In NPR’s Alternate Realities, Zack Mack, who is a podcast producer and storyteller, hosts a three-part series about his father falling down the conspiracy rabbit hole and the effect it has on his family. After challenging his dad about his conspiratorial thinking, his father responded by suggesting they make a bet: He would make 10 predictions that he believed would come to pass before the end of 2024, and for each one he got right, Mack would pay him $1,000. For each one he got incorrect, he would pay his son $1,000. Mack’s dad, who is a Christian, was certain that his predictions were ironclad.
One of the most awaited Supreme Court rulings of the year ended in a deadlocked decision that led to triumph for supporters of church-state separation in schools.
I don’t know that I have what I could exactly call a “favorite artist,” but if I did, it’d probably be Bruce Springsteen, and I’m glad he’s speaking out about the importance of things like attacks on free speech and the exploitation of kids. What I don’t love is how quickly this stand is flattening him into just another liberal mascot. A fake photo of Springsteen in a “Keep America Trumpless” T-shirt has gone viral.
This bill, which passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on a party-line vote, serves as a thermometer — and the reading we’re getting back is telling us that the United States of America is suffering from a dangerous fever.
On April 16, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom passed a ruling that the legal definition of a woman excludes transgender women in some cases. This came after the campaign group For Women Scotland fought to oppose sex-based protections for anyone not assigned female at birth. The group’s agenda had focused on the Scottish government’s interpretation of The Equality Act of 2010, which provides protections against discrimination. This ruling does not prevent trans people’s protection from discrimination as trans people, but it does reinforce the idea of a strict binary for gender.
So far, this escalating feud is a rather depressing back-and-forth, a cycle of violence for which there doesn’t seem to be any way out. But instead of letting us bask in Ellie’s righteous violence a la John Wick, the series questions the line between justice and revenge, asks whether mercy has any part in the equation, and doesn’t offer any easy answers to these reflections.
I went on a trip to the American South with the Telos Group, a nonprofit dedicated to equipping people to advocate for peace and reconciliation amid conflict. The purpose of the delegation was to help Palestinians learn about the histories and current realities of the Black and Indigenous struggle for justice in the United States.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, I started paying more attention to what I was wearing. It had been a year of sweatpants and T-shirts, and I was ready to switch things up to be presentable for the outside world. So, I started doing research on places that put time and effort into well-made pieces of clothing that look good, are built to last, and are ethically produced by people who care about their employees. And for menswear, you don’t have to do much of that kind of research before you start seeing the name 3sixteen everywhere.
One of the more alarming aspects of the Trump administration is the way it seeks to instrumentalize Christianity — both as a weapon against its political opponents and to reward its political supporters.
As protesters gathered on the front steps of the Supreme Court, the justices inside heard arguments in a Maryland case that could determine whether parents, due to their religious beliefs, have the right to pull their children out of classes that teach about gender and sexuality.