A hotel under construction.

What Really Makes Cities Global?

The Bonaventure Hotel was a battleground in the war between transnational real estate capital and the city’s multiracial working class.
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500 Years Ago Christianity Changed. It Changed Again in the 1960s.

That the 500th anniversary of Luther’s act has been noted without éclat may be something to celebrate.
A sign in Alabama reading "Thank God We Are Deplorable", 2018.

Christianity's Place in the Left and the Right

A conversation with historian David Hollinger about the rise of evangelicalism, the decline of mainline Protestantism, and the nature of America's secularism.
Billy Graham leading a prayer at the Republican National Convention, Miami, Florida, August 1968; Richard Nixon is at right.

Victimhood and Vengeance

The contemporary rise of Christian nationalism in the US is a reactionary response to the country’s liberalization over the past half-century.

How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular

Evangelicalism and the more liberal “mainline” Protestantism must be understood in a dialectical relationship to one another, rather than in isolation.
Illustration of a Christian church cracking into two pieces.

A Religious Movement Divided Against Itself (Probably) Cannot Stand

Liberal Protestants built a global elite in the 20th century. Its fracturing holds a caution for evangelicals today.
Man holding bible outside Capitol with Trump supporters
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Christian Nationalism Is Surging. It Wasn’t Inevitable.

How the decline of liberal religion transformed American Christianity — and politics.
Statue of Thomas Jefferson and an American flag.
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Jefferson's Other Legacy: Religious Liberty

Religious bigotry is only less pressing today than racial bigotry because of progress Jefferson helped bring about.

Revisiting the Prayer at Valley Forge

The fable of George Washington's prayer was meant to foster religious tolerance, not paint him as a pious leader.

5 Questions with Ronit Stahl

A Q&A with the author of "Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America."

How to Balance Competing Claims of Religious Freedom?

Peyote use has been defended with religious liberty arguments. So has Bible reading in public schools.
Collage of a hand raised up toward major conservative Christian figures throughout American history.

The Evangelical Question in the History of American Religion

The disturbing conclusion might just be that evangelicalism does not exist.
family Thanksgiving meal

The Dark and Divisive History of America’s Thanksgiving Hymn

How a beloved song with origins in 16th-century Europe captures both a holiday's spirit of unity and a country's legacy of exclusion.