Benjamin Stewart
@bstewdlh.bsky.social
ecology & ritual, science & religion, Duluth & Two Harbors, fat tires & fast bikes; liturgy professor @LSTC; Emory GDR PhD; ELCA pastor; north shore of Lake Superior
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
You ever just sit down and realize that the rise of 21st century fascism is capital's answer to climate change?
November 21, 2025 at 9:25 AM
You ever just sit down and realize that the rise of 21st century fascism is capital's answer to climate change?
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
On this day in 1883: Standard Time is adopted across the United States, to simplify travel and communications, while keeping clocks within a half hour of solar time. #OTD
November 18, 2025 at 4:21 PM
On this day in 1883: Standard Time is adopted across the United States, to simplify travel and communications, while keeping clocks within a half hour of solar time. #OTD
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
I’m out here at Broadview ICE detention center where a group of inter-faith leaders just got arrested trying to deliver pastoral care to those locked up inside. Peg Haar from Grace Lutheran Church in Evanston says both her son and her pastor were arrested just now.
November 14, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I’m out here at Broadview ICE detention center where a group of inter-faith leaders just got arrested trying to deliver pastoral care to those locked up inside. Peg Haar from Grace Lutheran Church in Evanston says both her son and her pastor were arrested just now.
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
On principle I simply don’t endorse wishing violence on people, especially as a public joke. For a host of reasons including how wishing violence on people changes the *wisher*. On this point I think people should be careful for *spiritual* reasons, whether or not it’s simply expedient.
November 14, 2025 at 3:36 PM
On principle I simply don’t endorse wishing violence on people, especially as a public joke. For a host of reasons including how wishing violence on people changes the *wisher*. On this point I think people should be careful for *spiritual* reasons, whether or not it’s simply expedient.
Happy 3,177th anniversary of the first recorded workers’ strike ✊
November 14, 1152 BCE: the first recorded workers' strike occurred in ancient Egypt under Pharaoh Ramses III. Artisans and laborers working on the royal tombs at Deir el-Medina stopped working in protest of delayed and insufficient rations, a form of wages. collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/materi...
November 14, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Happy 3,177th anniversary of the first recorded workers’ strike ✊
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
Why clergy should risk assault to protest ICE religionnews.com/2025/11/13/w...
Why clergy should risk assault to protest ICE
(RNS) — For people wanting to experience God, we are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church.
religionnews.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Why clergy should risk assault to protest ICE religionnews.com/2025/11/13/w...
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
“Federal authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be ‘no more prayer’ in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility, in a move that mystified local leaders and raised legal questions.” blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility
In a possible violation of the First Amendment, federal officials instructed demonstrators to stop holding religious gatherings outside the immigration processing facility in suburban Broadview after ...
blockclubchicago.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 PM
“Federal authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be ‘no more prayer’ in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility, in a move that mystified local leaders and raised legal questions.” blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
What advice would you give to younger people to help them prepare for getting older? Here’s what adults ages 65 and older had to say. 🧓🧵👇
Full analysis: www.pewresearch.org/...
Full analysis: www.pewresearch.org/...
November 7, 2025 at 5:35 PM
What advice would you give to younger people to help them prepare for getting older? Here’s what adults ages 65 and older had to say. 🧓🧵👇
Full analysis: www.pewresearch.org/...
Full analysis: www.pewresearch.org/...
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
To put this in scale, Elon Musk's salary from Tesla alone could fund the SNAP program for the entire country into 2034.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk scored a resounding victory on Thursday as shareholders approved a pay package of as much as $878 billion over the next decade, endorsing his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut.
Tesla shareholders approve $878 billion pay plan for Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk scored a resounding victory on Thursday as shareholders approved a pay package of as much as $878 billion over the next decade, endorsing his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut.
reut.rs
November 6, 2025 at 10:19 PM
To put this in scale, Elon Musk's salary from Tesla alone could fund the SNAP program for the entire country into 2034.
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
Ellis rules that the Trump administration impermissibly prevented the free exercise of religion, in violation of the First Amendment.
Those engaged in prayer have been shot, without warning, with pepper balls and tear gas, Ellis says.
Those engaged in prayer have been shot, without warning, with pepper balls and tear gas, Ellis says.
November 6, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Ellis rules that the Trump administration impermissibly prevented the free exercise of religion, in violation of the First Amendment.
Those engaged in prayer have been shot, without warning, with pepper balls and tear gas, Ellis says.
Those engaged in prayer have been shot, without warning, with pepper balls and tear gas, Ellis says.
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
This article has a stubborn individualist frame but the references to religious community seem relevant for faith-based community organizers. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...
A Little-Noted Element Propelled Mamdani’s Rise: Gen Z Loneliness
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:17 PM
This article has a stubborn individualist frame but the references to religious community seem relevant for faith-based community organizers. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
“I’m not in any way an effective, good, or faithful Anglican.... But I’m interested in the idea that [my local church] provides something which, at least in contemporary capitalism, seems very hard to find elsewhere.” —Zadie Smith
The Solidarity of the Hopeful | Zadie Smith, Tash Aw, Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Living on the Spanish island of Mallorca in 1936, the French writer Georges Bernanos found himself engulfed by the civil war then raging across Spain. A
buff.ly
November 3, 2025 at 1:03 PM
“I’m not in any way an effective, good, or faithful Anglican.... But I’m interested in the idea that [my local church] provides something which, at least in contemporary capitalism, seems very hard to find elsewhere.” —Zadie Smith
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
ICE detained a Virginia mom while she was driving her 16yo daughter to school bc she couldn’t recall her SS#.
“The agent got flustered and lunged at her,” said her daughter.
ICE arrested her even after she showed proof of legal status.
“I want this video out there because I want my mother home.”
“The agent got flustered and lunged at her,” said her daughter.
ICE arrested her even after she showed proof of legal status.
“I want this video out there because I want my mother home.”
November 1, 2025 at 11:43 PM
ICE detained a Virginia mom while she was driving her 16yo daughter to school bc she couldn’t recall her SS#.
“The agent got flustered and lunged at her,” said her daughter.
ICE arrested her even after she showed proof of legal status.
“I want this video out there because I want my mother home.”
“The agent got flustered and lunged at her,” said her daughter.
ICE arrested her even after she showed proof of legal status.
“I want this video out there because I want my mother home.”
Zohran Mamdani's first paying gig in politics was for an ELCA pastor? (swoon) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khader_...
Khader El-Yateem - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 2, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Zohran Mamdani's first paying gig in politics was for an ELCA pastor? (swoon) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khader_...
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
It is seriously absurd that nobody is able to say "that is an inappropriate question and I think a Muslim can represent Jews just fine"
October 31, 2025 at 10:54 PM
It is seriously absurd that nobody is able to say "that is an inappropriate question and I think a Muslim can represent Jews just fine"
Great list for church book discussion. I’d add @angeladenker.bsky.social’s books, and the interfaith perspective of Valarie Kaur’s “See No Stranger” which we’re currently reading
Where can lefties improve?
I think knowledge about Christian nationalism is a big gap with progressives, lefties, socialists, etc. This is a problem because it means that people aren't always strategizing around the opposition we actually face.
Here are my recs for self-ed 🧵
I think knowledge about Christian nationalism is a big gap with progressives, lefties, socialists, etc. This is a problem because it means that people aren't always strategizing around the opposition we actually face.
Here are my recs for self-ed 🧵
The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
bookshop.org
October 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Great list for church book discussion. I’d add @angeladenker.bsky.social’s books, and the interfaith perspective of Valarie Kaur’s “See No Stranger” which we’re currently reading
“Green burials have been around since the dawn of man. Putting a moratorium on green burials is like putting a moratorium on the wheel or stone tools,” said Connell.
www.northernnewsnow.com/2025/10/24/g...
www.northernnewsnow.com/2025/10/24/g...
Proposed Green burial cemetery in Carlton County in federal lawsuit
The controversial plot of land in Blackhoof Township was purchased in 2023 by Steelmantown Church, a New Jersey nonprofit that runs natural cemeteries in other parts of the country.
www.northernnewsnow.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:58 AM
“Green burials have been around since the dawn of man. Putting a moratorium on green burials is like putting a moratorium on the wheel or stone tools,” said Connell.
www.northernnewsnow.com/2025/10/24/g...
www.northernnewsnow.com/2025/10/24/g...
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
Muslim British Journalist Sami Hamdi has been abducted by ICE. He was already in the U.S. legally on a visa, but was abducted while attempting to fly from San Francisco to Florida on a domestic flight. Laura Loomer is taking credit for getting him abducted due to his criticism of Israel and the US.
October 26, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Muslim British Journalist Sami Hamdi has been abducted by ICE. He was already in the U.S. legally on a visa, but was abducted while attempting to fly from San Francisco to Florida on a domestic flight. Laura Loomer is taking credit for getting him abducted due to his criticism of Israel and the US.
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
Update: The Chicago clergy letter decrying ICE's actions and voicing a willingness on the part of clergy to put their "bodies on the line" to protest ICE has reached 250 signatures — and now includes multiple evangelical pastors/leaders of evangelical institutions in the area.
NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
October 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Update: The Chicago clergy letter decrying ICE's actions and voicing a willingness on the part of clergy to put their "bodies on the line" to protest ICE has reached 250 signatures — and now includes multiple evangelical pastors/leaders of evangelical institutions in the area.
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
Churches showing an AI Charlie Kirk telling congregants, through an artificial voice, not to let evil win is a new level of instrumentalizing the dead.
When Trump goes, I think we’re going to see the same thing. Visions and AI slop will abound. Prophecies and messages from beyond the grave.
When Trump goes, I think we’re going to see the same thing. Visions and AI slop will abound. Prophecies and messages from beyond the grave.
I wrote about how MAGA is being shaped by a politics of immortality, how Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom reflects this, and what it could mean for the future of Trumpism. Read at @liberalcurrents.com
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-last-ene...
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-last-ene...
The Last Enemy Is Death: Prophetic Visions, AI Slop, and How the Politics of Immortality Could Shape Our Future
How mystics and transhumanists force the dead to speak on behalf of their politics.
www.liberalcurrents.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Churches showing an AI Charlie Kirk telling congregants, through an artificial voice, not to let evil win is a new level of instrumentalizing the dead.
When Trump goes, I think we’re going to see the same thing. Visions and AI slop will abound. Prophecies and messages from beyond the grave.
When Trump goes, I think we’re going to see the same thing. Visions and AI slop will abound. Prophecies and messages from beyond the grave.
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
Okay so a I have a true little story about how the episcopal church funded the local BPP chapter’s ambulance program and all I’m saying is, Episcopalians: they may surprise you!
you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you
October 15, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Okay so a I have a true little story about how the episcopal church funded the local BPP chapter’s ambulance program and all I’m saying is, Episcopalians: they may surprise you!
Reposted by Benjamin Stewart
This is FANTASTIC. Thank you, @lutzfernandez.bsky.social, for doing this work and so generously sharing it
I've updated my document that tackles four of the common arguments used to encourage teachers to use AI.
I hope this will be helpful to those educators wanting to push back on AI mania.
I hope this will be helpful to those educators wanting to push back on AI mania.
Resisting School AI Mania Help Sheet
Help Sheet: Resisting AI Mania in Schools K-12 educators are under increasing pressure to use—and have students use—a wide range of AI tools. (The term “AI” is used loosely here, just as it is by man...
docs.google.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
This is FANTASTIC. Thank you, @lutzfernandez.bsky.social, for doing this work and so generously sharing it
I’ve taken seminarians on tours of this cemetery. My wife worked in the hospital where they took the ICE victims.
#AbolishICE
#AbolishICE
Four cemetery workers, all U.S. citizens, arrested during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that crossed over onto the private Concordia Cemetery in the west suburban village of Forest Park.
Forest Park cemetery workers recount traumatic clash with ICE; mayor calls for crackdown to end
‘If this is happening to me, a U.S. citizen, what are they doing to the other individuals?’
trib.al
October 14, 2025 at 3:22 AM
I’ve taken seminarians on tours of this cemetery. My wife worked in the hospital where they took the ICE victims.
#AbolishICE
#AbolishICE