Having seen the headlines of a head of state calling the Pope, “WEAK” on crime.

Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians hold as the Christ, to the thief, crucified on a cross next to Jesus:

“And he said to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’" Luke 23:43, RSCVE

Side note: Trump again invokes the idea that Pope Leo should have been upset when worship restrictions were placed on religious groups during COVID, resulting in some arrests.

Of note: The Trump admin has been/is being sued by dozens of faith groups, including the USCCB and Catholic priests.

Every single one of the astronauts who went to the moon and back on Artemis II was educated at a public school.

Thinking of the teachers who poured into Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tonight. You helped send a kid to the moon!

🌕 💛

Admit it, you also heard James Horner’s Apollo 13 soundtrack when Artemis II re-established comms and the parachutes deployed.

Went to high school in a red state. Every single public talk dealt with abstinence, waiting until marriage, the dangers of teen sex and teen pregnancy. This of course very much implied the idea that one needed a “stable” life for a family.

That was over a quarter century ago.

While so many of Ohio’s public universities are cutting their religion departments and programs — and the “pro-religion” state legislature stays SILENT — I’m so thankful and happy to see universities like Denison invest in the religion department. Congrats to Krista and our colleagues at Denison!

Anecdotally, I've had colleagues ask me about this, too. A handful of students this semester have started requesting exemptions from assignments that suggest A.I. use on religious grounds.

Never a dull moment in the study of religion these days. Hard to keep up, really.

NEW: A Department of Defense official has confirmed to @rns.org that the much-discussed meeting between the papal nuncio and military officials at the Pentagon (mentioned below) DID happen — but they're disputing the Free Press' assessment.

Burn After Reading - What Did We Learn? YouTube video by smokethapimp

Following the news of the ceasefire and I can’t get the final scene of “Burn After Reading” out of my head.

“What did we learn?”

youtu.be/kCXTq-fWWio?...

The leading researchers behind the Arab Barometer are out with a new @foreignaffairs.com piece examining America’s plummeting popularity (and the growing acceptance of China) in the region

There is some variation across countries but the trends are clear

www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/america...

Yesterday, Astronaut Victor Glover offered a brief reflection on Christian scripture.

Where humans go, they’re gonna bring their spiritualities and religiosities with them…

@jackjenkins.me with the reporting.

bsky.app/profile/jack...

Pope Leo XIV says: “Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts! For this reason, I invite everyone to join me in a prayer vigil for peace that we will celebrate here in Saint Peter’s Square next Saturday, April 11. #Easter”

US President Donald J. Trump says “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

“Ecce homo.”

Something similar to this 👇

bsky.app/profile/inne...

So, as for Artemis II -- curious to see if the Intrepid astronauts choose to bring any sort of religiosity or spirituality into their mission. Or, instead, observe in their own ways, privately, religious or spiritual practices.

At least 15 Muslims have gone to space. The first to bring a Qur'an to space was Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud in 1985 while U.S. space shuttle mission STS 51-G. He chose to *not* fast for Ramadan during the trip.

cruxnow.com/global-churc...

Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon recited a Shabbat Kiddush prayer in space

www.catholicnews.com/services/eng...

When Astronauts Received Holy Communion in Space “We are designed to be awed in space. If our imperfect species has found such glimmers of delight in our first tentative encounter with the cosmos, then we have truly found a most caring and generous ...

In 1994, three Catholic astronauts observed the Catholic Eucharist in space. Astronaut Kevin Chilton was an approved Eucharistic minister for the Blessed Sacrament.

www.ncregister.com/blog/kschiff...

Buzz Aldrin Took Holy Communion on the Moon. NASA Kept it Quiet | HISTORY NASA worried the Christian ceremony may draw unwanted scrutiny.

During Apollo 11 -- the 1st manned lunar surface mission, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian, brought a small communion set to the Moon. He kept the ceremony private b/c NASA again feared that the agency would face a lawsuit for violating church/state separation.

www.history.com/articles/buz...

The Malaysian Space Agency and Department of Islamic Development in Malaysia even provided a pamphlet on how to observe wudu', ghusl, and salat while in orbit.

www.islam.gov.my/images/garis...

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysia was a crew member on the 16th ISS mission -- and received advice on how to observe salat -- the 5 daily prayers expected of Muslims -- while in space.

www.wired.com/2007/09/mecc...

9 Jewish Astronauts Who Have Boldly Gone to Space – Kveller Jews! In! Space! It’s not just the concept of a memorable Mel Brooks sketch, or a conspiracy theory propagated by Marjorie Taylor Greene — it’s a reality. Jews have been boldly going into space for ov...

There have been at least 9 Jewish astronauts or cosmonauts. In Dec '93, astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman celebrated Hanukah on board the shuttle Endeavor, becoming the first to read from a Torah scroll in space.

www.kveller.com/9-jewish-ast...

Cosmonauts in the Soviet space program were also involved in religious rituals. Russian media have later claimed that Yuri Gagarin's family observed Easter and Christmas rituals. Sergei Korolev was known to pray and take part in the sacrament of confession.

web.archive.org/web/20110415...

NASA's First Bible on the Moon to Be Auctioned Off A New Hampshire auction house has revealed that NASA s first lunar Bible is among the hundreds of items from a Space and Aviation Artifacts auction that will be open to the public this month

The 1st Bible taken to the lunar surface was a KJV on microfilm, 1,245 pages within 1.5x1.5 inches. It was sold at auction in 2011. The Apollo Prayer League printed it. It went to the lunar surface in '71 during Apollo 14 w/ astronaut Edgar Mitchell

www.christianpost.com/news/nasas-f...

Glenn's very public discussions of faith fall w/in broader Cold War politics. Some argue, that discussions of religion among the early astronaut corps played a role in how the US positioned itself as conquering a new frontier and protecting it from Soviet communism.

www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11...

Tom Wolfe: The Faith of John Glenn The first American to orbit the Earth brought his religiosity to the U.S. space program—and that made many of his fellow astronauts bristle

Astronaut John Glenn (of the Mercury 7) was outspoken about his Presbyterianism.

www.wsj.com/articles/tom...