Category: Articles

The (Immoral) Politics of Authoritarianism and the Bible (Then and Now)

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
December 11, 2025

As more of the Epstein files are released, reminding us of Donald Trump’s close association with Jeffrey Epstein and the young people he abused and trafficked, as well as the president’s ongoing array of misogynist insults and actions (like calling journalist Catherine Lucey “piggy” and name-calling Marjorie Taylor Greene to the point where she jumped ship), what keeps coming to my mind are the sexual exploits of authoritarians throughout history. As a scholar of the New Testament and the origins of Christianity, I have a special interest in the lives of the Roman emperors — in particular, the notorious Emperor Nero.

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Theological Abominations in Trump’s America

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
September 9, 2025

It was a moment somewhat like this, 30 years ago, that turned me into a biblical scholar. In the lead-up to the passage of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, political and religious leaders quoted scripture to justify shutting down food programs and kicking mothers and their babies off public assistance. Those leaders, many of them self-described Christians, chose to ignore the majority of passages in the Bible that preached “good news” to the poor and promised freedom to those captive to injustice and oppression.

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Liturgies of liberation offer “a shared moral vision for a better world.”

Faith & Leadership
By Liz Theoharis & Charon Hribar
July 22, 2025

In a world consumed by political polarization, economic crises and rising violence, there is a growing hunger for spiritual practices that do not retreat from reality but help us face it with courage, clarity and collective action. In this moment, the resurgence of ritual, prayer and cultural arts within social movements offers more than comfort and belonging; it provides strategy, sustenance and a shared moral vision for a better world.

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The Struggle to Thrive and Not Just Barely Survive in Trump’s America

Tom Dispatch

By Liz Theoharis and Noam Sandweiss-Back

July 20, 2025

Most days, in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Bible Belt, the old sanctuary at Christ Lutheran Church sits empty. Decades ago, it was home to a congregation of 3,000 people. By the late 1990s, that number had dwindled to seven. At the turn of the millennium, Jody Silliker, a young minister fresh out of seminary, was sent to shutter the downtown church, a mile from the state legislature in Harrisburg.

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And What It Means in the Age of Trump

Tom Dispatch
By Aaron Scott, Liz Theoharis and Moses Hernandez McGavin
June 3, 2025

This year, Pride Month arrives at an especially dire moment for the LGBTQ+ community. Under the second Trump administration, homophobic vitriol and violence are on the rise. On Elon Musk’s X platform, a “deepfake” video of Donald Trump canceling Pride Month has gone viral.

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Anti-poverty activism has provided a model for transformational power, based on four strategic principles

The Guardian
by Rev Dr Liz Theoharis and Noam Sandweiss-Back
June 1, 2025

For tens of millions of people, Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is a grotesque nightmare. The proposed legislative cuts, including historic attacks on Medicaid and Snap, come at a time when 60% of Americans already cannot make ends meet.

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The Power of the Poor in Trump’s America

Tom Dispatch
by Liz Theoharis and Noam Sandweiss-Back
April 15, 2025

The day after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the 10 richest people in the world — including nine Americans — expanded their wealth by nearly $64 billion, the greatest single-day increase in recorded history. Since then, an unholy marriage of billionaire investors, tech bros, Christian nationalists, and, of course, Donald Trump has staged an oligarchic assault on our democracy.

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A Battle of Theologies in the Age of Trump

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis
March 2, 2025

“There has almost always been an outright hostility that is shown towards people of the Christian faith,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said on a podcast recently. He was talking with Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana lawmaker and president of the Family Research Council, about freedom of religion and the actions of the second Trump administration.

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Building a Movement for Social Justice in a Time of Peril

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis & William D. Hartung
January 23, 2025

With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, advocates for peace, social justice, racial and economic equality, fair immigration policies, climate renewal, trans rights, and other movements for change are bracing for hard times. The new administration will be doggedly opposed to so many of the values we hold dear, as well as programs that have helped keep millions of Americans above the poverty line.

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How to Survive Donald Trump’s America

Tom Dispatch
By Liz Theoharis & Shailly Gupta Barnes
November 24, 2024

“If they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31)

Before November 5th, millions of us were already struggling with poverty, extreme storms, immigration nightmares, anti-trans bills, criminalized reproductive health, the demolition of homeless encampments, the silencing of freedom of speech on campuses… and, of course, the list only goes on and on.

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