Good Girls and Alpha Males: Madeline Peltz

Join us on Friday, January 29 at 12p/MST for a conversation with journalist and author Madeline Peltz. She’ll discuss her new book Good Girls and Alpha Males: How Conservative Media is Targeting Gen Z.

Click here to register for this virtual presentation.

Madeline Peltz is a writer, journalist, and researcher born in Chicago. Over the last decade, her reporting has appeared in Media Matters for America, MSNOW, Newsweek, More Perfect Union, and more. She has been quoted as an expert on right-wing media and the conservative movement in The New York Times, CNN, Democracy Now!, The Washington Post, BBC, The Guardian, and elsewhere.

The fight for young minds is happening daily on podcasts, YouTube, and social media—platforms saturated with conservative messaging. The right has spent decades investing in this year-round digital propaganda apparatus, targeting Gen Z’s economic insecurity and distrust of mainstream institutions to push answers rooted in hyper-individualism, misogyny, and bigotry.

In Good Girls and Alpha Males, journalist Madeline Peltz takes readers inside the online conservative sphere shaping the future of politics. From “tradwife” influencers to “manosphere” mouthpieces, she exposes the voices driving Gen Z’s shift to the right along gendered lines. With equal ferocity, Peltz interrogates the Democratic Party’s culpability, condemning the hostility to its younger, more progressive flank.

The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Michael Blanding

Join us on Friday, December 4 at noon/MST as we welcome special guest Michael Blanding to discuss his new book The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family’s Quest to Craft a Christian Nation.

Register for this virtual presentation here. 

Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Smithsonian, Slate, The Nation, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Boston. His newest book, The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family’s Quest to Craft a Christian Nation was published by PublicAffairs in July 2026. 

His previous book, In Shakespeare’s Shadow: A Rogue Scholar’s Quest to Reveal the True Source Behind the World’s Greatest Plays, was published by Hachette Books in 2021, and won the International Book Award for Narrative Non-Fiction. Before that, The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps, was published by Gotham in 2014 and named a New York Times Bestseller; an NPR Book of the Year; a New England Indie Bestseller; and winner of an NES Book Award from the New England Society of New York. His first book, The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink, was published by Avery in 2010.

Michael was formerly a senior writing fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. In addition, he has been a senior writer at Harvard Business School; a senior writer and associate editor at Boston Magazine; and editor of New England Travel magazine. He has also co-written several travel guides to New England destinations for Moon Handbooks, and taught journalism and creative nonfiction at Tufts University, Emerson College, Northeastern University, and GrubStreet Writers. He lives in the Boston area and has two children. Visit his website at www.michaelblanding.com. 

Weapons of Worship: Rick Pidcock

Join us on November 20 at noon/MST as we welcome special guest Rick Pidcock to discuss his new book Weapons of Worship: How the Songs of Evangelicalism Form the Soundtrack of Extremism. 

Register for this virtual presentation here. 

In a sweeping investigation of the music of megachurches and political rallies, how did songs beloved by white evangelicals become the soundtrack of Christian supremacy’s war on democracy?

Praise and worship music often fits hand-in-glove with Christian Trumpism, and in this unsettling account, journalist Rick Pidcock asks: How did songs like “How Great Is Our God” become anthems of rallies for the regime? How do lyrics like “Praise is the water my enemies drown in” shape the people who sing them? Singing with others creates a powerful sense of belonging and transcendence. So what happens when the music of one movement becomes the soundtrack of another?

Pidcock, who led worship in evangelical churches for twenty years, uncovers how worship gatherings blur into political rallies and vice versa. He takes us to worship gatherings on the National Mall, to charismatic concerts around the country, and into the early days of contemporary Christian music itself. He looks at the racism, misogyny, apocalypticism, and individualism that underwrite the songs, and at the ways children are being indoctrinated by the lyrics of silly songs with disturbing undertones. He uncovers a worship culture increasingly controlled by a set of powerbrokers and looks at how algorithms define the worship repertoire.

Celebrity worship leaders like Sean Feucht and worship collectives like Bethel Music and Hillsong are crafting worship experiences that strengthen the power of those at the top, dehumanize those below, and wage war against people who won’t submit. The same songs sung at your local megachurch this Sunday–about power and punishment, floods and flames, pain and praise–now mark many political gatherings. As praise and worship music sands down the edges between Christianity and politics, Pidcock asks: Where are songs of conquest and spiritual warfare taking us?

 

An American Problem: Kevin Morris

Join us on October 30 at noon/PT as we welcome special guest Dr. Kevin Morris to discuss his latest book, An American Problem: How the County Built – and the Supreme Court Broke – the Voting Rights Act.

Register for this virtual presentation here. 

Kevin T. Morris is senior research fellow and voting policy scholar at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

The rise and fall of the Voting Rights Act, from the triumph of its passage in 1965 to its evisceration by the Supreme Court in their 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally made good on the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment, which nearly a century before had granted Black Americans the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act was the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, which had battled for years against voting laws that made it all but impossible for Black Americans to cast a ballot. The act was a resounding success, bringing Americans of all races and ethnicities into the democratic process. And then, in 2013, the Supreme Court brought this progress to a screeching halt with their decision in Shelby County v. Holder. In this book, Michael Miller and Kevin Morris offer a sweeping history of the Voting Rights Act and the attacks it has suffered.

 

Politics By Formula: Leah Rosenstiel

Join us on October 16 at noon/PT as we welcome special guest Leah Rosenstiel, PhD, to discuss her new book Politics by Formula: How Congressional Policymaking Creates Disparities.

Register for this virtual presentation here. 

Roughly $1 trillion of the US federal budget is distributed annually through grants-in-aid to state and local governments rather than individuals, heavily impacting local public service quality. While these funding formulas seem impartial and based on objective needs like population or poverty, Leah Rosenstiel’s Politics by Formula reveals they are deeply distorted by political institutions. Congressional committee leaders deliberately design these formulas to favor their own constituencies. Neutral formulas shield these political choices from public scrutiny while simultaneously constraining lawmakers, ultimately driving geographic inequalities and determining whose needs are prioritized across states.

Leah Rosenstiel is assistant professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.  A central interest of her work is understanding how politics affects the distribution of federal funding and the design of government assistance programs. Some of this research appears in my book, Politics by Formula: How Congressional Policymaking Creates Disparities, published by the University of Chicago Press. Her other research is published in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Science.

She received a joint Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University in 2021 and a B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College in 2014. Prior to beginning graduate studies, she worked as a research assistant on K-12 education policy at the Congressional Research Service.

Blazing Eye Sees All: Leah Sottile

Join us on September 4 at noon/PT as we welcome journalist Leah Sottile to discuss her new book Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age.

Click here to watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube. 

In Blazing Eye Sees All, journalist Leah Sottile investigates the modern New Age movement, examining why women become devoted to self-professed gurus like Love Has Won’s “Mother God.” While tarot and crystals dominate social media, Sottile reveals that this seemingly gentle world of “love and light” has long been built on conspiracies, antisemitism, nationalism, and anti-science views. Driven by modern anxieties like climate change and pandemics, people seek relief in these spiritualities. Ultimately, Sottile separates genuine healing from dangerous “snake oil,” helping readers find true clarity amid the rise of New Age influence.
Leah Sottile is the author of When the Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow Chad Daybell, and A Story of Murder, Wild Faith and End Times. Her investigations, features and essays have been published by The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Playboy, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic and High Country News. She is the host of the investigative podcasts Hush, Burn Wild, Two Minutes Past Nine and Bundyville. She lives in Oregon.

The Conspiracists: Noelle Cook and Liz Smith

Join us on August 21 at noon/PT as we welcome director Liz Smith and producer Noelle Cook to discuss their new documentary film, The Conspiracists, in which a January 6th insurrectionist takes a British filmmaker and an American researcher on a road trip and attempts to convert them to her world of conspiracy theories. We recommend watching the film before the presentation on 8/21; you can rent it here for $4.99, check your local library catalog, or watch for free (with ads) on Roku.

Watch here. 

Three women set off on a road trip across America. One of them is a MAGA supporter and conspiracy theorist. She has just been sentenced to 30 months in prison for her role in the storming of The US Capitol. They meet other “patriots” along the way and as the journey unfolds she leads her travel companions deeper into her labyrinth of conspiracy, determined to open their eyes to what she sees as the real truth. By the trip’s end will she have converted them to her “5D world”?

Noelle Cook is an ethnographer and researcher examining how identity, belief, and belonging shape women’s participation in conspiratorial and right-wing movements. She is the author of The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging and is featured in the documentary The Conspiracists.

Liz Smith is an award-winning British documentary filmmaker. Her work is centred around human rights. The films she makes at Page 75 Productions are the outcome of years of study on the issues driving the rise of populism and the erosion of our democratic rights. However, researching the issues can only go so far. Her approach of spending time with affected communities on the frontline delivers a much deeper understanding of the forces driving these trends.

Her recent feature documentaries include I Am Gen Z, The Line We Crossed and The Conspiracists. I Am Gen Z investigates the impact of digital technology on the first generation to grow up with mobiles in their pockets. It premiered at CPH:DOX in 2021 and won Best Feature Film at the Lower East Side Film Festival.

The Conspiracists explores the profound and unsettling impact of conspiracy theories on individuals and society and won the award for Best Documentary Feature at The Miami Women Festival 2025. The Line We Crossed exposes the alarming erosion of the right to protest in the UK and had a successful theatrical release in the UK in 2025 as well as winning the award for Best Feature Film at the Environmental Film & Screenplay Festival.

She is currently completing the feature documentary, The Humanitarians, about the right to asylum and the rise of anti-immigration sentiment across Europe. She is also in the early stages of production of an investigative documentary about the growing anti-rights movement in the UK and writes about human rights issues in her Substack.

Learn more and follow on social media:

@p75investigates and @noellecook.com on BlueSky
@p75investigates and noellecookdotcom on Instagram.

Dr. Maya Kornberg: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress

Join us on August 7 at noon/PT as we welcome special guest Maya Kornberg, PhD, to discuss her new book Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress.

Watch here. 

Despite fifty years of idealistic, diverse new lawmakers arriving in Washington, Congress remains paralyzed and inhospitable to change. In Stuck, Maya Kornberg explains that well-intentioned reforms have been thwarted by systemic forces: political violence, skyrocketing campaign costs, constant fundraising, diminished staff, and centralized party leadership. Furthermore, social media has fueled a performative culture that prioritizes spectacle over substance. This gridlock reveals how internal dynamics cripple America’s central democratic institution, causing citizens to lose faith. Ultimately, Kornberg argues that saving American democracy requires targeted structural reforms that empower new members and restore Congress’s capacity to function.

Maya L. Kornberg is a senior research fellow at NYU Law’s Brennan Center for Justice and the author of Inside Congressional Committees: Function and Dysfunction in Lawmaking.

Global Project Against Hate and Extremism

Join us on July 31 at noon/PT as we welcome special guest Wendy Via, Co-Founder, CEO and President of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, to learn about Christian nationalism at the DOJ and DHS.

Watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel.

Launched in 2020, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) was founded by Heidi Beirich and Wendy Via to address the gap in efforts to stop transnational hate and far-right extremism movements, particularly U.S.-based activity that is exported to other countries and across borders.

GPAHE tackles the issue of hate and extremism by working to reduce the associated violence that terrorizes communities and our society and tackling systemic problems rooted in hate in our governments and societies. As we’ve seen in recent years in the U.S., as well as in countries around the world, we can no longer separate hate and extremism from our leaders and politics.

Wendy Via  is an expert in the intersection of technology and far-right extremism and the effect on democracy as well as in achieving change and influencing narratives and actions around some of the most pressing civil and human rights issues of our time, including far-right extremism, systemic racism, economic inequality, immigration, criminal justice reform, and LGBTQ+ rights. For the last two decades, she has successfully directed high-impact philanthropy initiatives, exposed hate and extremism in institutional systems, designed influential policy and advocacy campaigns, leveraged research, and highlighted storytelling to educate the public and create lasting change.

In 2020, Via cofounded the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism to address the transnational nature of hate and far-right extremism and how these movements harm flourishing and diverse democracies. She serves on the core committee of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network, founded by the governments of France and New Zealand, which seeks to stop the proliferation of online violent extremism and terrorism, and is the author of numerous reports on transnational extremism.  She regularly provides expert advice to members of Congress, including testimony to the January 6 select committee and the Canadian Parliament, and other intragovernmental bodies, is regularly interviewed by leading media outlets, and serves as advisor to various tech companies.

Prior to co-founding GPAHE, Wendy was the Chief Communications and Development Officer at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she led numerous teams. She also helped launch Justice for Migrant Women, dedicated to ensuring that migrant women can live and work with dignity and free from violence, and worked with Jeremiah Program, dedicated to disrupting generational poverty for single moms and their children. She holds a BA in Humanities from Auburn University, Montgomery.

 

Damned If She Does: Sarah Stankorb

Join us on November 6 at noon/MST as we welcome Sarah Stankorb to discuss her new book Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion in America.

Click here to register for this virtual presentation.

Sarah Stankorb is the author of the national best-seller Disobedient Women (Worthy Books/Hachette). The award-winning, Ohio-based writer is a fan of heart-felt truth telling.  Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, O Magazine, Marie Claire, Vogue, Longreads, Glamour, Catapult, Slate, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Newsweek, CNNMoney, GOOD Magazine, Salon, KIWI, Babble, The Morning News, DAME Magazine, Cincinnati Magazine, and formerly as a regular contributor to GEN. She writes about religion, politics, feminism, health, technology, and the public good. Learn more here: https://sarahstankorb.com/new-about

Leaving MAGA with Rich Logis

Join us Friday, December 12 at 12p (MST) for special guest Rich Logis, founder of the nonprofit Leaving MAGA

Watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel

Rich Logis is a former MAGA activist, volunteer and pundit. He founded his nonprofit, Leaving MAGA, in 2024, as a new community for those who leave the MAGA movement; who have doubts about their support for Trump; and for friends and family of those in MAGA.
On his Leaving MAGA website, media appearances and in person, Rich has shared the compelling story of his odyssey, and what led him to leave MAGA in August of 2022. He is a contributor to the MeidasTouch Network, and leads support groups for friends and family of those in MAGA.

Stand Up for Senator Ortiz and the First Amendment

September 3, 2025

Defend Free Speech and Stand with Senator Analise Ortiz

In recent days, Arizona State Senator Analise Ortiz has come under fire for exercising her right to free speech on social media. Her posts, which criticized ICE, have sparked outrage from extremist groups who are now attempting to silence her voice.

Let’s be clear: Senator Ortiz is a secular star and a champion for justice. She has stood with communities across Arizona, advocating for policies that protect our freedoms and dignity. And now, extremists, many of whom shout the loudest about “free speech” when it benefits them, are working overtime to limit hers.

The Bigger Picture: Religious Extremism and Xenophobia

What we are seeing is part of a larger pattern. Religious extremists in Arizona have fueled an agenda that conflates their narrow worldview with public policy. That agenda often manifests in xenophobic rhetoric and punitive immigration enforcement. Now, when a courageous public servant speaks truth to power, these same voices attempt to censor her.

This is not about partisanship. This is about principle. Free speech is not reserved for the powerful; it belongs to all of us, including those who challenge injustice.

Why We Must Speak Up

If extremists succeed in silencing Senator Ortiz, it sends a dangerous message to every community leader, activist, and everyday Arizonan who dares to speak out. We cannot allow this chilling effect to take hold.

Senator Ortiz has shown up for our most marginalized and vulnerable communities and citizens time and again, including advocating for:

  • Free school meals
  • Affordable housing and tenant protections
  • Services for families in need
  • Protections for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities
  • Consumer protections
  • Mental healthcare
  • Election integrity and voter access

Senator Ortiz has consistently stood up for working people in Arizona, those who face daily struggles to make ends meet, who deserve fair wages, affordable housing, and dignity in their workplaces. She has fought to keep and expand access to quality health services in Maryvale, ensuring that families in one of the most underserved areas of Phoenix are not left behind. She has championed young people striving for a better future, pushing for investments in education, opportunity, and pathways to success.

Again and again, Senator Ortiz has been a voice for those who are too often ignored or silenced. Now it is our turn to raise our voices for her.

What You Can Do

We need our community to rally in support of Senator Ortiz. Here’s how you can help:

Make calls and send emails: Contact your elected officials to express your support for Senator Ortiz’s right to free speech. Share your concern about attempts to censor her voice.  Find your legislators here. 

Spread the word: Post on social media, talk to your networks, and remind others that free speech is for everyone…not just for extremists.

Our Commitment

At Secular AZ, we are committed to defending democracy and protecting the rights of all Arizonans to speak freely, without fear of intimidation from religious or political extremists. Senator Ortiz embodies that courage, and she deserves our support.

The same amendment in the United States Constitution that protects freedom of (and from) religion also protects free speech, because you can’t have one without the other. Together, we can send a clear message: Arizona stands with leaders who speak truth, and we will not allow extremists to silence them.

In solidarity,

Iain Hamp

Secular AZ Board Chair