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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
    • The Right’s Satanic-Grammy-Panic Isn’t About the Devil or Pfizer or Even Scantily-Clad Women — It’s All About the Transphobia
      The Right’s Satanic-Grammy-Panic Isn’t About the Devil or Pfizer or Even Scantily-Clad Women — It’s All About the Transphobia
    • 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
  • 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

Joseph Laycock

Joseph Laycock is an assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University. In addition to Speak of the Devil (Oxford University Press, 2020), his books include The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle for Catholic Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says About Religion, Play, and Imagined Worlds (University of California Press, 2015).

(A)theologies, Archive, Books, Culture, New Books, OMFG, Sex/Gender/JusticeOctober 20, 2022

La Carmina, Author of ‘The Little Book of Satanism,’ Talks ‘Satanic Panic,’ QAnon, Japanese Satanism, and More

By Joseph Laycock

For most of its existence, religious Satanism has been regarded as either unfit for polite…

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(A)theologies, OMFG, Politics/Law, Racial JusticeMay 2, 2022

Black Satanist Candidate Faces LA Sheriff Shakedown

By Joseph Laycock

Steve Hill is a lot of things: A former marine, a former correctional officer, a…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Sex/Gender/JusticeAugust 8, 2020

Satanic Temple’s ‘Satanic Abortion Ritual’ May Challenge States’ Anti-Abortion Laws

By Joseph Laycock

Last week, The Satanic Temple (TST) introduced “the Satanic Abortion Ritual”—a ritual designed to provide…

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(A)theologies, Archive, OMFGMarch 25, 2020

Satanists Want You to Respond to the Pandemic with Compassion. And Reason.

By Joseph Laycock

The Coronavirus is changing America’s religious landscape as social distancing forces most religious communities to…

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Archive, Books, RD10QFebruary 17, 2020

Is the Satanic Temple Just an Elaborate Prank? 10 Questions for the Author of ‘Speak of the Devil’

By Joseph Laycock

What inspired you to write Speak of the Devil? I started writing on The Satanic…

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Archive, Politics/Law, Religious LibertyJanuary 20, 2020

Satanic Temple Attorney Discusses Cancelled Scottsdale Prayer Invite

By Joseph Laycock

This week, on the 22nd and 23rd of January, The Satanic Temple (TST) and the…

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Archive, OMFG, Politics/Law, Religious LibertyOctober 7, 2019

Satanic Temple Considers Legal Action Against School Censorship

By Joseph Laycock

The task of determining which web content students can access is outsourced to an Austin, Texas-based company called Lightspeed Systems, which had manually tagged The Satanic Temple’s website as “mature.”

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Culture, History/Theology, Politics/Law, Religious LibertyMay 3, 2019

Satanic Temple’s IRS Recognition Rekindles Fierce Debate Over What Is ‘Really Real’ Church

By Joseph Laycock

While TST is not the first Satanic organization to obtain this status, it is the first group that clearly intends to deploy this status in legal challenges. TST’s demands for equal treatment under the law are going to be much harder to dismiss from here on out.

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Culture, History/Theology, Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Sex/Gender/JusticeDecember 21, 2018

What the Hail: Satanists Got Busy in 2018

By Joseph Laycock

From defending reproductive rights to run-ins with several TV shows, the Satanist community had a busy 2018. The only question going forward: Will internal tension sink the movement?

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History/Theology, Politics/Law, Religious LibertyDecember 19, 2018

Will Infamous ‘Candy Cane Memo’ Resurrect Flailing ‘War on Christmas’?

By Joseph Laycock

A principal recently made headlines by banning candy canes. At a time when separation of church and state is facing so many legal challenges, it’s absolutely critical to understand the establishment clause.

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Religion Dispatches

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