Megan Goodwin is senior editor for Religion Dispatches, nerd-in-chief at Feral Nerd Consulting, and media & tech consultant for The Crossroads Project. Goodwin is the author of Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions (Rutgers 2020). With Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, she cohosted Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion Podcast; and their first co-authored book, Religion Is Not Done With You, is now available through Beacon Press. Her next project is tentatively entitled Cults Incorporated: The Business of Bad Religion.

Megan, who grew up in Yardley where she attended St. John the Evangelist Grade School and later graduated from Archbishop Egan High School, joins The Signal to talk about her scholarly and journalistic work covering religion. She explains why religion – and specifically white Christian Nationalism – are topics each of you should care about, whether you are religious or not.

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ALSO LISTEN TO:

• The History of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in America, with Bill Mullen and Christopher Vials
• Katherine Stewart Discusses Her New Book ‘Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy’
• Kristin Kobes Du Mez on Evangelical Support for Trump and Project 2025’s Christian Nationalist and Authoritarian Designs for the Nation
• A Conversation with André Gagné About His Book ‘American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times’
• The New Apostolic Reformation: A Revolutionary Theocratic Movement Coming For Pennsylvania, The Nation, And The World

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Garen Meguerian is a civil rights, free speech lawyer, with 30 years of experience, practicing in the state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Since 2016, Garen has volunteered with grassroots groups, primarily in Chester County, to preserve democratic institutions. He joins us today to raise the alarm about the threats against Pennsylvania's independent judiciary and the importance of the PA Supreme Court’s retention election on Nov. 4. In this conversation, Garen explores the implications of misinformation, gerrymandering, and the role of the judiciary in protecting voting rights, reproductive rights, and environmental protections in the commonwealth.

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READ:

• Stand up for Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, by Colin Coyle
• League of Women Voters of PA Warns of Right-Wing Disinformation Campaign Targeting Pennsylvania Supreme Court Retention Election, by Melinda Rizzo.
• The Makeup of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court Hangs in the Balance in November. Here’s What’s at Stake, by Melinda Rizzo
• Judicial Elections Key to Protecting Pennsylvania’s Democracy and Our Environment, by Molly Parzen
• How Pennsylvania Judges Facing Retention Ruled on Key Election Cases, by Carter Walker, Votebeat

ALSO LISTEN TO:

• Kadida Kenner on Defending Democracy and Voting Rights in Pennsylvania

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“In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide. Never before have so many politicians sought to bully school leaders into censoring according to their ideological preferences, even threatening public funding to exact compliance. Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.”

This is the introduction to PEN America’s Banned in the USA 2024-2025 report “The Normalization of Book Banning.” As part of the Bucks County Beacon’s Banned Books Week coverage, we speak with one of the author’s of this report – Sabrina Baêta.

Sabrina is a senior program manager with Freedom to Read at PEN America. She engages in research and awareness-building around censorship attacks on public K-12 education, especially as it relates to literature accessibility in libraries and classrooms.

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READ:

• The Quiet Creep of Censorship: How ‘Everyday Banning’ Is Reshaping American Schools, by Tabitha Dell’Angelo
• We Must Continue to Defend the Freedom to Read in Central Bucks School District, by Karen Smith
• Banned Books Week: A Local Reflection From a Pennridge School District Dad, by Darren Laustsen
• ‘This Book Won’t Burn’ Celebrates Student Resistance in This New Era of Book Banning, by Lauren Bradley

ALSO LISTEN TO:

• The History of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in America, with Bill Mullen and Christopher Vials
• This Bucks County Dad Took His Child’s School District to Court to Uncover a Secret Book Banning Scheme
• Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider on Their New Book ‘The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual’
• Black History Is a History of Resistance and Liberation, with Rann Miller
• Fighting for Students’ and Teachers’ Rights in Central Bucks School District, with ACLU’s Witold Walczak
• Unmasking Moms for Liberty’s Extremism, with Olivia Little and Diana Leygerman

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• @buckscountybeacon.bsky.social
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• @rcpress.bsky.social