In May we highlighted research demonstrating that individuals with lower levels of education were more likely to believe common conspiracy theories. Two new surveys have found that belief in such theories is also tied to religiosity, with white evangelical Protestants much more likely to believe in even the most absurd conspiracies. A recent Economist/YouGov. survey found that almost 70% of white evangelicals believe former President Donald Trump's various lies about "million

The city of Charlottesville, Va., recently removed statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, monuments that were at the center of the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017. Former President Donald Trump and his supporters have labeled such actions as examples of "cancel culture," which has become a rallying cry of the right over the last few years. They would cite the Trump Twitter ban, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's removal from her committee assignm

I don't often respond to negative comments and emails because there is generally no real "meat" to respond to, just lot's of name calling, often in capital letters with way too many exclamation points. One of the most recent criticisms of a piece we published, was "you Communists will pay dearly," which made me sad because the article supported expanded voting rights. Stalin were never big on voting rights. More frequently [daily] we are accused of being socialists, generally

Glenn Youngkin is the GOP's candidate for VA Governor and will face off against former Gov. Terry McAuliffe this Fall. He is a wealthy private equity manager and former co-CEO of The Carlyle Group. He's stated that he will invest up to $75 million of his fortune to win the election but has said almost nothing about why he is running or much about what he will do if he wins. He is the Commonwealth's stealth candidate, and that should be a red flag to anyone who might consider

The number of white evangelical Christians in the United States is declining rapidly as older members die off with few younger Americans joining the church to replace them. That's going to have important political ramifications over the next decade. The Public Religion Research Institute [PRRI] regularly publishes the most thorough research of religious trends in America and this week they released their Census of American Religion. Their study found that the steady decline i

TX Gov. Greg Abbott is facing a challenge from even more conservative, pro-Trump GOP candidates as he seeks a third term in 2022, so he has called a special session of the Texas legislature to focus on all the culture war issues he can pack into 30 days. It will be a lallapaloosa of right-wing stupidity including bills to ban trans athletes, new abortion and voting restrictions, and, of course, laws to ban the teaching of critical race theory [CRT]. There is even a measure to