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      The Death of a Black Man at the Hands of Black Officers Unveiled Something More Complex Than Whiteness
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      Don’t Sleep on Trump’s CPAC Speech Calling For ‘The Final Battle’: This was Southern Strategy as Apocalyptic Promise
    • Did You Read About Conservative Judaism’s Anti-Black Antisemitic Smearing of Hebrew Israelites? Neither Did I
      Did You Read About Conservative Judaism’s Anti-Black Antisemitic Smearing of Hebrew Israelites? Neither Did I
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    • At Launch Rally in Waco, Former President Sets the Stakes for Trump ’24 Campaign with Apocalyptic, Violent, Genocidal Rhetoric
      At Launch Rally in Waco, Former President Sets the Stakes for Trump ’24 Campaign with Apocalyptic, Violent, Genocidal Rhetoric
    • Clues in the Data Suggest That Increase in LGBTQ Acceptance May Be Skewed By Conservative Desire For ‘Respectability’
      Clues in the Data Suggest That Increase in LGBTQ Acceptance May Be Skewed By Conservative Desire For ‘Respectability’
    • Communicators for Christ: How Homeschool Debate Leagues Shaped the Rising Stars of the Christian Right
      Communicators for Christ: How Homeschool Debate Leagues Shaped the Rising Stars of the Christian Right
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    • Clues in the Data Suggest That Increase in LGBTQ Acceptance May Be Skewed By Conservative Desire For ‘Respectability’
      Clues in the Data Suggest That Increase in LGBTQ Acceptance May Be Skewed By Conservative Desire For ‘Respectability’
    • Don’t Sleep on Trump’s CPAC Speech Calling For ‘The Final Battle’: This was Southern Strategy as Apocalyptic Promise
      Don’t Sleep on Trump’s CPAC Speech Calling For ‘The Final Battle’: This was Southern Strategy as Apocalyptic Promise
    • 2023 CPAC Lived Down to Expectations, But Don’t Buy the Narrative: The GOP is Not as Divided as You Might Think
      2023 CPAC Lived Down to Expectations, But Don’t Buy the Narrative: The GOP is Not as Divided as You Might Think
  • Christian Nationalism
    • At Launch Rally in Waco, Former President Sets the Stakes for Trump ’24 Campaign with Apocalyptic, Violent, Genocidal Rhetoric
      At Launch Rally in Waco, Former President Sets the Stakes for Trump ’24 Campaign with Apocalyptic, Violent, Genocidal Rhetoric
    • Clues in the Data Suggest That Increase in LGBTQ Acceptance May Be Skewed By Conservative Desire For ‘Respectability’
      Clues in the Data Suggest That Increase in LGBTQ Acceptance May Be Skewed By Conservative Desire For ‘Respectability’
    • Communicators for Christ: How Homeschool Debate Leagues Shaped the Rising Stars of the Christian Right
      Communicators for Christ: How Homeschool Debate Leagues Shaped the Rising Stars of the Christian Right
  • Russia Invades Ukraine
    • 2023 CPAC Lived Down to Expectations, But Don’t Buy the Narrative: The GOP is Not as Divided as You Might Think
      2023 CPAC Lived Down to Expectations, But Don’t Buy the Narrative: The GOP is Not as Divided as You Might Think
    • 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
linn.tonstad@yale.edu'

Linn Marie Tonstad

Linn Marie Tonstad is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School.

StoriesJanuary 10, 2014

Gambling with God: Ryan Bell’s Atheist Bet

By Linn Marie Tonstad

Christian pastor Ryan Bell was all over the media this week for a project he has just undertaken: spending a year without God. Without having lost his belief in God, Bell wants to explore atheism as an alternative faith system in order to see what conclusions he comes to at the end. Will he…

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Religion Dispatches

Religion Dispatches

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