SojoMail - I underestimated the Religious Right

View this email in your browser This week: Why we need a deeper moral vision, culture wars at Christian colleges, and immigrant churches resisting Trump. I Underestimated the Religious Right In this week’s SojoMail, Adam Russell Taylor describes the realizations he had after writing a book about faith and democracy: This isn’t what I thought I’d be writing in 2025. Four years ago, after the horror of Jan. 6, I believed our nation had reached a turning point. I thought we would see the floodwaters of the “Make America Great Again” movement start to recede, making way for anew reconstruction of our nation in which the promise of “liberty and justice for all” could finally be made real for all Americans. I hoped we would finally be able to forge long overdue bipartisan solutions to fix our broken immigration system and push through reforms to heal our democracy, including ending gerrymandering, limiting the corrupting influence of money in politics, and restoring the Voting Rights Act. And yet here we are four years later: Despite many good faith efforts to foster dialogue, build bridges, and combat division, our nation seems to have fallen even deeper into the quicksand of toxic polarization and a politics driven by an often-racialized, zero sum, us-versus-them mentality. Real economic stress tied to rising inflation and inequality, anger over immigration, and backlash to protests pushing for racial justice served as powerful wedges in our body politic. But there is one thing I recognized then — and that remains true now — that the majority of Americans still believe in. Read the full article Advertisement Our Latest Stories The Reconstruct: Why Are Christian Colleges Fighting Culture Wars? Fear (by Mitchell Atencio) Instead of fighting culture wars, Christian institutions could attend to the faithful transformation of the next generation, and John Hawthorne knows how. Read more Episcopal Diocese Defends Migrant Shelter, Citing ‘Jesus’ and ‘Constitution’ (by Ken Chitwood) The Diocese of the Rio Grande responded to baseless insinuation from the Department of Homeland Security that their shelter may be engaged in human trafficking. Read more Langston Hughes’ ‘Goodbye Christ’ Is the Poem of the Hour (by Noah Berlatsky) In 1932, Hughes wrote a blistering farewell to a Christianity warped by power. What happened next confirmed his worst suspicions. Read more From the Magazine: ‘We Are Full of Fear, but We Are Not Helpless’ (by Ken Chitwood) Immigrant churches are standing in sacred resistance against Trump’s “shock and awe” immigration policies. Read more Advertisements Join Us for Faithful Witness Wednesdays Come together in-person or via livestream with Sojourners and the Washington Interfaith Staff Community for a series of faithful witness events at the Capitol every Wednesday in March. These vigils will remain nonpartisan and interfaith while calling on Congress to act justly and exercise moral courage. Register at the link above. Enrich your anti-racism journey Check out our anti-racism reading list to learn about racial justice through a variety of lenses. It is a growing resource featuring more than thirty books. Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842