Brandon Bayne

Delighted to announce that the Department of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill is searching for a new colleague at the rank of Assistant Professor with expertise in Religion and Science. You can find more information below. Please share widely and feel free to reach out directly with questions.

Coming soon to a bookstore near you :-)

From the pulpit to the picket line: For many miners, religion and labor rights have long been connected in coal country The retirement of United Mine Workers of America’s longtime president is a reminder that labor and religion have always been entangled in coal country.

Something I wrote on the occasion of the retirement of Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America for the past 30 years.

So since I'm annoyed let me say a few things today.Some folks have been writing about Christian Nationalism and apocalyptic right wing movements for YEARS here in the US. YEARS. Do we get to have a platform in major mags and newspapers... rarely.

Charlie Kirk Memorial in Seoul Shows Power of Christian Nationalism for Young Korean Activists On September 13, 2025, echoes of “We are Charlie Kirk” could be heard across Seoul. From Jamsil to Gangnam, thousands of young Koreans commemorated American political activist Charlie Kirk's death by ...

We’re living in a world that defies any single adjective as it has been beyond comprehension. Reflecting on what has been and what is going on, I wrote this piece.

Thank you @mpgphd.bsky.social @religiondispatches.org for this opportunity!

religiondispatches.org/charlie-kirk...

I'm thrilled that my book is coming out this month, and even more thrilled to be on this fall lineup from @dukepress.bsky.social - so many amazing authors and titles! Check out the whole fall lineup here: dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/n...

Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West by Max Perry Mueller In this gripping history, classicist Mueller (Race and the Making of the Mormon People) uncovers the life and complicated legacy...

Starred Review of Wakara’s America from @publisherswkly.bsky.social. www.publishersweekly.com/9781541602595

Muscogee Nation will pause new citizenship cards following Freedmen descendant ruling Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill issued an executive order on Thursday, pausing the issuance of new citizenship cards to descendants of Freedmen in the wake of a tribal court’s ruling…

Disappointed 2 see this. In response 2 the tribe’s Supreme Court decision that Freedman descendants can enroll, Muscogee Nation will stop issuing citizenship cards 4 everyone. Like how @ the end of segregation rather than integrate public pools many communities just got rid of them.

Survey stakes are in the ground at the San Rafael Valley, where DHS is preparing to wall off the last best corridor in Arizona for jaguars, ocelots & other species. Not a soul in sight.

A great article came out last year about how crypto trading apps trick users into what is--in essence--gambling by telling them they're *really smart* for "investing"

AI is the same. Sells the fantasy of hyper-efficiency. Convinces users they're mastering cutting-edge tech by "prompt engineering"

“I support immigrants who do it the right way and follow the legal process?” So, how do you feel about ICE mostly arresting people in courthouses when they come for scheduled appointments in…you know…the legal process?

The killer is consistently described in the press as “a devout Christian who opposed abortion” as if that’s an essential trait of devout Christians.

Many, if not most, “devout” Christians support abortion access.

Melissa Hortman was a Catholic who taught Sunday school.

Job Garcia’s kidnapping by the Trump administration is the top story on the LA Times website right now.

www.latimes.com/california/s...

Sen. Alex Padilla, who was just forcibly removed from a DHS press conference, is the ranking member of Judiciary’s subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, and border safety, which has “oversight of federal agencies with citizenship, asylum, refugee, and immigration enforcement responsibilities.”

After Delay, Chapel Hill Board Votes to Award Tenure After faculty raised alarm over the board’s delay on the decisions, trustees finally debated and voted by email. A couple of them said they generally opposed tenure.

from a UNC Trustee: “It is not good governance to give your child a cookie every time they lay on the floor and scream that they want one.”

so telling that he doesn’t see faculty as professionals entitled to the promotion structures outlined in our job contracts. we’re kids demanding treats.

On the one hand, it seems bad that the leader of the free world spent the day tweeting about Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. On the other hand, this is gonna make it easier to get my summer concerts reimbursed as research, so…

Under Texas’ Abortion Ban, Where a Woman Lives Can Determine Her Risk of Developing Sepsis While the rates of dangerous infections spiked across the state after it banned abortion in 2021, women in Houston fared far worse than those in Dallas, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind ana...

NEW: The rate of sepsis in Houston surged 63% after Texas banned abortion.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.

Apr. 27, 1899 | White GA Mob Lynches Man for 'Talking Too Much' About Another Lynching Learn more about this history of racial injustice.

On this day in 1899, a white mob in Lee County, Georgia, lynched a Black man named Mitchell Daniel for “talking too much” about the brutal lynching of another Black man days earlier.

the thing I hate most about that rfk quote is that autistic lives have value and worth and beauty and dignity whether they are able to do the things other people do or not. no one is defined by ability or lack thereof and to frame divergence as lack is monster stuff, utterly godless

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Fully agree, but just want to add that both mentors are incredible. @tisawenger.bsky.social’s brilliance and mentoring in our field are legendary. What a great team!

Hurting farmers *and* the needy in one fell swoop. And for what?

From interview of Lee Bollinger, 1st Amendment scholar who served as dean of @UMichLaw, president of @UMich, and president of Columbia University.
www.chronicle.com/article/were...

Turned down by state, Oklahoma schools chief is out to raise funds for Trump-endorsed Bibles (RNS) — The state superintendent acknowledged there has been resistance to his goal of getting Bibles into classrooms.

For $60, you can donate a Trump Bible to Oklahoma schools

religionnews.com/2025/03/07/s...

Thank you for your service! 🫡

As a professor & a Jew I’m sick to my heart about the attack on Columbia—which is a) escalation of the war on all of higher ed; b) Jew-washing fascism, with the intention of inciting more antisemitism, which in turn will be used as cover for more fascism.

Best description and takedown

Advocates planning 60-mile walk in Texas to highlight the Underground Railroad to Mexico The seven-day walk seeks to bring attention to a lost episode of Black history

Starting this Monday at La Sal del Rey in Hidalgo County, historians, faith leaders, and descendants will embark on a 60-mile walk to bring attention to the Underground Railroad to Mexico and will commemorate that country's role in the underground walk to freedom. 🗃️

www.axios.com/2025/02/22/u...