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Religion Dispatches - Religion Dispatches Religion Dispatches
  • Israel’s War on Gaza
    • Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
      Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
    • ‘Spooky Action’ of Quantum Physics Offers an Alternative Frame for War in the Middle East and the 2024 Election
      ‘Spooky Action’ of Quantum Physics Offers an Alternative Frame for War in the Middle East and the 2024 Election
  • Racial Justice
    • Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
      Flagship Biblical Studies Group Faces Bitter Divide Over Statements on Israel/Palestine
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
    • With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
      With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
  • Politics/Law
    • How Can the Former President’s Opponents Repudiate His Fascist Rhetoric Without Giving Him the Publicity He Craves?
      How Can the Former President’s Opponents Repudiate His Fascist Rhetoric Without Giving Him the Publicity He Craves?
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
    • With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
      With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
      Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
    • Constitutional Attorney Changes into Drag During Talk on Cancelation of West Texas A&M Drag Show
      Constitutional Attorney Changes into Drag During Talk on Cancelation of West Texas A&M Drag Show
    • Mike Johnson isn’t Just Your Average Christian Right Avatar — He’s Influenced by Fringe Movements Unfamiliar to Most Political Analysts
      Mike Johnson isn’t Just Your Average Christian Right Avatar — He’s Influenced by Fringe Movements Unfamiliar to Most Political Analysts
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
      Netanyahu’s Genocidal Religious Rhetoric isn’t Just an Appeal to the Israeli Right — He Has Another Constituency in Mind
    • With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
      With ‘Vermin’ Remark Trump Crosses Fully into Nazi Territory
    • Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
      Mike Johnson’s Porn-Monitoring isn’t Just ‘Creepy’ — it’s a Window to the Fascist Desire Driving the White Evangelical Will to Power
kaya@oakestown.org'

Kaya Oakes

Kaya Oakes’ fifth book, The Defiant Middle: How Women Claim Life’s In Betweens to Remake the World, was published in December 2021. She teaches nonfiction writing at UC Berkeley.

(A)theologies, Archive, Books, OMFG, Sex/Gender/JusticeJuly 29, 2022

Stalked by The Plague, ‘The Maiden of All Our Desires’ Follows a Medieval Abbey at a Time When Monastic Life Was a Refuge for Women

By Kaya Oakes

A woman disappears, “taken by wind.” A one-eyed priest frantically carves a feminine-looking crucifix for…

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Archive, Books, Sex/Gender/Justice, UncategorizedFebruary 20, 2020

Religious Leaders Need ‘Empty the Pews’ Which Chronicles the Darker Side of the ‘Nones’ Phenomenon

By Kaya Oakes

In 2020, the rise of the so-called religious “Nones”—those who claim no religious affiliation—has evolved…

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CultureJuly 5, 2018

Exclusive: Columnist Jonathan Merritt on his Sudden Departure From Religion News Service

By Kaya Oakes

I was happy to let the story pass under the radar and to move on, but I felt, as a journalist, I needed to set the record straight.

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(A)theologies, Archive, Books, Kaya Oakes, Sexuality/GenderDecember 21, 2017

Popesplaining: Women Remain “Strawberries” in Francis’s Book on Happiness

By Kaya Oakes

As we inch toward Christmas, it’s no surprise to hear that Americans are miserable. Any…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Kaya Oakes, RD Blog, Remapping American ChristianitiesSeptember 15, 2017

Welcoming the Stranger: Sister Simone Campbell of Nuns on the Bus Speaks Out on DACA

By Kaya Oakes

The Constitution doesn’t say “we the citizens,” it says “we the people.”

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Archive, Kaya Oakes, Politics/Law, Religious Liberty, Remapping American ChristianitiesJune 23, 2017

Union Busting for God: Catholic Colleges Invoke “Religious Freedom” to Violate Catholic Teaching

By Kaya Oakes

The 2013 death of 83-year-old Duquesne University adjunct Margaret Mary Vojtko helped open up a…

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Archive, Kaya Oakes, Remapping American Christianities, Sexuality/GenderJune 7, 2017

Meeting on the Bridge: Fr. James Martin’s Ministry to LGBT Catholics Becomes a Book

By Kaya Oakes

A few years ago, the idea of a “celebrity Jesuit” would have puzzled most Americans….

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(A)theologies, Archive, Books, Kaya Oakes, RD Blog, Remapping American ChristianitiesMay 11, 2017

Catholic Citizenship: Massimo Faggioli on the Role of Public Theologians Today

By Kaya Oakes

Massimo Faggioli’s new book, Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century,…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Kaya Oakes, RD Blog, Remapping American ChristianitiesApril 10, 2017

I Was a Stranger: New York Activists Stage a Lenten Action for Sanctuary

By Kaya Oakes

Every Friday in Lent, a group of activists has stood outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in…

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(A)theologies, ArchiveMarch 15, 2017

Rejecting the Stranger: Why Rod Dreher’s Vision of Communal Christian Life Is Not So Benedictine After All

By Kaya Oakes

Neither an idealized Christian past nor a narrative that envisions a persecuted Christian future are going to create real and lasting communities.

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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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