Another exciting US religion prompt!

Who are the people you find most fascinating in the history of American religion? For who they were, what they changed, what they represent -- which individuals stand out as essential to understanding the nation's diverse religious past?

What are dates and events that jump out to you when you think about the history of religion in America?

Interested not only in building a timeline but seeing what comes first to mind.

Which American religious communities were or have become particularly associated with a *product*? I'm thinking of Shakers and furniture (and patent medicines and seeds) & Oneida and flatware. Others?

Thought experiment for American religion folks: If you were telling a version of US religious history that *ignores everything you think people would expect to find* what would it include?

In other words: What are some scenes from the unknown history of religion in America?

Carve this on our national tombstone.

For something I’m working on:

Religion is [one word].

What’s the one word for you?

This fabulous Leslie Jamison Choose Your Own Adventure The New Yorker essay made me remember how often I 'cheated' (reading backward from the best endings) & then wonder if this helped make me the writer I am, focused from the start on the feeling I want to reach. newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…

Such a lovely and powerful piece by sarah wildman.

Take a moment to read and reflect on what it means to wander and what it means to rest. nytimes.com/2022/09/23/opi…

Grateful for this sky and these fields.

Religion watchers: What are the most important 'religion and x' categories for thinking about its place in American life? Religion & Politics, Religion & Media, Religion & Business, Religion & Sports, etc.? If you could choose five to include in an exhibit, what would they be?

“In the end, Trump did not so much transform the country as reveal its true nature. For most of a decade, among those who would never accept that they too were responsible, a mantra declared with disturbing regularity ‘This is not who we are’. But it was. It always had been.”

Trump is a Rorschach test. To one side, he's a man brazenly breaking laws and inciting violence. To the other side, that's bad.

No one knows what the future will say about the past, but I'm pretty confident much our era will be put in the historical category of 'That is so weird it cannot possibly be true.'