Heartfelt thanks to @wajali.bsky.social for this slam-dunk take-down of Doug Wilson. Truth spoken with fire. 🔥

"If the court rules in favor of the religious plaintiffs, it could snowball discrimination by publicly funded entities. That would undermine decades of civil rights law & harm vulnerable communities, especially religious & nonreligious minorities and LGBTQ+ families." - Patrick Elliott @ffrf.org

That Viral ‘Pulp Fiction’ Prayer Story That story really did go viral in the United States and elsewhere. And it all started with 'A Public Witness.'

It's been fun & stunning watching how the story about Hegseth's Pulp Fiction prayer went viral around the world. And it all started with a report from A Public Witness. Here's a roundup of the impact of that report: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/that-viral...

Faculty Defect From Texas Publics, Citing Censorship Fed up with the state’s censoring of Plato, Joan of Arc and Romeo and Juliet, humanities professors are leaving Texas public institutions in pursuit of academic freedom.

This is the point. Make universities uninhabitable for the people that make universities wonderful.

Texas Tech faculty are “close to the brink,” Schiller said. “It’s a nightmare … Tears are commonplace. I have a colleague who told me recently that going to campus felt like attending a wake.”

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court's secretive "shadow docket" has handed Trump some victories. But the weakness at the heart of it is "an absence of the kind of rigorous debate that the justices devote to their normal cases."

From @jodikantor.bsky.social & @adamliptak.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Call for Participants: Survival & Recovery in Victim-Survivors of Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse This study has been approved by the University of Newcastle Human Research Ethics Committee, Approval No. H-2025-0335.

Have you experienced sexual grooming, sexual abuse, or sexual coercion by a Christian faith leader when you were age 16 or older? If so, consider participating in this global research study that's being conducted by @jaimesimpson.bsky.social. #ChurchToo

jaimesimpson.substack.com/p/call-for-p...

Trump Thinks He’s Become Orange Jesus In Trump 1.0, people mocked the President by calling him Orange Jesus. In Trump 2.0, he actually thinks he’s become Jesus, Susan B. Glasser writes.

"The fact that he serves up his megalomania with such an excess of dark farce only reinforces how shameful it is that this is the man for whom so many Republicans have chosen to sacrifice what remained of their integrity." - @sbg1.bsky.social

www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

And this news too... At the Pentagon, "half of the 12 monthly worship services have featured a sermon by a Southern Baptist."

Some other sermons were by SBC-adjacent folks & other white evangelicals.

Thx to @briankaylor.bsky.social for such fascinating & disturbing info. #ThisistheSBC

A Just War Of Words With The Pope | Great Vengeance And Furious Anger | AI's New Bird YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Colbert hilariously mocked Hegseth's Pulp Fiction prayer last night:
youtu.be/taNi3btpaLs?...
Wild to see that a report from A Public Witness led to Colbert jokes. Here's the report that sparked all of this: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-bo...

"70% of Americans say Trump isn’t religious, but don’t let that get in the way of the fact that white evangelicals are responsible for this era. He’s breaking the country with their help & they should be held accountable for it." - @friendlyatheist.com ⬇️

Study: Gen Z women are losing their religion (RNS) — Women have long been more religious than men. But a new study finds the gap closing as more young women under 30 identify as “none” — unaffiliated.

There’s been a rise of Christian pastors & leaders, known as 'Theobros,' who are vocal online & promote very traditional gender roles... It’s unlikely to draw many people to church.

'As a growth strategy...it seems to be a little dicey,' said Deckman."

religionnews.com/2026/04/15/s...

He takes it out on the children.

"Lambert’s video offers a good illustration of the kind of platitudinous drivel that So Baptist leaders dish up to avoid reckoning w their clergy sex abuse problem. It’s the kind of propaganda that perpetuates the status quo of their system of impunity"

This is the culture that formed Mike Johnson

And is it just me, or do Lambert & Johnson bear an uncanny resemblance?

Yup. He's got one heckuva twisted take on the nature of the "disaster."

It's Not About Sex Southern Baptist mega-pastor Heath Lambert posted a video talking about “Seven Years of the SBC Sex Abuse Disaster.”

Preaching about marital fidelity will not cure the Southern Baptist Convention's clergy sex abuse crisis. Seems obvious, eh? But this kind of ignorance runs rampant throughout the SBC.

My column today: It's Not About Sex. #ThisistheSBC #SBCtoo
christabrown.substack.com/p/its-not-ab...

BREAKING: Senate Republicans blocked my War Powers Resolution that would have ended Trump's unnecessary, unjustified war against Iran.

These cowards have had four chances to stop this chaos in the Middle East.

And they put Trump's ego before America.

Every damn time.

On beefin with the Pope and the infamous Dr. Jesus H Trump picture

Likewise, there is no pastor so irreplaceable that we must overlook sexual misconduct...

And yet, churches turn a blind eye all the time. "But he's done so much good for God's kingdom... He repented... All have sinned... He's been forgiven... blahblahblah." #ChurchToo

This week on The Pitt

And what happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas. The Texas school textbook market is so big that it influences textbook publishers across the nation. So, you can expect that Jonah & the Whale - and other Bible stories - will wind up in public schools throughout the country.

“'I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,' the congresswoman said, fighting back tears.

"She described the way people were laying down inside as “like sardines.”

“'It is frightening in there,' she said. 'It is disgusting'..."

azmirror.com/2026/04/10/i...

"Her name was Nilufar Easmin. Trump posted her murder. He never said her name."

"What this actually is, stripped of the Orwellian window dressing, is the largest forced purge of a federal land management agency in American history."

Our precious public lands are being pillaged.

A perfect song for these days. Thanks for sharing it.

"Radicalization within the American Christian community is occurring at emergency rates right now. The MAGA movement has inflamed a whole host of Christian supremacist theologies...actively drawing millions...deeper into the bleak ideological movements of Christian extremism." - Matthew D. Taylor ⬇️

Ooohhh. So curious. But while I wait to see, I know this... Every time my gag reflex kicks in when I see that cross necklace on Karoline Leavitt, I'm gonna picture your book cover... and smile. Thanks for that.

I love the cover of the upcoming new book by @kkdumez.bsky.social, LIVE LAUGH LOVE!

It will be out in September & you can pre-order it now. I just did. Can't wait!

The Women Who Believe That Women Should Lose the Right to Vote

Those who think women should lose the right to vote are gaining ground. They call it "biblical patriarchy." And while outright repeal of the 19th amendment seems unlikely, red states may try to cater to evangelicals by throwing up obstacles to women's suffrage.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/u...

People Who Left 'MAGA Christianity' Behind Share What It Really Took To Step Away “MAGA Christianity is a cult," one former church member said. "I know because I was in it."

"By keeping silent, other people were being abused in the name of religion... It's the cruelest way to abuse a child. It completely destroys your faith in humanity." - @djsugi.bsky.social

One of the responses here on what drives people to leave MAGA Christianity.

www.huffpost.com/entry/leavin...