New EventsFree Thought Fellowship Foundation (FFF) is hosting an event at the Philadelphia Ethical Society on 9/12, featuring Rep. Jared Huffman, former Congresswoman Susan Wild, Rep. Chris Rabb, and Dr. Michael Mann, a professor and climate scientist at UPenn.The event focuses on Christian Nationalism. The ticket price ($30) includes a copy of the Congressman's new book, No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism.
Legislative & LegalTM Movement Faces Pushback Over Aggressive Trademark Enforcement Against Independent Publisher
The Maharishi Foundation, the governing organization behind Transcendental Meditation (TM), is facing widespread criticism over aggressive trademark enforcement actions targeting New York–based author and futurist Jamie Metzl. Metzl runs Transcend Books, an independent publishing imprint focused on artificial intelligence, robotics, and fiction.
The conflict arose when the Foundation’s legal team issued a formal demand requiring Metzl to restrict his federal trademark application by explicitly disclaiming any future publications within the field of meditation. The Foundation based its claim on its longstanding trademark rights to the term "Transcendental Meditation," which date back decades.
Metzl strongly pushed back against the maneuver, characterizing it as an illegitimate attempt to monopolize a standard English dictionary word. He argued that consumer confusion is nonexistent because his imprint focuses strictly on emerging technologies and speculative literature, not meditation instruction, spiritual practices, or wellness retreats.
Although Metzl indicated he may ultimately comply to avoid devastating litigation expenses, the dispute spotlights the broader issue of trademark bullying. It shows how well-funded organizations exploit asymmetric legal economics to compel independent creators and small presses to narrow their commercial scope.
Research & AcademicJournal for the Academic Study of Religion: Mapping the Impact of Religious Harm: Results from a Large-Scale Qualitative Study"Religious harm is a rapidly emerging area of inquiry that challenges the assumption that religious involvement is universally beneficial. This study presents findings from a large-scale qualitative analysis of 333 individuals who completed a survey asking about experiences of religious or spiritual harm. The research identified nine overarching themes: a profound sense of emotional distress; experiences of delayed development and destabilized sense of self; mental and physical health damage; relational damage; pervasive impacts on faith/spirituality; material and financial costs; the chronic and pervasive nature of impacts; having the impacts compounded by misunderstandings; and personal growth and resilience. The study highlights the need for more research within therapeutic and religious settings, and calls for greater recognition of religious harm in clinical practice and community discourse. This research contributes to a growing body of literature seeking to address religious harm as a serious and complex phenomenon."
LGBTQ+ adults face elevated rates of loneliness and suicide attempts, yet little research has examined whether religious coping—a protective factor for people generally—effectively mitigates these risks for LGBTQ+ adults raised in theologically conservative, cis/heteronormative religious traditions.
Method: This longitudinal study examined whether religious coping moderates the relationship between loneliness and suicide attempts among 369 LGBTQ+ adults who at some point in their lives were part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a notably cis/heteronormative tradition, across levels of immoral views of same-sex sexuality and demographic subgroups.
Results: Contrary to expectations, religious coping generally exacerbated rather than buffered the loneliness-suicide relationship, with greater religious coping strengthening the loneliness-suicide relationship among White and transgender/gender-diverse adults. Religious coping buffered the impact of loneliness on suicide attempts only for adults of Color and non-religious adults.
Conclusion: These findings challenge assumptions about the universal benefits of religious coping for LGBTQ+ adults raised LDS, suggesting that suicide prevention research should assess individuals' views of the morality of same-sex sexuality rather than promoting religious coping universally, as this may inadvertently increase risk for certain LGBTQ+ adults in similarly theologically conservative religious contexts.
AI Research Disclosure: To bring you the most relevant stories, parts of this newsletter utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools to search the web, source articles, and assist with content curation. This content is for informational purposes only; we recommend verifying critical facts independently.
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