Religious Studies News communicates important events of the field and examines critical issues in education, pedagogy, research, publishing, and the public understanding of religion. Sometimes that involves sharing what others are writing about the field and these issues.
In Open Tabs, RSN editors will share the articles they’ve been reading and thinking about. If you have recommendations for articles, podcasts, or other media you’ve recently encountered that examine issues that fall under the purview of RSN, email us.
What We’re Reading
Editor’s Note: The first five articles below cover topics including religious freedom, immigration, and the continued destructive intrusion of the state into our communities.
“‘The Perception of Danger Everywhere’: Navigating Campus Life Amid ICE Enforcement”
Published January 21, 2026, in The Chronicle of Higher Education
In this article, Scott Carlson describes how heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Minnesota has created a pervasive sense of fear and anxiety among students and campuses. From the article:
“Like many universities in the area, Augsburg is taking a page from the Covid playbook; it’s added about 10 new online sections of undergraduate general-education courses and allowed faculty members to move classes online or work with students who want to stay at home. Online registrations are up by about 200 students. The university also opened emergency housing for students who want to stay on campus; about two-thirds of the students commute. Augsburg is also in contact with a team of pro bono lawyers made up of some alumni. Pribbenow said the university is careful not to overpromise how much security it can guarantee to students. “Any claim that we can keep them safe or whatever is just ridiculous.”
“Hundreds of clergy descend on Minneapolis and go on lookout for ICE”
Published January 22, 2026, in Religion News Service
In this story, Jack Jenkins covers how roughly 200 clergy members from across the country traveled to Minneapolis to stand in solidarity with immigrant communities and bear witness to the increased ICE activity and its unjust behavior. From the article:
“The faith leaders, who are in Minneapolis as part of a larger convening focused on religious pushback to ICE, deployed to neighborhoods with significant immigrant populations, where DHS agents have been most active during an ongoing campaign known as Operation Metro Surge. The clergy, who hail from a range of traditions and worship communities across the country, sang on the buses as they ventured out into the street. They belted out hymns and songs popular during the Civil Rights Movement, such as “Woke Up This Morning.”
For the Rev. James Galasinski, who leads a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Canton, New York, it was only a few minutes after he arrived at his designated neighborhood before he and two of his clergy colleagues encountered ICE agents.”
“Nine faith leaders arrested at ‘pray-in’ at Susan Collins’ Portland office”
Published January 27, 2026, in Maine Public
In this article, Maine Public Radio’s Nora Saks reports on the recent arrests of local clergy and faith leaders who staged a “pray-in” outside Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ Portland office to urge her to reject a Homeland Security funding bill and call for an end to ICE operations in Maine. From the article:
“Robert Levin, a member of the Portland Friends Meeting, helped organize the demonstration. He told Maine Public he was willing to be risk arrest, and that this wasn’t his “first rodeo.”
“My Quaker faith is deeply bound with a sense of justice,” said Levin. “And nothing lights my fire more than seeing injustice. And my fire is lit these days, unfortunately, by what I’m seeing.”
Collins’ state office representative, Halsey Frank, agreed to meet with a few demonstrators at a time, but asked the rest of the crowd to disperse multiple times.
When they refused, Portland police officers arrived and arrested those still on the premises without incident.”
“Faith leaders criticize Trump administration’s removal of Philadelphia slavery exhibit”
Published January 28, 2026, in Religion News Service
In this report, Adelle M. Banks describes the controversy after the National Park Service removed panels from “The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation in Philadelphia,” an exhibit that had highlighted the paradox of slavery and freedom in early U.S. history and featured Black church pioneers such as African Methodist Episcopal founder Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, the first Black Episcopal priest. From the report:
“Independence National Historical Park, which hosted the exhibit, was cited in a March 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump. Titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the order directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to ensure that monuments at national sites “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
“Pastor Searches For Missing Congregant, Learns He Was Taken By ICE Officers”
Published January 29, 2026, in Religion Unplugged (originally published in The Maine Monitor)
In this article, Kristian Moravec reports on a story coming from the Rehoboth Christian Church in Westbrook, ME, where the search for a missing congregant led to the discovery that he’d been detained by ICE agents. From the report:
“Last week, Maine Monitor reporting found that a mother of four with no criminal history was detained after dropping off a child at school, and a civil engineer with no criminal history was detained by masked agents who smashed his window and left his car running in the street.
Nzolameso, who has been leading the church for five years, has found himself navigating a challenging immigration detention system on behalf of some of his congregants. Kalonji is the fourth congregant of his church to have been detained by immigration officials in the past six months, Nzolameso said. Three other men were detained between August and December, he said, and only one has been released.
“I’m the pastor. I need to take care [of] them,” he said. “I preach the word of God for them. But I need to care for them, too, because they have no family.””
What Else We’re Reading
“Our Lady of the Upside Down: Kali in “Stranger Things” harkens back to the Goddess Herself”
Published January 20, 2026, in Religion Dispatches
In this reported culture essay, AAR member Sohini Sarah Pillai explores how a contentious character from Netflix’s Stranger Things embodies the spirit of her Hindu goddess namesake. From the essay:
“The series’ creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, have explicitly said “we’re big Indiana Jones fans, big fans of Temple of Doom.” So I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me that Stranger Things introduced a character with the goddess’ namesake: Kali Prasad, AKA “Eight,” a mysterious young woman of South Asian descent played by Danish actor Linnea Berthelsen. This Kali’s been called the show’s “most hated character,” and in the days leading up to Stranger Things’ epic finale, fans and critics predicted the series’ last episode would uncover that Kali is “bad,” “evil,” and “secretly a villain.”
But (much to my delight and the show’s credit) Kali Prasad is no monster. Instead, Netflix’s most watched show portrays its Kali in ways that strongly resemble popular Hindu depictions of the goddess Kali in premodern Sanskrit narratives, the Kali Puja celebrations that take place each autumn in West Bengal, and the absolute banger “Jai Maa Kali” from the 1995 Bollywood blockbuster Karan Arjun.”
One More Thing…
In celebration of Sinners receiving a record-setting number of Oscar nominations, we recommend reading Amber Lowe’s review of the film in Reading Religion.
News Source
