WashU Danforth Center on Religion & Politics

Looking forward to our faculty member Mark Oppenheimer's forthcoming book--a biography of children's author Judy Blume. He talks to @people magazine and gives a cover reveal! people.com/judy-blume-bio…

What is the cowboy apocalypse? America’s frontier past is idealized, depicting white gun-toting cowboys, individually meting out justice against enemies, who are depicted as an evil horde demanding what is not theirs. Read all about it in Arc: arcmag.org/lord-teach-my-…

America will be feeling the effects of DOGE for years to come. Some Southern parishes in districts that voted heavily for Trump are feeling the effects already. @maggiemphillips on the DOGE cuts that are upending Catholic education in America: arcmag.org/doge-comes-for…

Dartmouth Religion Professor Randall Balmer writes for Arc/@ReligPolitics The Scopes Trial Turns 100 arcmag.org/the-scopes-tri…

How did our campuses go from "Make Love, Not War" to "Globalize the Intifada"? Read about it in Arc: arcmag.org/from-make-love…

I joined @NPR It’s Been a Minute, with host @bmluse and fellow scholar of religion, @nathanlean, to discuss Islamophobia in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s primary victory. The show aired yesterday and you can listen here: npr.org/2025/07/09/126…

Our latest podcast! Mark sits down with David Litt, author of "It's Only Drowning," to talk surfing, unlikely saviors, and America's political divide. Listen to it here: arcmag.org/podcast/episod…

How do the never-Trumpers feel about the president these days? Arc's editor-in-chief sits down with Peter Wehner, a longtime Republican official and speechwriter who is deeply disturbed by what the party has become. arcmag.org/?p=20512&previ…

New York City votes today in the Democratic Primary for Mayor! @tazeenmali writes about the race, Zohran Mamdani, Islamophobia, and the making of a "Muslim Menace." arcmag.org/zohran-mamdani…

Read more about the new podcast from our online journal Arc: @ReligPolitics source.washu.edu/news_clip/new-…

A popular campus ditty went: “Oh, Harvard’s run by millionaires / And Yale is run by booze / Cornell is run by farmers’ sons / Columbia’s run by Jews.” @amysohn on the history of antisemitism in America's women's colleges, published in Arc Magazine: arcmag.org/a-jewess-would…

Mark Oppenheimer talks to @TIME on the rise of #Antisemitism in light of yesterday's killing of Israeli embassy staff in D.C. time.com/7287941/rise-o…

The recording of Diane Winston's conversation with Mark Oppenheimer on her book "Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision" is now on our YouTube channel and on our website at rap.wustl.edu/videos/ . Photos: WashU Photos/JJ Lane

What's the etiquette of evangelizing? @UnorthodoxMark sits down with Molly Worthen to discuss saving people's souls, "The Karate Kid," and whether Trump has charisma, in the latest episode of Arc: The Podcast! arcmag.org/podcast/episod…

A Peanut Farmer and Hasidic Rabbi Helped Build the Department of Education. Can Their Legacy Save It? A look back at just what Jimmy Carter and the Lubavitcher Rebbe were trying to achieve By Tamara Mann Tweel @ReligPolitics arcmag.org/a-peanut-farme…

A new article in @ReligPolitics asks why more Christians aren't fighting back against the rise of sports gambling. It's a good question. For most of the 20th century, opposition to gambling was a key issue for Protestant Christian engagement with sports. There are still some…

Pope Leo spent his early years in the far South Side suburbs of Dolton and Riverdale, where he was a choir and altar boy at St. Mary of the Assumption Church. As the population in the deindustrializing town plummeted, so too did church attendance. arcmag.org/the-now-vacant…

Who are religious protections for? This Supreme Court has sided with the majority power over the minority power more than any other court in history. Jane Eisner tells us why, it what it means for the future of religious freedom in America. arcmag.org/an-online-okla…