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Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Racial Justice
    • In Israel, Left and Right Join to Protest New Government Threat to Democracy — What’s Striking is What’s Missing
      In Israel, Left and Right Join to Protest New Government Threat to Democracy — What’s Striking is What’s Missing
    • As a Religious Studies Professor I Disagreed With the Hamline Firing — But Now I’ve Changed My Mind
      As a Religious Studies Professor I Disagreed With the Hamline Firing — But Now I’ve Changed My Mind
    • Enjoy the Kosher Collard Greens, But Understand This: Hebrew Israelites Have Something to Say to the Rest of the Jewish Community
      Enjoy the Kosher Collard Greens, But Understand This: Hebrew Israelites Have Something to Say to the Rest of the Jewish Community
  • Politics/Law
    • Don’t Tread on our Gas Stoves: The Latest Right-Wing Cause May Be Silly But the Strategy is the Point
      Don’t Tread on our Gas Stoves: The Latest Right-Wing Cause May Be Silly But the Strategy is the Point
    • In Hamline Case, the ‘Free Expression vs. Religious Sensibilities’ Frame Obscures a Stark Reality About Higher Education
      In Hamline Case, the ‘Free Expression vs. Religious Sensibilities’ Frame Obscures a Stark Reality About Higher Education
    • GOP Candidate Allegedly Orchestrating Shooting of Democrats’ Homes is no Accident
      GOP Candidate Allegedly Orchestrating Shooting of Democrats’ Homes is no Accident
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • Christian Nationalist Legislator Introduces Anti-Trans ‘Millstone Act’ Suggesting Biblical Retribution
      Christian Nationalist Legislator Introduces Anti-Trans ‘Millstone Act’ Suggesting Biblical Retribution
    • In Israel, Left and Right Join to Protest New Government Threat to Democracy — What’s Striking is What’s Missing
      In Israel, Left and Right Join to Protest New Government Threat to Democracy — What’s Striking is What’s Missing
    • Don’t Tread on our Gas Stoves: The Latest Right-Wing Cause May Be Silly But the Strategy is the Point
      Don’t Tread on our Gas Stoves: The Latest Right-Wing Cause May Be Silly But the Strategy is the Point
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Christian Nationalist Legislator Introduces Anti-Trans ‘Millstone Act’ Suggesting Biblical Retribution
      Christian Nationalist Legislator Introduces Anti-Trans ‘Millstone Act’ Suggesting Biblical Retribution
    • Don’t Tread on our Gas Stoves: The Latest Right-Wing Cause May Be Silly But the Strategy is the Point
      Don’t Tread on our Gas Stoves: The Latest Right-Wing Cause May Be Silly But the Strategy is the Point
    • GOP Candidate Allegedly Orchestrating Shooting of Democrats’ Homes is no Accident
      GOP Candidate Allegedly Orchestrating Shooting of Democrats’ Homes is no Accident
  • Russia Invades Ukraine
    • Espionage Allegations Against Russian Church Raise Religious Freedom Issue in Ukraine
      Espionage Allegations Against Russian Church Raise Religious Freedom Issue in Ukraine
    • As Tensions Escalate in the Balkans, the West Could Hand Putin a Valuable Weapon
      As Tensions Escalate in the Balkans, the West Could Hand Putin a Valuable Weapon
    • Putin’s Violent Holy War Rhetoric Made it to the Christian Right Fringe — And There’s Reason to Believe it’ll Go Mainstream
      Putin’s Violent Holy War Rhetoric Made it to the Christian Right Fringe — And There’s Reason to Believe it’ll Go Mainstream
HPhelps@moc.edu'

Hollis Phelps

Hollis Phelps is an associate professor of interdisciplinary studies at Mercer University, in Macon, GA. He writes regularly on the intersection of religion, politics, and culture.

Archive, Culture, ScienceNovember 10, 2022

As Psychedelics Experience a Renaissance, Emory’s New Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality Seeks a Novel Approach

By Hollis Phelps

For years, in addition to writing about it numerous times for RD, I’ve included a…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Culture, OMFGJune 21, 2021

Hulu’s ‘Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia’ Shows That We Can No Longer Ignore Connections Between Religion and Drugs

By Hollis Phelps

If surveyed about the relationship between religion and drugs, I’d wager that a majority would…

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(A)theologies, Archive, OMFGMarch 2, 2021

Should Chaplains Be Involved in Psychedelic Experiences? Are ‘Trips’ Inherently Religious?

By Hollis Phelps

Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions recently held a discussion titled “What…

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Culture, History/Theology, Politics/Law, Sex/Gender/JusticeFebruary 20, 2019

The Way We Never Were: Calling Out Evangelicals For Hypocrisy Misses the Point

By Hollis Phelps

Much of the discussion of white evangelicals laments the loss of their moral standing, but such criticisms suffer under the misunderstanding that white evangelicalism in the United States has somehow devolved from a once salutary moral vision to brute political opportunism.

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History/Theology, Politics/LawJanuary 28, 2019

The Problem with the Latest Predictions for ‘the Rise of the Religious Left’

By Hollis Phelps

Not only are claims that the religious left is “on the rise” as old as the contemporary religious right itself, but the framing of the religious left may actually further enable the religious right.

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Culture, History/TheologyJune 7, 2018

So What if Psychedelics Are ‘Just’ Spiritual?

By Hollis Phelps

A recent journal study found that the majority who use the psychedelic DMT do so for the expressed purpose of spiritual exploration. Will that kind of data hurt the prospects for the future study of psychedelics?

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Archive, Beyond Belief: Election 2016, Politics/LawApril 19, 2018

Maybe It’s Time to Admit That The “Grotesque Caricature” of White Evangelicals is the Reality

By Hollis Phelps

This week dozens of prominent evangelical leaders gathered at conservative Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL,…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Beyond Belief: Election 2016, Politics/LawJune 24, 2016

Repent, Hillary: Trump’s Evangelical Backers Play the Sin Card

By Hollis Phelps

In the Atlantic this morning, Jonathan Merritt writes a bemused narrative of this week’s evangelical about-face as,…

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(A)theologies, ArchiveFebruary 18, 2016

Will Evangelicals Vote for a Non-Christian Trump? If They Don’t, the Vatican May Fall to ISIS

By Hollis Phelps

Did Pope Francis just throw a wrench into Donald Trump’s machinations to win the evangelical vote? Referring…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Books, Culture, ScienceFebruary 5, 2016

Do Psychedelics Offer a Path To The “God Within”?

By Hollis Phelps

“Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Timothy Leary’s famous exhortation still influences our view of so-called psychedelic…

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