Prof. Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson attempt to bring some thoughtfulness to the topic of religion again this week with a discussion of presidential politics and religion, metaphysics in the public sphere, ISIS and the antiquities black market, and whether we can recover lost texts.

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• Is it bad to have the Bible as the official state book?
  
• Presidential politics and religion… who gets it right and wrong?
  
• What are metaphysics and what do they have to do with our day to day faith (and politics)?
  
• Who were the Sea Peoples?
  
• How does ISIS profit from the illegal sale of antiquities?
  
• Is the idea of religious textual transmission and translation really a big deal?
  
• How could the same Greek make different English?
  
• Is there an original New Testament?
  

This Week in Beards

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• ThisIsGround Leather Cordito Roll
  
• Don’t Call it a Manbag – WSJ
  

Religion In The News

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• Sam’s Thinking Religion Links – Pinboard
  
• Tennessee House votes Bible as official state book – The Tennessean
  
• AP says nevermind, Tennessee – Twitter
  
• Jeb Bush to speak at Liberty University – Politico
  
• Indiana hires PR firm after religious objections law flap – AP
  
• Indiana and The Economics of Religious Freedom – Thomas in Marginalia
  
• The Critical Study of Religion – The Religious Studies Project Podcast
  
• Ted Cruz: The Gays are waging ‘jihad’ against ‘religious freedom’ – BoingBoing
  
• Ted Cruz, the Gay Jihad, and Origins Narratives – Thomas in ChurchHistory.org
  
• Hillary Clinton: Same-Sex Marriage Should Be a ‘Constitutional Right’ – NBC
  
• Is Hillary a Democrat? – Vocativ
  

Ancient Religion

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• Researcher casts doubt on sea peoples theory – PastHorizons
  
• How ISIS created a terrorist art market – FOX News
  
• Finding Jesus – CNN
  

Thought Piece: Sacred Text Translation and Transmission

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• Textus Receptus – Wikipedia
  
• Bible Translations – Wikipedia
  
• Transmission of the Qur’an Written Text – OnIslam
  
• Texts in Buddhism – Patheos
  
• Aren’t newer translations based on a better Greek text? – KJV Today
  
• Go learn Koine Greek!