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Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Racial Justice
    • If the Media Are Reluctant to Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy
      If the Media Are Reluctant to Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy
    • ‘Pregnant Women’ or ‘People Who Can Get Pregnant’: How Do We Balance Recognition of Anti-Abortion Misogyny with the Erasure of Transmasculine People?
      ‘Pregnant Women’ or ‘People Who Can Get Pregnant’: How Do We Balance Recognition of Anti-Abortion Misogyny with the Erasure of Transmasculine People?
    • Who’s ‘Really’ Jewish: the Sefardi Floridian, the Ashkenazi Californian, or the New York Jew By Choice? ‘Authenticity’ is a Trap
      Who’s ‘Really’ Jewish: the Sefardi Floridian, the Ashkenazi Californian, or the New York Jew By Choice? ‘Authenticity’ is a Trap
  • Politics/Law
    • If the Media Are Reluctant to Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy
      If the Media Are Reluctant to Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy
    • ‘We Believe That God Has a Special Plan for Every Single Life’: Oklahoma’s Strict, Punitive, and Total Abortion Ban is Just the Beginning
      ‘We Believe That God Has a Special Plan for Every Single Life’: Oklahoma’s Strict, Punitive, and Total Abortion Ban is Just the Beginning
    • Don’t Buy Alito’s Assurances: Here’s What Happens Next After <em>Roe</em> Falls
      Don’t Buy Alito’s Assurances: Here’s What Happens Next After Roe Falls
  • The End of Roe
    • ‘We Believe That God Has a Special Plan for Every Single Life’: Oklahoma’s Strict, Punitive, and Total Abortion Ban is Just the Beginning
      ‘We Believe That God Has a Special Plan for Every Single Life’: Oklahoma’s Strict, Punitive, and Total Abortion Ban is Just the Beginning
    • Laugh at Tucker Carlson’s Tanning Testicles Doc All You Want, But the Bulging Muscles and Potent Sperm Imagery is a Fascist Dream
      Laugh at Tucker Carlson’s Tanning Testicles Doc All You Want, But the Bulging Muscles and Potent Sperm Imagery is a Fascist Dream
    • ‘Pregnant Women’ or ‘People Who Can Get Pregnant’: How Do We Balance Recognition of Anti-Abortion Misogyny with the Erasure of Transmasculine People?
      ‘Pregnant Women’ or ‘People Who Can Get Pregnant’: How Do We Balance Recognition of Anti-Abortion Misogyny with the Erasure of Transmasculine People?
  • Christian Nationalism
    • If the Media Are Reluctant to Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy
      If the Media Are Reluctant to Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy
    • ‘We Believe That God Has a Special Plan for Every Single Life’: Oklahoma’s Strict, Punitive, and Total Abortion Ban is Just the Beginning
      ‘We Believe That God Has a Special Plan for Every Single Life’: Oklahoma’s Strict, Punitive, and Total Abortion Ban is Just the Beginning
    • Laugh at Tucker Carlson’s Tanning Testicles Doc All You Want, But the Bulging Muscles and Potent Sperm Imagery is a Fascist Dream
      Laugh at Tucker Carlson’s Tanning Testicles Doc All You Want, But the Bulging Muscles and Potent Sperm Imagery is a Fascist Dream
  • Russia Invades Ukraine
    • Putin Theo-Propaganda Minister Kirill Invokes 600 Years of History to Lay Claim to Ukraine — Here’s What it Means
      Putin Theo-Propaganda Minister Kirill Invokes 600 Years of History to Lay Claim to Ukraine — Here’s What it Means
    • How Belief in Moscow as ‘The New Rome’ Explains Kirill’s Astonishing Declaration That ‘Russia Has Never Attacked Anyone’
      How Belief in Moscow as ‘The New Rome’ Explains Kirill’s Astonishing Declaration That ‘Russia Has Never Attacked Anyone’
    • Is This Tiny Divided Orthodox Nation the Next Front in Russia’s Religious War?
      Is This Tiny Divided Orthodox Nation the Next Front in Russia’s Religious War?
Deborah.Whitehead@Colorado.EDU'

Deborah Whitehead

Deborah Whitehead is assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she is also an associate faculty member with the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture’s “Finding Religion in the Media” project.

(A)theologies, CultureMay 6, 2013

Scope Bacon, Twttr Hoaxes & Joel Osteen’s Big Reveal

By Deborah Whitehead

In the wake of a series of high-profile April Fool’s pranks and a hoax at the expense of mega-preacher Joel Osteen, the question remains: what makes us believe in bacon-flavored mouthwash, a Martian invasion, or the renunciation of faith by one of the world’s most famous Christians?

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Religion Dispatches

Religion Dispatches

Religion Dispatches is your independent, non-profit, award-winning source for the best writing on critical and timely issues at the intersection of religion, politics, and culture.

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