Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brandon Bayne @bbayne.bsky.social · 2d

Delighted to announce that the Department of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill is searching for a new colleague at the rank of Assistant Professor with expertise in Religion and Science. You can find more information below. Please share widely and feel free to reach out directly with questions.

Assistant Professor

The Department of Religious Studies is recruiting for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Religion and Science. Candidates should have broad training in their field of expertise, a commitment to int...

unc.peopleadmin.com

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Eladio Bobadilla @eladiobobadilla.com · 6d

Coming soon to a bookstore near you :-)

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Chip Callahan @chipcallahan.bsky.social · 8d

Something I wrote on the occasion of the retirement of Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America for the past 30 years.

From the pulpit to the picket line: For many miners, religion and labor rights have long been connected in coal country

The retirement of United Mine Workers of America’s longtime president is a reminder that labor and religion have always been entangled in coal country.

theconversation.com

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Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · 8d

So since I'm annoyed let me say a few things today.Some folks have been writing about Christian Nationalism and apocalyptic right wing movements for YEARS here in the US. YEARS. Do we get to have a platform in major mags and newspapers... rarely.

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Chanhee Heo 허찬희 @chanheeheo.bsky.social · 14d

We’re living in a world that defies any single adjective as it has been beyond comprehension. Reflecting on what has been and what is going on, I wrote this piece.

Thank you @mpgphd.bsky.social @religiondispatches.org for this opportunity!

religiondispatches.org/charlie-kirk...

Charlie Kirk Memorial in Seoul Shows Power of Christian Nationalism for Young Korean Activists

On September 13, 2025, echoes of “We are Charlie Kirk” could be heard across Seoul. From Jamsil to Gangnam, thousands of young Koreans commemorated American political activist Charlie Kirk's death by ...

religiondispatches.org

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Katharine Gerbner @ktgerbs.bsky.social · 13d

I'm thrilled that my book is coming out this month, and even more thrilled to be on this fall lineup from @dukepress.bsky.social - so many amazing authors and titles! Check out the whole fall lineup here: dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/n...

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Max Perry Mueller @maxperrymueller.bsky.social · 19d

Starred Review of Wakara’s America from @publisherswkly.bsky.social. www.publishersweekly.com/9781541602595

Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West by Max Perry Mueller

In this gripping history, classicist Mueller (Race and the Making of the Mormon People) uncovers the life and complicated legacy...

www.publishersweekly.com

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Rebecca Nagle @rebeccanagle.bsky.social · Sep 12

Disappointed 2 see this. In response 2 the tribe’s Supreme Court decision that Freedman descendants can enroll, Muscogee Nation will stop issuing citizenship cards 4 everyone. Like how @ the end of segregation rather than integrate public pools many communities just got rid of them.

Muscogee Nation will pause new citizenship cards following Freedmen descendant ruling

Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill issued an executive order on Thursday, pausing the issuance of new citizenship cards to descendants of Freedmen in the wake of a tribal court’s ruling…

www.kosu.org

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Laiken Jordahl @laikenjordahl.bsky.social · Sep 4

Survey stakes are in the ground at the San Rafael Valley, where DHS is preparing to wall off the last best corridor in Arizona for jaguars, ocelots & other species. Not a soul in sight.

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Donovan Schaefer @feelingtheory.bsky.social · Sep 1

A great article came out last year about how crypto trading apps trick users into what is--in essence--gambling by telling them they're *really smart* for "investing"

AI is the same. Sells the fantasy of hyper-efficiency. Convinces users they're mastering cutting-edge tech by "prompt engineering"

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Brandon Bayne @bbayne.bsky.social · Jul 12

“I support immigrants who do it the right way and follow the legal process?” So, how do you feel about ICE mostly arresting people in courthouses when they come for scheduled appointments in…you know…the legal process?

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Stacey Burns @wentrogue.bsky.social · Jun 16

The killer is consistently described in the press as “a devout Christian who opposed abortion” as if that’s an essential trait of devout Christians.

Many, if not most, “devout” Christians support abortion access.

Melissa Hortman was a Catholic who taught Sunday school.

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Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · Jun 21

Job Garcia’s kidnapping by the Trump administration is the top story on the LA Times website right now.

www.latimes.com/california/s...

A 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was tackled to the ground and arrested after filming federal agents at Home Depot on Thursday said he was held for more than an hour near Dodger Stadium, where agents boasted about how many immigrants they arrested.
"How many bodies did you guys grab today?" he said one agent asked.
"Oh, we grabbed 31," the other replied.
"That was a good day today," the first agent responded.
The two high-fived, as Job Garcia sat on the asphalt under the sun, he said.
Garcia was released on Friday from a downtown federal detention center. No apparent criminal charges have yet to be filed. He is one of several U.S citizens arrested during enforcement operations in recent days. Department of Homeland Security officias sav some trave ilegaly

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latimes.com
"You wanted it, you got it," the man yelled.
An agent handcuffed him so hard "that there was no circulation running to my fingers," Garcia said.
Pinned down, Garcia had difficulty breathing.
"That moment, I thought I could probably die here," he said.
The agent put Garcia's phone back in his pocket. The recording kept running.
As Garcia was put into a vehicle, his video captured an agent twice saying: "I've got one back here."
"You got one what?" Garcia shot back. "You got one what?"
He said an agent told him in broken Spanish to "wait here,' though it could not be heard on the video. -

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latimes.com
"I f- speak English, you f- dumbass," he clearly shouts back.
No agent asked if he was an American citizen, he said. Nobody asked for identification.
"They assumed that I was undocumented," he said later in an interview.
The video ends after about four minutes, while he is waiting in the van.
CALIFORNIA
Raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood shatters an immigrant refuge
June 20, 2025
Garcia asked an agent to get his wallet from his car, so he could prove he was a U.S. citizen. Another agent retrieved his ID, but he remained handcuffed.
They were so tight, his hands hegan to swell.

Garcia asked an agent to get his wallet from his car, so he could prove he was a U.S. citizen. Another agent retrieved his ID, but he remained handcuffed.
They were so tight, his hands began to swell.
The agents switched him to handcuffs that looked like shoelaces. They took off around a corner, stopped to shuffle him into another van and sped off down the 101 Freeway.
"I smeared my blood in their seat," he said.
And he thought, "They're going to remember me."

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David Gura @davidgura.bsky.social · Jun 12

Sen. Alex Padilla, who was just forcibly removed from a DHS press conference, is the ranking member of Judiciary’s subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, and border safety, which has “oversight of federal agencies with citizenship, asylum, refugee, and immigration enforcement responsibilities.”

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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · Jun 4

from a UNC Trustee: “It is not good governance to give your child a cookie every time they lay on the floor and scream that they want one.”

so telling that he doesn’t see faculty as professionals entitled to the promotion structures outlined in our job contracts. we’re kids demanding treats.

After Delay, Chapel Hill Board Votes to Award Tenure

After faculty raised alarm over the board’s delay on the decisions, trustees finally debated and voted by email. A couple of them said they generally opposed tenure.

www.insidehighered.com

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Brandon Bayne @bbayne.bsky.social · May 17

On the one hand, it seems bad that the leader of the free world spent the day tweeting about Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. On the other hand, this is gonna make it easier to get my summer concerts reimbursed as research, so…

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ProPublica @propublica.org · May 7

NEW: The rate of sepsis in Houston surged 63% after Texas banned abortion.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.

Under Texas’ Abortion Ban, Where a Woman Lives Can Determine Her Risk of Developing Sepsis

While the rates of dangerous infections spiked across the state after it banned abortion in 2021, women in Houston fared far worse than those in Dallas, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind ana...

www.propublica.org

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Equal Justice Initiative @eji.org · Apr 27

On this day in 1899, a white mob in Lee County, Georgia, lynched a Black man named Mitchell Daniel for “talking too much” about the brutal lynching of another Black man days earlier.

Apr. 27, 1899 | White GA Mob Lynches Man for 'Talking Too Much' About Another Lynching

Learn more about this history of racial injustice.

calendar.eji.org

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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · Apr 19

the thing I hate most about that rfk quote is that autistic lives have value and worth and beauty and dignity whether they are able to do the things other people do or not. no one is defined by ability or lack thereof and to frame divergence as lack is monster stuff, utterly godless

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Brandon Bayne @bbayne.bsky.social · Apr 13

a man is sitting on a couch with his eyes closed and saying ya i 'd say that 'll do it

ALT: a man is sitting on a couch with his eyes closed and saying ya i 'd say that 'll do it

media.tenor.com

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Mar 26

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Mar 26

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.

They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.

From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

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Brandon Bayne @bbayne.bsky.social · Mar 18

Fully agree, but just want to add that both mentors are incredible. @tisawenger.bsky.social’s brilliance and mentoring in our field are legendary. What a great team!

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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · Mar 15

Hurting farmers *and* the needy in one fell swoop. And for what?

WUNC News @wunc.org · Mar 14

The USDA has notified the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services earlier this month that it would terminate the agreement for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which is one of the programs NC food banks participate in.

www.wunc.org/news/2025-03...

USDA cancels $11 million in federal funding for North Carolina food banks

The USDA has notified the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that it would terminate the agreement for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which is one of the progr...

www.wunc.org

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Barb McQuade @barbmcquade.bsky.social · Mar 15

From interview of Lee Bollinger, 1st Amendment scholar who served as dean of @UMichLaw, president of @UMich, and president of Columbia University.
www.chronicle.com/article/were...

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Bob Smietana @bmietana.bsky.social · Mar 10

For $60, you can donate a Trump Bible to Oklahoma schools

religionnews.com/2025/03/07/s...

Turned down by state, Oklahoma schools chief is out to raise funds for Trump-endorsed Bibles

(RNS) — The state superintendent acknowledged there has been resistance to his goal of getting Bibles into classrooms.

religionnews.com

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