Dear readers, writers, and friends,
In recent months we haven’t always updated RD as much as would have liked or kept in touch as much as we should. Now as we prepare to upgrade the site and expand our mission, we’d like to fill in some of the blanks.
Religion Dispatches is not published by an independent 501(c)(3), but has been reliant, since its inception, on a series of institutional sponsors (universities primarily, as RD was the brainchild of religious studies/theology professors back in 2006).
Finding the right home for a project like RD is a challenge. Since our launch in 2008, RD’s mission has evolved from bringing expert voices to bear on religion-related issues in public life toward inviting closer critical scrutiny of religious expression in the public square at a time when some wish to use “faith” as a hall pass. And as that mission has shifted, we have expanded our content, enhanced our outreach, and extended our readership.
RD exists to create new ways of thinking and talking about religion, and as such is a work in progress. We’re happy to announce that with the support of our advisory board we’re gearing up to move to a new home by mid-summer. We’ll be reinvigorating the site, forging new partnerships, and broadening our coverage—and, with your help, our reach.
We’re taking this transition period as an opportunity to refresh RD from the inside out and we’d love to hear from you. What would you like to read? From whom? On what platform? Any outside-the-box fundraising strategies? (In-the-box is okay too!)
For the next month or so, while the lights will be on, we’ll continue to be in energy-saver mode. We’re grateful beyond measure to our wise and talented writers who are working alongside us without compensation during this interim period.
And we’re deeply grateful to you for your support, past and future.
–Evan Derkacz and Lisa Webster
