Study of Religion as an Analytical Discipline Workshop
@soraaad.bsky.social
3.5K followers 4.2K following 560 posts
SORAAAD.org, allowing people to gather w/o being religious since 2011. Qual Research on Religion, Religion-like stuff, and Religion & stuff best not studied as religious but key to understanding those doing, being, saying & feeling stuff labeled religion
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soraaad.bsky.social
Please note:

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amandasmith.bsky.social
The all-knowing bsky mods gave Erin Biba a 24 hour suspension for a months-old skeet about Christian Zionism, and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this happened when she’s been vocally criticizing Jay
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laurenscribbler.bsky.social
This is a great explainer about Peter Thiel and his world -- which is our world now. Can't wait for Part 2.
bradleyonishi.bsky.social
Peter Thiel’s theology is a strange materialist techno mashup, heavy on Armageddon with a hint of a savior who saves the kings, and not the rest of us. I explain here.

www.youtube.com/live/GiBhzOA...
The Gospel of Peter Thiel (Part I)
YouTube video by Straight White American Jesus Podcast
www.youtube.com
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sorayanadiamcdonald.com
People paid $200 a ticket to listen to Peter Thiel do bog issue antisemitism for four lectures about his belief in the antichrist.

Lots of fools wishing to be relieved of their money, I guess.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Screenshot text from The Guardian:
He believes the Armageddon will be ushered in by an antichrist-type figure who cultivates a fear of existential threats such as climate change, AI and nuclear war to amass inordinate power. The idea is this figure will convince people to do everything they can to avoid something like a third world war, including accepting a one-world order charged with protecting everyone from the apocalypse that implements a complete restriction of technological progress. In his mind, this is already happening. Thiel said that international financial bodies, which make it more difficult for people to shelter their wealth in tax havens, are one sign the antichrist may be amassing power and hastening Armageddon, saying: “It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money.”

It’s because the antichrist talks about Armageddon nonstop. We’re all scared to death that we’re sleepwalking into Armageddon. And then because we know world war three will be an unjust war, that pushes us. We’re going hard towards peace at any price.

What I worry about in that sort of situation is you don’t think too hard about the details of the peace and it becomes much more likely that you get an unjust peace. This is, by the way, the slogan of the antichrist: 1 Thessalonians 5:3. It’s peace and safety, sort of the unjust peace.

Let me conclude on this choice of antichrist or Armageddon. And again, in some ways the stagnation and the existential risks are complementary, not contradictory. The existential risk pushes us towards stagnation and distracts us from it.

How does Thiel think Armageddon will happen?
Thiel rarely gives a definitive answer about who exactly the antichrist might be or how Armageddon might come about – a central point across his lectures is that nothing is written in stone or inevitable – but he does give the contours of what a global conflict that could lead to Armageddon might look like.
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sorayanadiamcdonald.com
"Thiel said that international financial bodies, which make it more difficult for people to shelter their wealth in tax havens, are one sign the antichrist may be amassing power and hastening Armageddon, saying: 'It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money.'"

So he thinks we're all idiots, huh?
Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist
The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’
www.theguardian.com
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Reposted by Study of Religion as an Analytical Discipline Workshop
Reposted by Study of Religion as an Analytical Discipline Workshop
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propublica.org
The Education Department has hired at least 9 people from the America First Policy Institute, co-founded by Secretary Linda McMahon.

The think tank’s listed goals include ending the separation of church and state and “plant[ing] Jesus in every space.”
These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.
Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...
www.propublica.org
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premnsikka.bsky.social
UK Universities cut 12,000 jobs, more on the way.

40% of Unis in financial crisis.

Major exporter destroyed by successive govts

Obstacles for foreign students.
Low fees in England, lack of govt funding.
£267bn student debt.
Home student numbers down.

How will the UK compete with other nations?
Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens
University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.
www.bbc.co.uk
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evansmithhist.bsky.social
With the publication of our book 'In Solidarity, Under Suspicion: The British Far Left from 1956' next month, @manchesterup.bsky.social are offering a 30% discount using the discount code below!

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526179593/
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Reposted by Study of Religion as an Analytical Discipline Workshop
mark-bray.bsky.social
I teach a history of antifascism course @ruhistorydept.bsky.social and figured I'd start an ongoing thread this semester to share some insights from course readings and recommend some great works on antifascism.

🧵
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bakerdphd.bsky.social
I'll be updating next week's current-state-of-state-higher-ed-policy slides.

Left is an article about the VA senate dems telling UVA their state funding will be in question if they agree to that odious compact. On the right is the key part of the senate letter.

www.cbs19news.com/news/state-s...
Screenshot from the top of the article. Title is "State Senate Democrats tell UVA to not consider education compact." Published today. 

Main text reads "RICHMOND, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The University of Virginia could lose state funding if it signs onto an education compact it received from the federal government last week." Screenshot from the letter from VA dems which reads "Therefore, we call upon you to immediately cease all consideration of signing this compact.
Furthermore, we want to be explicitly clear: if the University of Virginia signs this compact, there will be significant consequences in future Virginia budget cycles. As the leadership of the Senate with responsibility for appropriations affecting higher education, we will work with our colleagues to ensure that the Commonwealth does not subsidize an institution that has ceded its independence to federal
political control."
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marisakabas.bsky.social
New — I was fortunate to speak in front of students and faculty at Grinnell College in Iowa tonight about the business of independent journalism, the current state of media under Trump 2.0, and billionaire control.

I published my full speech because I thought it might resonate beyond campus:
Truth, morality and independence in journalism under the second Trump regime
My full remarks to students and faculty at Grennell College.
www.thehandbasket.co
soraaad.bsky.social
"The monument, sacred cave, and “twin rock idol” were all dedicated to Matar (“mother”), the archaeologists found. The discovery significantly expanded the footprint influenced by the Phrygian religion roughly 2,600 to 2,800 years ago."

www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Archaeologists Discovered Remnants of an Ancient Religion. They Weren't Supposed to Be There.
The cult site dedicated to a goddess of the Phrygian religion was further west than any previous evidence of the religion’s spread.
www.yahoo.com
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buddhasinthewest.bsky.social
Nōfuku-ji, a Buddhist temple in the port city of Kobe, Japan, was reportedly founded by the monk Saichō in 805.

A thousand years later, the colossal Hyōgo Daibutsu was built on temple grounds in 1891, but the statue did not survive beyond World War II. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Japan
The image depicts a colossal statue of Vairocana Buddha sitting in a meditative pose, with detailed curls on the head and serene facial features. The statue is positioned on a pedestal and surrounded by rocks and foliage. To the left of the Buddha, there is an ornate vertical column topped with a golden ornament. A red postage stamp is affixed to the upper left corner. The sky is a gradient of soft blue and orange hues, colored by hand.

Sort available posts on Bluesky using #Buddhasinthewest | All posts archived here: tinyurl.com/4kmcwp87 🔍 🗃️ 📜
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sandeepbak.bsky.social
20th Nov 2025 at 2.00 pm (Paris time), I'll be giving a talk on queer & decolonial thinking & how it is evolving in our times. It's co-badged by Université Paris Cité & CLAGS, CUNY. Everyone is welcome.
Image courtesy: Mario Patiño
Hybrid event. Registration required: u-paris.fr/universite-o...
Flyer of Decolonial Queer Thinking. Image by Mario Patiño, artist. Image of a person of colour with a white veil and naked torso with a flower in their mouth.
soraaad.bsky.social
chipmunkwhisperer.bsky.social
Pastor David Black, First Presbyterian Church, being pepper-sprayed outside ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois.
soraaad.bsky.social
Religion in the U.S.

Immigration
Freedom of Religious Expression
Establishment Clause
Right of Free Assembly
Non-Violent Direct Action
Project 2025
darrigomelanie.bsky.social
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
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soraaad.bsky.social
College and University Protest Movement and Union Organizers, please note
melissagiragrant.com
there is no need to take tactical social movement advice from former fbi agents posting on social media