Dear Revealer readers,

About two weeks before the election, while talking to one of a few hundred people at my father-in-law’s funeral in rural Michigan, a Republican woman told me she had never heard of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. She bragged about how much news she consumes, but she appeared perplexed when I described the Republican-led law that prevented Florida’s K-12 educators from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in their classrooms. Later, a man at the funeral, while discussing New York City, said that “a Venezuelan gang had recently taken over Times Square.” I said, “That simply is not true. If a Venezuelan gang had taken over Times Square, it would be a major headline everywhere and almost everyone would know about it.” But he was not convinced, so my husband and I went outside to get some fresh air where we joined a small group of people chatting. One woman in that group said, “In Michigan, a man can’t get a vasectomy without his wife’s consent, but women can do whatever they want [presumably meaning to get an abortion].” I looked around as people nodded their heads. Flabbergasted, I said, “I’m sorry, but there is no way that is true. Let’s Google it.” And when I showed everyone on my phone that it wasn’t true, that Michigan was not regulating men’s reproductive choices, each person shrugged. The truth wasn’t the point, it turned out. It wasn’t the point of any of my conversations about the country that day.

Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch

Since returning home, I have thought about those conversations often and how the misinformation people shared reflected deeper, angrier feelings. The man who said a “Venezuelan gang had taken over Times Square” believed immigrants were bringing crime to this country, especially to cities, which he said, “he never wanted to visit.” When he brought up the pandemic, he referred to Michigan’s governor simply as “Gretchen” and spoke with such disdain, I thought he might actually spit. The woman who thought husbands can’t get vasectomies was spouting an anti-feminist diatribe that seethes at a society where men are no longer able to “do whatever they want.” And the woman who had never heard of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill might have known more about it if I had framed the conversation around preventing teachers from “indoctrinating students about gender and pronouns,” as conservative media presents it. That woman happens to have a transgender child. But she refuses to acknowledge her child’s true gender even as that brings him tremendous pain.

When the election went to Trump, I found myself thinking about these conversations again. I then remembered how I initially thought Trump surely lost countless votes when he said in the debate with Harris that immigrants in Ohio were “eating the dogs, the people that come in, they’re eating the cats.” He seemed either senile or convinced of a ludicrous conspiracy theory. But countless people believed him. What I saw as a ridiculous, insane thing, others witnessed and thought, “He’s the man this country needs.” Even if I could prove, as my trip to Michigan taught me, that immigrants were not eating people’s pets, many Trump voters feel what they believe to be a deeper truth about immigrants and people of color. And those feelings, I’m afraid, are dark—so dark that they would vote for a man who says Haitians who built lives for themselves in America are feasting on puppies.

Since the fallout from the election, I have read countless articles that describe American democracy as a young “experiment” that is less than 250 years old. But I think that framing uses bad math. People of color have only been allowed to participate in American democracy in a robust way since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That makes the “experiment” only 59 years old. And if Trump obviously appeals to any group, it is white Christians. And those white Christian Trump supporters seem to have plenty of anger. They don’t want immigrants “taking over” their communities. They don’t want DEI initiatives and anti-racism education in schools. They don’t want transgender athletes in sports. And, they have no problem with their president calling Mexicans “rapists.”

And then there are those Christian Trump supporters who believe he is the best conduit to refashion the country and its laws into a nation that reflects their version of Christianity. The many organizations and religious communities who want America to be a Christian country are now emboldened in profound ways. The Revealer dedicated our last issue to “The Threat of Christian Nationalism.” If you have not checked out that special issue, I encourage you to read it. It lays out not only what could be coming in Trump’s second term, but also strategies to thwart Christian nationalism.

With Trump’s re-election, The Revealer’s work is as important as ever. I take that responsibility very seriously. While Trump may describe the press as an enemy, we will not stop our work or the analysis we offer. By publishing articles by scholars of religion and journalists committed to investigating religion’s role in society, we are poised to offer the public valuable insights not easily found elsewhere. We will continue to do just that.

Just as we will provide you with articles about encroaching Christian nationalism, we will also highlight other important stories about religion. The world, after all, is not only darkness. And the United States is not the only place that matters. The Revealer will continue to bring you insightful stories about a vast array of religious communities and places around the globe. Indeed, one strategy for fighting fascism is not falling into an abyss of despair. We must learn how others are living their lives and understand issues facing other parts of the world—often in ways that may be interconnected with our own.

In that spirit, The Revealer’s November issue takes us around the globe to consider a multitude of ways religion matters today. The issue opens with Carmela Guaglianone’s “Priest Migration to Save Italy’s Catholic Church,” in which she explores a program where priests from Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere move to Italy to help with the country’s priest shortage—and the persistent racism and anti-immigration attitudes those priests face. From Italy, we head to Turkey where, in “Dogs and Islam in Turkey Today,” Lisa Morrow investigates the mixed reaction to dogs throughout Islamic history and considers how that history influences heated political and cultural debates about canines in present-day Turkey. From there, we head to the United States to look at someone who celebrated the country’s embrace of immigrants. In “The Lamp and Its Shadow: Emma Lazarus and Choosing the Better Diaspora,” Noah Berlatsky profiles the famed poet Emma Lazarus, most known for her words on the Statue of Liberty, and reflects on how her Jewish identity may have influenced her commitment to immigration and prevented her from seeing other forms of oppression. Then, we look at something currently consuming the globe: artificial intelligence. In “The Churches of Artificial Intelligence,” Jamie Valentino investigates a tech tycoon’s AI church, and the many mysteries surrounding it, as well as how religious communities from Germany to the United States have started using AI.

Following our focus on global issues, we turn to things more concentrated in the United States. In “Love and (Religious) Work in Netflix’s Nobody Wants This,” Helene Meyers reviews the hit romantic comedy series about a rabbi and his non-Jewish girlfriend and reflects on how the show portrays Judaism, Gentiles, and Jewish women in both fresh and stereotypical ways. Then, while thinking about gender and religion, in “Gender and the Black Church Today,” an excerpt from The Contemporary Black Church, Jason Shelton investigates changing ideas about women in Black Christian denominations and how debates over gender are exposing significant areas of concern for many Black Americans.

The November issue also includes the newest episode of the Revealer podcast: “The Changing Black Church.” Jason Shelton joins us to discuss why several Black Christian denominations have seen a significant decline in religious affiliation and church attendance. We also explore how the Black church’s decline is altering Black life more broadly, why the fastest growing denomination of Black Christians is seeing an increase in people voting for Republicans, and how Black churches are responding to today’s political and social issues. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

As I reflect on the misinformation I encountered while in Michigan, and as we look to Trump’s return to the White House, we are already planning articles and podcast episodes for 2025 that will provide you with important information and insights. The Revealer has been publishing such content for 21 years and we will continue to do just that. Despite Trump’s threats about media organizations that are critical of him, or MAGA supporters who object to the type of pluralism and equality we promote, we will not shy away from providing you with the stories and analysis you need about religion in today’s world. Democracy requires it. Fighting authoritarianism requires it. A brighter future requires it.

Our work continues.

Yours,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.