This guide is designed to help reporters uncover fresh, compelling and nuanced religion stories in advance of the United States Semiquincentennial celebrations in July 2026.

The National Museum of American Religion (NMAR) is a private, non-profit, digital-first museum dedicated to highlighting the role religion has played in shaping the social, political, economic and cultural fabric of American life.

David Mislin is a historian of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States, and his work focuses on the intersection of religion, culture, and politics. He is the author of Saving Faith: Making Religious Pluralism an American Value at the Dawn of the Secular Age (Cornell University Press, 2015).

Brook Wilensky-Lanford is a religion writer, editor, and teacher. She is the author of A God-Shaped Nation: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America, forthcoming in June 2026 and Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden. Media inquiries should be directed to Deb Seager, Director of Publicity, Grove Atlantic.