RSP Discourse

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4 July 2023

Harm, AI, and Religion | Discourse! June 2023

Podcast

In our final #RSPdiscourse of the season, editor Andie Alexander, Craig Martin, and Paul-François Tremlett consider the concept of "harm" & religion in recent legislation, Scotland elections, and AI & Religion.

29 May 2023

What’s Happening Down Under? | Discourse! May 2023

Podcast

RSP discourse heads Down Under once again as 2/3 of the usual suspects—Carole Cusack & Raymond Radford—discuss religion, politics, life and death in the Australian religious sphere. Be sure to tune in!

27 March 2023

Religion under Attack? | Discourse! March 2023

Podcast

Join host Suzanne Newcombe, Carmen Becker, and Michael Munnik for this month's episode of Discourse! They discuss discrimination in a few European cases, including the SNP, protests at an abortion clinic, and more!

27 February 2023

Religious Literacy and Its Discontents | Discourse! February 2023

Podcast

Join Benjamin P. Marcus, Paulina Gruffman, and Charles McCrary for this month's #RSPdiscourse as they discuss a recent Pew survey on religious literacy and the so-called Asbury revival. Be sure to tune in!

30 January 2023

Oversimplified Binaries | Discourse! January 2023

Podcast

This month's Discourse! features our co-founder Chris Cotter, Lauren Horn Griffin, and Kristi Boone complicating and unpacking oversimplified binaries—be sure to tune in!

19 December 2022

Realities (Altered & Virtual) | Discourse! November 2022

Podcast

Join host Sidney Castillo and guests Jordan Loewen-Colón and Sharday Mosurinjohn for the bumper final Discourse! episode of 2022!

31 October 2022

Queens of the World | Discourse! October 2022

Podcast

This month's Discourse! welcomes back Founding Editor Chris Cotter to the host's chair, along with guests Ting Guo and Carmen Celestini. They first discuss Queen Elizabeth II and “mourning” in Hong Kong, and then more broadly. This segues neatly into a conversation about the Filipino conspiracist who has dubbed herself the “Queen of Canada”. They talk about the Iranian protests, and "compulsory hijabs". Finally, they have a wee rant about how religion and spirituality is presented in mental health surveys.

13 October 2022

Secular Spaces? | Discourse! September 2022

Podcast

This month's Discourse! centres on questions of the secular and the religious in the contemporary public square. What does it mean to be a secular space? How do institutions "deal with" religious ideas and identities in such a space? We talk about religious bias in universities, how religious spokespeople affect politics, and how religious freedom sometimes trumps other forms of freedom. Tune in with host Jacob Barrett and guests Richard Irvine and Jacob Noblett to learn more!

30 August 2022

Presentism and Politics | Discourse! August 2022 (with video)

Podcast

Our first #RSPdiscourse episode for the season features host Emily D. Crews, who is joined by long-time friends of the RSP, Richard Newton and Theo Wildcroft. This excellent and wide-ranging episode addresses present issues of history and identity, social activism and new religious movements, doulas and abortion rights, and much, much more! You won't want to miss it. Be sure to tune in and check out the video episode!

30 May 2022

Abortion, Climate Change Protests, & Ukraine Invasion | Discourse! May 2022 (with video)

Podcast

Tune in for our new Discourse! episode with Carmen Becker, Susannah Crockford, and Savannah Finver as they discuss legal issues of rights, abortion, protests, and more!

28 March 2022

Ukraine Invasion, Philippine Elections, and Misinformation | Discourse! March 2022 (with video)

Podcast

Tune in for this month's Discourse! with Andie Alexander, Daniel Gorman, Jr., and Paul-François Tremlett as they discuss the upcoming elections in the Philippines and the Russian Orthodox church response to the invasion of Ukraine.

28 February 2022

The Devil is in the Details! | Discourse! February 2022 (with video)

Podcast

This month's episode of Discourse! features Candace Mixon, Craig Martin, and Suzanne Owen discussing issues of religious freedom and rhetoric—you won't want to miss it!

31 January 2022

When Religion Doesn’t Behave | Discourse! January 2022 (with video)

Podcast

The first Discourse! of 2022 is hosted by Michael Munnik (Cardiff), who is joined by guests Beth Singler (Cambridge) and Richard Newton (Alabama) to discuss how the media is talking about "religion" this month.

29 November 2021

Religious Freedom, Exemption, and Festivals in Australia | Discourse! November 2021 (with video)

Podcast

In this Aussie episode of November Discourse, Professor Carole Cusack and Ray Radford sit down with Dr. Breann Fallon to discuss religion as in Australian current affairs.

25 October 2021

Religion, Bodies, and the State | Discourse! October 2021

Podcast

Join Emily D. Crews, Alison Robertson, and host Theo Wildcroft for a collection of topical stories on how religion mediates how the state treats human bodies in different ways. And Jesusween!

27 September 2021

#ClassificationMatters | Discourse! September 2021 (with video)

Podcast

Kicking off our first episode of Discourse!, RSP co-founder David Robertson, Ting Guo, and Jacob Barrett discuss the effects of classification in vaccination resistance, the Texas abortion ban, and the equation of the hijab with oppression. It's an exciting episode—be sure to tune in!

28 June 2021

How Critical Race Theory became a Moral Panic | Discourse! June 2021 (with video)

Podcast

For our final episode of Season 10, join Andie Alexander, Ishanika Sharma, and K. Merinda Simmons as they talk all things Critical Race Theory—or at least what can be covered in one episode!

1 June 2021

On Human Remains | Discourse! May 2021 (with video)

Podcast

It's a bumper episode of Discourse this month, as four (count them, four!) RSP editors sit down to discuss how the media are talking about religion this month. First, Breann, David, and Dave introduce Andie as the RSP's new Managing Editor, before we discuss mass COVID cremations in India, a new synagogue at the site of a Nazi massacre in the Ukraine, protests over a new telescope in Hawaiʻi, and the scandal over the remains of the victims of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia. It's not our most lighthearted episode.

26 April 2021

The New Satanic Panic and the Return of Blasphemy | Discourse! April 2021

Podcast

Join this month's host Dan Gorman and guests Maxinne Connolly-Panagopoulos and Sidney Castillo to find out what connects Lil' Nas X, Alabama's yoga ban and Polish black metal. As politics moves rightwards across Europe and the US, are we entering a period of pushback from conservative religious institutions against minority religions and secularism?

29 March 2021

Human Rights in Australia | Discourse! March 2021

Podcast

Join us for our March current events episode focused on human rights in Australia with the U Sydney crew: Prof Carole Cusack, Dr Breann Fallon and Ray Radford.

22 February 2021

Religious Climate Activism | Discourse! February 2021

Podcast

Environmental issues take center stage in this month's episode of Discourse!, hosted by Michael Munnik with guests Suzanne Owen and Daniel Gorman Jr.

25 January 2021

Politics and Conspirituality | Discourse! January 2021

Podcast

In this January episode of our current events podcast, Discourse!, Savannah Finver speaks with Candace Mixon and Suzanne Newcombe as the team wrestles with the QAnon Shaman and the January 6th attack on the U.S. Presidential election certification, pandemic anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns, and growing evidence of the "conspirituality."

30 November 2020

Locked In, Locked Down, and Vaccinated? On Agency and Autonomy | Discourse! November 2020

Podcast

This month's Discourse! - with Chris Cotter, Ray Kim, and Theo Wildcroft - kicks off with a festive twist on our now-traditional focus upon Covid-19 to discuss recent relaxations in restrictions in the UK, halal vaccinations, and much more.

26 October 2020

Presidentialism, or “Who’s Your Daddy?” | Discourse! October 2020

Podcast

In this October 2020 episode of Discourse!, Andie Alexander, Hina Muneeruddin, and Leslie Dorrough Smith explore ideas of infantile citizens, political debates as spectacle, rhetoric as bumper bowling, fist-fighting viruses, and fake news in the discourses surrounding the US Presidential election.

28 September 2020

Religious Festivals during COVID-19 | Discourse! September 2020

Podcast

How will religious festivals continue amid COVID-19 restrictions? How are religious communities around the world adapting to the pressures of 2020's global pandemic? In this September episode of Discourse!, the RSP's Sidney Castillo speaks with guests Maria Nita, Juan Manuel Rubio Arevalo, and Stefanie Butendieck.

14 September 2020

Discourse! The RSP on Current Events

Playlist

The Religious Studies Project's critical take on current events.

31 August 2020

The Roots of QAnon | Discourse! August 2020

Podcast

What is QAnon? In this August 2020 episode of Discourse!, David Robertson, Megan Goodwin, Savannah Finver and Jonathon O'Donnell discuss this conspiracy movement's links to American religious history and contemporary political discourse.

15 June 2020

Discourse! June 2020

Podcast

Amid mass protests against police brutality and systemic racism ongoing in the United States, RSP contributor Ben Marcus speaks with Andre Willis and Carleigh Beriont about race and religion in this month's Discourse episode.

18 May 2020

Discourse! May 2020 with David G. Robertson, Suzanne Owen, and Craig Martin

Podcast

It's ideology, religion and conspiracy all the way in this month's Discourse! David G. Robertson is joined by Suzanne Owen and Craig Martin to discuss the Sun's mockery of pagans, problems with the Guardian's headline that people are returning to the Church, coronavirus conspiracies in India targetting Muslims, and how "idiology" (or one idiology, anyway) is pushing the religion out of religious studies.

20 April 2020

Discourse! April 2020 with Christopher Cotter, Chris Silver and Savannah Finver

Podcast

In April’s episode of Discourse!, Chris Cotter, Chris Silver and Susannah Finver place the current global situation relating to coronavirus front and centre in their discussion.

23 March 2020

Discourse! March 2020 with Theo Wildcroft, Dan Gorman, & Vivian Asimos

Podcast

In this month's episode of Discourse!, Theo Wildcroft, Dan Gorman and special emergency guest Vivian Asimos discuss the US Supreme Court's relationship to Christianity, how the Independent dealt with criticism of a review of a book critical of paganism, and religion, abuse and the idea of a ‘witch hunt’ in yoga and academia. Oh and something called coronavirus?

7 January 2020

Discourse! #13 | January 2020

Podcast

18 December 2019

Discourse #12 | December 2019

Podcast

19 November 2019

Discourse #11 | Oct 2019

Podcast

Chris Cotter is joined by Susannah Crockford and Sierra Lawson in this month's edition of discourse, discussing college football politics in Alabama, Donald Trump's new 'spiritual adviser', a Day of the Dead/Dia de Muertos memorializing migrants who have died at the US border, Armistice/Remembrance/Veterans day rituals, and the recent controversy surrounding QR codes at the AAR-SBL.

26 September 2019

Discourse #10 |Sept 2019

Podcast

17 April 2019

Discourse #7, April Edition

Podcast

This month on Discourse, Jaqueline Hargreaves, Jennifer Uzell and Theo Wildcroft approach the news from a Religious Studies perspective. We cover public responses to the Christchurch attack and the wearing of religious symbols as an act of solidarity. We discuss the boundaries of culture and religion, secularism and Buddhism, talking about the translation of mindfulness practices into indigenous Australian languages. Finally, we contemplate the intricate relationships between religious practice and materials, considering a number of recent news stories that involve fire and ash in acts of purification and consecration.

13 March 2019

Discourse #6, March Edition: With Joel Ritala, Jarno Sandberg, Anton Stranden, and Martta Tenhu

Podcast

This special edition of #Discourse was recorded at the University of Helsinki in mid-February, with Chris and Study of Religion students Joel Ritala, Jarno Sandberg, Anton Stranden and Martta Tenhu. Topics covered include conspiracy theories, the entanglement of 'religion' in education and festive celebrations in Finland and the UK, the first amendment of the United States constitution, and a controversial conversion in the Netherlands.

27 February 2019

Discourse #5, February Edition: With Irene Oh and Carolyn Davis

Podcast

On this month's episode of Discourse, Dr. Irene Oh (Director of the Peace Studies Program, George Washington University) and Dr. Carolyn Davis (independent consultant) spoke with Ben Marcus about a few key stories in religion and public life from February.

12 December 2018

Protected: Discourse #3: Essi Mäkelä and Benjamin Marcus

Podcast

7 November 2018

Patrons Special: RSP Discourse #2 (October 2018)

Podcast

Welcome to the second issue of “Discourse”, where our editors and guests take a critical look at how the category “religion” is being used in the media, the public sphere, and the academic field. This episode, Chris (Cotter) is joined by Chris (Silver) and Theo Wildcroft, both long-time friends and contributors to the RSP, for a cross-Atlantic discussion. After the inevitable discussion of US identity conflicts and terrorism, and ugly manifestation of the KKK in Northern Ireland, discussion moved on to the accepted protocols of trick or treating, and the use of patisserie in debates on LGBT human rights vs religious freedom. Can’t access this episode? Subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/projectrs

19 September 2018

Patrons Special: RSP Discourse #1 (September 2018)

Podcast

Welcome to "Discourse", where our editors and guests take a critical look at how the category "religion" is being used in the media, the public sphere, and the academic field. This episode, David and Chris are joined by RSP Associate Editor Breann Fallon from Sydney, Australia, to discuss new Aussy Prime Minister ScoMo's Pentacostalism, an Abductee Democratic candidate in Miami, Scottish Nationalism as "religion-like", and more.

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