Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rachel Wagner

@drrachelwagner.bsky.social

1.6K followers 3.5K following 2.5K posts

Author, Cowboy Apocalypse (2025) and Godwired (2012). Prof of Religious Studies @ Ithaca College, mom & caregiver, disgruntled idealist, loud introvert. Religion, gaming, politics, media, film. #cowboyapocalypse https://tinyurl.com/CowboyApocalypse

tinyurl.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · Apr 4

Out now! I’m up for writing short pieces for outlets, interviews, whatever helps people get the info. There’s a whole chapter on guns (13 ways of looking at a gun).

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · Jan 15

Here's a code for 30% off my book, releasing in February. Want to understand more about the relationship between guns, media, and apocalypticism in America? I spent 10 years thinking about it. Review for a journal or a podcast or a news outlet? Let me know and I can probably get you a free copy.

1 3 25

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 1h

Leaving spiritual petit fours under pillows on public benches.

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 1h

Leaving spiritual petit fours in copy machines.

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 6h

Today in hope class: The “geologic sublime.” Contextualize humanity within the recesses of time, and our troubles remain but exist alongside all of earth’s (and the cosmos’s) movements.

The Geological Sublime, by Lewis Hyde

Butterflies, deep time, and climate change

harpers.org

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 22h

A new review! As guns continue to define American life and identity, we can understand better how we got here.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · 1d

“@drrachelwagner.bsky.social names two foundational influences behind this cowboy messiah ideology: Christian apocalypticism and American frontier mythology.”

– @amarpeterman.bsky.social reviews Cowboy Apocalypse

www.christiancentury.org/books/self-a...

@nyupress.bsky.social

The self-appointed cowboy messiah

Rachel Wagner traces the way frontier fantasies and apocalyptic faith fuel today’s gun-obsessed...

www.christiancentury.org

1 3

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 22h

Thank you so much for this. It means more than you know. Thank you for your time, your thoughts, and for seeing value in the work.

Reposted by Rachel Wagner

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 23h

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.

1.6K 20K 53K

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 1d

Reminder, and a wish for better things.

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

Outside the Dollar General
in the tiny hamlet of Candor
nobody cares if you grieve the
collapse of decency
by sobbing into the steering wheel
nowhere good to go, while cops
blow tear gas in faces of babies
kept safe by zipties behind their backs America is great again.

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

Reminder that YOU ARE STILL HERE. Despite numerous attempts to erase the very notion of love and compassion and diversity from the definition of America, we are still here. Of course you’re afraid. But also you are still you. Presence and existence (and being loud when you can) are political acts.❤️❤️

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS ITHACA” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

NO KINGS ITHACA · No Kings

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

www.mobilize.us

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

No kings. Find an event.

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

www.nokings.org

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

Hmm. I guess I feel like that’s kind of the reason I would go, to push back without fighting (in the angry, violent sense). I want to insert myself into their narrative as someone who loves others and make my presence be recognized. Not during worship or anything, I’d be quiet. But afterward.

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

I keep wondering what would happen if I started attending right wing evangelical churches to be an example of a human who believes in all the things they hate, but who is not demonic. Would conversation about loving everyone be possible? Could they consider Christianity need not be about violence?

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

Are they already seizing authentic passports and drivers licenses claiming they aren’t, in order to prevent people from voting (or working, or driving)?

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

What republic?

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

Yikes. It’s not the Lord helping them, that’s for sure. Maybe a different one.

Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 3d

Christian nationalist fascism: when they lower masked Gestapo goons from helicopters in the night to smash apartment windows, terrorize residents, and zip-tie and kidnap children for not being white looking enough— and then violate the 1st Amendment by reciting scripture from a government account.

Reposted by Rachel Wagner

Christina(Tina) Hendriks @renissance1.bsky.social · 2d

www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/20...

Second released flotilla activist confirms Israel beat Greta Thunberg

The rogue Zionist state's violence and humiliation of an activist like Greta Thunberg, known worldwide, can only backfire on it

www.thecanary.co

3 1

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe that others dare to exist in your vicinity? Or they know they’re full of nothing but hot air and resentment?

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 3d

Christian nationalists, despite claims, are not nostalgic for the past. They make their place on today’s world by denying the right of others to exist, precisely *because* they know others exist that challenge their own simplicity, rigidity, narcissism. They can’t escape diversity so they lash out.

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 3d

It is obvious but striking that Christian nationalism depends on the idea that (only certain) Christians have the right (they say obligation!) to rule over (and do violence to) others; to define out of “truth” itself all other religious views, all other Christians, all atheists.

1 2

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 3d

I imagine a coalition of religious groups, nonreligious groups, even atheists united under something like “in love we trust” bc kindness, responsibility, compassion and inclusion are not uniquely or even wholly religious values. If they steal God, we can claim love bc they sure don’t have that.

1 2 5

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 3d

God and Country is now streaming online in multiple locations. If you haven’t watched it yet you should.

How to Watch the "God & Country" Documentary

It's only available in select theaters, but you may be able to do something about that.

open.substack.com

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 3d

If God is love,
in love we trust
and Christian nationalism is a lie

1 2

Rachel Wagner @drrachelwagner.bsky.social · 3d

My ten year old’s poem, that he was made to write in school, so he embedded some sarcasm. Who doesn’t love tires? Who doesn’t need “human traits?” (Well, non-humans I guess).