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There’s a comforting myth Americans like to tell themselves about religion: that people either “lose faith” because they’re rebellious, lazy, or corrupted by TikTok—or they stay religious because they never really questioned anything in the first place. It’s a tidy story. It’s also deeply wrong. The data paints a messier, more human picture. According to new Pew Research Center findings, more than one-third of U.S. adults no longer identify with the religion they were raised in, while a solid majority still do. This isn’t a story of collapse versus loyalty. It’s a story of meaning, belief, disillusionment, drift, and timing—and above all, experience. Most people who leave don’t storm out in protest. They fade. Most people who stay don’t do so out of habit. They believe. And that distinction matters far more than America’s culture-war narratives want to admit. The Big Sorting: Who Stays, Who Leaves, and Why This Isn’t a Culture-War Headline Let’s start with the headline number everyone ...

Some people go to church on Sundays. Others go to HR on Monday. And under President Donald Trump’s second coming of “faith-based freedom,” it’s getting harder to tell the difference. In Trump’s America 2.0, your cubicle might double as a confessional, your team meeting could start with a prayer, and your company Slack could soon feature Bible verses sandwiched between Q3 updates and cat memes. The message from Washington is clear: Bring your whole soul to work—especially the religious part. Welcome to the Great Corporate Reawakening , where freedom of religion meets the 9-to-5 grind—and everyone else gets to file the paperwork. I. Thou Shalt Not Clock In on the Sabbath The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission—once the sleepy HR cop of the federal government—has been reborn under Trump’s gospel of “religious liberty.” In the Book of Trump, Chapter 2025, Verse Brittany Panuccio, the EEOC gained a Republican majority and began flexing its faith muscles. Its latest crusade? Apple....

If you thought religion and politics in Israel were finally heading for a peaceful divorce, think again. The newest Religion and State Index by the religious-rights group Hiddush reads like the prenup gone wrong. In a poll conducted July 31–August 1, 2025, only 57 percent of Jewish Israelis say they support separating religion and state —down from a 68 percent peak in 2017 and the lowest level since 2012. The headlines practically write themselves: Secularism Ghosted at the Chuppah. But this is Israel, where politics and theology are like that toxic couple everyone begs to break up. Instead, they keep renewing their vows—at the expense of anyone hoping for a modern civil state. From “Startup Nation” to “Stuck-at-the-Altar Nation” Israel loves to brag about being the “Startup Nation,” but when it comes to church–state separation, it’s running on Windows 95. Hiddush has been tracking the numbers since 2009, and 2025 is the worst reading in over a decade. Let’s put that in perspec...

OPM says be “generous” with religion-based telework… just as other agencies start interrogating disabled workers about their need for accommodations. Because apparently, Jesus needs Zoom more than your spinal cord does. Well, would you look at that? The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), that ever-pulsing heartbeat of bureaucratic brilliance, has delivered unto us a memo. And not just any memo—no, this one practically glows with holy light. In his first official act since Senate confirmation, OPM Director Scott Kupor has anointed a new golden rule: Thou shalt be generous in granting telework accommodations for religious observances. Hallelujah! Blessed be the bandwidth. But let’s pause the hymn for a second. Because while the Lord’s followers are being told they can pray from their living rooms, disabled federal workers are simultaneously being frog-marched back into cubicles. Yes, just days before this gospel of remote righteousness dropped, the Department of Veterans Affairs s...

INTRODUCTION: TRANSPARENCY WITH A TEMPLE TWIST When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons, a.k.a. the Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. the only church with a PR team busier than Beyoncé’s), decides to drop not one, not two, but three new Gospel Topics pages tackling religion, finances, and violence—you know it’s about to get biblical. Or at least, corporate biblical. Published quietly on May 29, 2025, at the spiritually convenient hour of 9 p.m. MDT (God’s favorite timezone), the update aimed to clear the air on 32 burning questions. Or maybe just make the smoke less visible. Either way, we’re diving in. So buckle up. Whether you're a devout disciple, a curious ex-mo, or just someone who wonders what happens inside a Mormon temple besides, apparently, not blood atonement—we're taking the tour the Deseret News tried to make boring. But we’re going to spice it up like it’s post-FHE karaoke night at BYU. PART I: FOLLOW THE MONEY (BUT FIRST, LOOK AT THE...

It’s a brisk March day in 2025, and somewhere between a Talmudic scroll and a malfunctioning AI toaster, Russ Roberts and Ross Douthat are earnestly holding hands and skipping through the metaphysical meadows of belief on EconTalk. You may know Russ Roberts as that rare intellectual who talks about economics and faith in the same breath without causing Twitter to spontaneously combust. And Ross Douthat? Think New York Times columnist meets medieval mystic, armed with a thesaurus, a bad case of Harvard nostalgia, and a low-key obsession with hellfire. Their conversation, centered around Douthat’s latest book, “Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious,” is what happens when two deeply thoughtful, intelligent men try to have a grown-up conversation about God while half their audience clutches pearls and the other half is frantically Googling “atheist vaccine.” Let’s dive in, shall we? The Smart Person’s Dilemma: Can Brains and Belief Coexist? We start with Russ doing his usual homes...

Introduction: Well, folks, it seems that the good ol' gridiron isn't just a battlefield of tackles and touchdowns anymore—it's now a pulpit too. Boise State football coach Spencer Danielson has brought a whole new meaning to the term “Hail Mary,” and it doesn’t involve a last-second throw downfield. Instead, Danielson’s public declarations of faith and love for Jesus have landed the university in hot water, with the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) firing off a formal complaint quicker than you can say "amen." Act 1: The Holy Handoff The controversy kicked off after the Fiesta Bowl on December 31, when Danielson, with all the fervor of a televangelist, declared Boise State football a program that would “give Jesus the glory.” He made it clear that if this approach wasn’t for you, well, you might want to take your football aspirations elsewhere. You have to admire the boldness—it’s not every day a coach basically says, "Come for the football, stay for t...

Ah, religion and perfectionism—a match made in...heaven? Or is it the fiery depths of unrealistic self-loathing? Let’s find out. Spoiler alert: Contrary to popular belief and the occasional passive-aggressive podcast, research shows that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), aka Mormons, are less prone to toxic perfectionism than their secular or even agnostic/atheist peers. Who knew the faith branded with the “be ye therefore perfect” tagline would turn out to be less obsessed with unhealthy striving? Grab your scriptures and a heavy dose of sarcasm—this is going to be fun. The Gospel According to BYU: “We’re Totally Not That Perfectionistic, Promise” Picture it: a university therapist casually blames “the gospel” for BYU students’ alleged perfectionism problem. Not shocking, right? We’ve all heard the trope: Mormon kids are basically Type A on steroids, fretting over their GPA, their eternal salvation, and whether their Instagram aesthetic screams eterna...