Nathan S. French

Yes, I realize that criminal prosecutions in the UK are conducted in the name of the King.

England, 1776 — The King: I am the law.
USA, 1776 — No man is above the law.

England, 2026 — The King: My brother’s arrest shows that no one is above the law.
USA, 2026 — Well, the President is probably above the law and can’t be held criminally liable while conducting the duties of office.

When asked to differentiate white and black identities, he immediately pivots to the “white church” and “black church.”

Hire religion reporters, ya’ll. Hire ‘em. And hire religion professors. Stop closing our departments. Hire us.

I’m thinking of this in the “Hollywood Trailer” voice:

“From the family that brought you the epic of Antara comes a story of mysticism, renunciation and fana’…”

"Philosopher working at Anthropic."

"Researchers working for tobacco companies tell us that cigarettes aren't harmful."

"Researchers working for petroleum industries tell us that the contributions of carbon to the changing climate are far over-blown."

US military averaged just under one air strike per day in Somalia in the first month of 2026. The highest or second-highest monthly Somalia strike numbers ever, rivaled only by Dec 2025.

2025, the highest year for Somalia strikes yet, had 140+ strikes (10-15 most months).

A meme, Leo DiCaprio pointing in recognition at the screen

English-as-an-only-language audiences when Bad Bunny said “San Francisco” during the halftime show at the Super Bowl

Noticed this in the fatwas written by Turki Bin’Ali as well. He would cite text after text in a rapid-fire way — far, far more than even other jurists on Maqdisi’s Minbar. Then, of course he left the Minbar and kept citing his way while a partisan for ISIS

“Education is for the student’s benefit, not for the benefit of their future employer…students go to school not merely to acquire skills but to develop an entire social and intellectual life: to have something good and to have it forever”
@thepointmag.bsky.social

thepointmag.com/examined-lif...

Every professor preparing to teach John Locke and private property rights is very excited right now.

Unpacking Americans’ Opinions on ‘Pro-Life’ Policies: Abortion, Capital Punishment, and Assisted Suicide Every January, thousands of Americans descend on Washington, D.C., for the National March for Life, an event first held to remember the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Along with everything else happening in the world, today is the National March for Life and because I've become obsessed with the consistent life ethic, I decided to write about American public opinion across several "pro-life" policies:

prri.org/spotlight/un...

Have a larger story on this coming, but I’ve been embedded with this group, and this story from yesterday is part of what they’ve been doing in the city: religionnews.com/2026/01/22/h...

More and more, scholars are saying it.

Likely out of the late Cold War / First Gulf War, but it metastasized in the late-90s and early 2000s.

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4339

Just spotted a typo in an assignment, spelling Emile Durkheim's name as "Drunkenhime."

First, a great way to ensure I know that A.I. usage was a probably kept to a minimum.

Second, that's immediately going into the REL 101 course notes. Fantastic stuff.

Want to report on everything?

Report on religion.

Trust me: It's a wild ride.

🧵In my expert opinion as a researcher of vehicle ramming attacks, what has been publicly described in the video evidence does not support the claim that Renee Nicole Good was attempting a deliberate ramming attack when she was shot in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. 1/7

An email from Martin Peterson to university administrators.

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

Woman killed by ICE agent in Minneapolis was a mother of 3, poet and new to the city The woman shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis was a U.S. citizen and mother of a 6-year-old. In social media accounts, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin...

“He described (Renee Good) as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger.” www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Semester ended.

I’d argue that a mainstream gateway was the high protein / low carb Atkins craze. Then, it metastasized.

Somehow it’s completely wrong and yet carefully calculated to infuriate both the “Deus Vult” crowd AND jihadists.

I do the same thing. All of it is labor.

Hard part about this is that increasingly universities don’t value peer review in workload calculations. It’s often unrecognized work now that we’ll do as some sort of beneficent contribution to the field. I mean, yes do them — I do! — but that’s a real problem moving forward.

Rather stunned at the noticeable lack of the Melian Dialogue in the Discourse (tm) right now. Did they all just give up on Thucydides?

There’s probably a Foreign Affairs or Atlantic essay to be written comparing the destruction of the White House’s East Wing and Trump’s hypothetical billionaire-funded ballroom and the destruction of Maduro’s presidency and Trump’s hypothetical billionaire-funded New Venezuela.

Disappointed to read on LinkedIn that the Library of Arabic Literature (@libraryarablit.bsky.social) is ceasing publication with the new year due to the end of grant funding from NYUAD

As a mechanism of insider/outsider identities, absolutely. Samuel Perry’s “Religion for Realists” is really great on just that point.

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Each year in my Religion 101 course, I ask students a few conversational questions. Since before the pandemic, the overwhelming majority of students will report having *no* problems dating someone of another religion but will *not* date someone of differing political views.

Are there any essays that look at how user experiences with LLMs like ChatGPT change if they interact with it as “it” or as an object rather than a “you”?

Why, yes, I have been reading Martin Buber, why do you ask?