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  • Election 2024
    • Even if Voters ‘Get What They Asked For’ it’s More Likely to Cause a Fascist Death Spiral Than a Lesson Learned
      Even if Voters ‘Get What They Asked For’ it’s More Likely to Cause a Fascist Death Spiral Than a Lesson Learned
    • Loyalty and Chaos Play a Role in Trump’s Nominations, But This Schoolyard Tactic May Provide a Better Explanation
      Loyalty and Chaos Play a Role in Trump’s Nominations, But This Schoolyard Tactic May Provide a Better Explanation
    • Progressive Christian Election Response ‘Give us Barabbas’ May Be Well-Meaning — But Functions as Anti-Jewish Dogwhistle
      Progressive Christian Election Response ‘Give us Barabbas’ May Be Well-Meaning — But Functions as Anti-Jewish Dogwhistle
  • Racial Justice
    • Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
      Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
    • No image
      With no Viable Alternative on Ballot, Anti-immigrant Movement Claims Victory and Releases Wish Lists
    • New Doc Claiming Columbus was Jewish May Have Some Accuracy Issues — But There’s a Far Bigger Issue We Need to Reckon With
      New Doc Claiming Columbus was Jewish May Have Some Accuracy Issues — But There’s a Far Bigger Issue We Need to Reckon With
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • With Election Takeaways Like ‘Too Transgender’ or ‘the US is Shifting Right,’ Dems are Determined to Learn the Wrong Lesson
      With Election Takeaways Like ‘Too Transgender’ or ‘the US is Shifting Right,’ Dems are Determined to Learn the Wrong Lesson
    • Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC
      Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC
    • New Doc Strives for Christian Unity—But What if Unity is the Problem?
      New Doc Strives for Christian Unity—But What if Unity is the Problem?
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
      Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
    • Trump’s Fervent Christian Zionists Poised to Lead the Military — And US-Israel Relations
      Trump’s Fervent Christian Zionists Poised to Lead the Military — And US-Israel Relations
    • Meet Pete Hegseth, the Man Who Will Lead the Entire US Military — A Man Deemed an ‘Extremist’ by the US Military
      Meet Pete Hegseth, the Man Who Will Lead the Entire US Military — A Man Deemed an ‘Extremist’ by the US Military
  • The Ashes Initiative

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).

dungeonsanddragons
Archive, Joseph Laycock, RD10QMarch 26, 2015

My Childhood Hobby Was Satanic, Or So They Told Me

By Joseph Laycock

The moral panic around Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games—and what it tells us about religion.

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After Early Christian Opposition, Iceland Gets First Pagan Temple in Nearly 1000 Years
(A)theologies, Joseph Laycock, OMFG, RD BlogFebruary 3, 2015

After Early Christian Opposition, Iceland Gets First Pagan Temple in Nearly 1000 Years

By Joseph Laycock

This month an Icelandic Pagan organization called the Ásatrúarfélag (roughly translated,* “the fellowship of those who…

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Archive, Books, Joseph Laycock, RD10Q, StoriesJanuary 26, 2015

From The Virgin Mary to a Housewife in Queens: Inside The Seer of Bayside

By Joseph Laycock

Every June 18 for more than 25 years, Veronica Lueken—a Catholic housewife from Bayside, Queens—gathered…

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(A)theologies, Joseph Laycock, OMFG, Politics/Law, RD BlogDecember 25, 2014

This Year in Satanism

By Joseph Laycock

2014 was the year of the Satanist.  In December 2013, The Satanic Temple announced plans…

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Netherlands’ “War on Xmas” is “War on ‘Black Pete’”
(A)theologies, Culture, Joseph Laycock, OMFG, RD BlogDecember 1, 2014

Netherlands’ “War on Xmas” is “War on ‘Black Pete’”

By Joseph Laycock

In November, while governor Jay Nixon declared the controversy in Ferguson to be a state…

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Joseph Laycock, OMFG, RD Blog, Science & TechnologyNovember 20, 2014

Do White People Think Black People Are Magic?

By Joseph Laycock

Last week, media reported on a psychological study suggesting that white people are predisposed to…

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Culture, Joseph Laycock, OMFG, RD BlogNovember 7, 2014

Pagan Outrage Machine Fires Up in Response to Time Halloween Article

By Joseph Laycock

Pagans have demanded an apology for a Time magazine article that, according to a petition, compared witches to terrorists. The…

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(A)theologies, Joseph Laycock, OMFG, RD BlogNovember 4, 2014

In OK, a “Christian” And a “Muslim” Decapitation Challenge “Religious” Violence Narrative

By Joseph Laycock

Murder often functions as a cultural Rorschach test: the narratives we tell about why people…

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Joseph Laycock, OMFG, RD BlogOctober 23, 2014

The Environmental Politics of Vodou, New Orleans Style

By Joseph Laycock

The “Anba Dlo” water symposium held last weekend in New Orleans featured an unexpected alliance:…

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Archive, Joseph Laycock, RD BlogOctober 13, 2014

Religion or Insanity? Two Upcoming Murder Trials Will Ask the (Burning) Question

By Joseph Laycock

…but does it have to be one or the other?

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