Capps Center fall lineup: queer nuns, election-year politics and Latinx environmentalism

As part of the center’s Wade Clark Roof Lecture on Human Rights series, UC Riverside religious studies professor Melissa Wilcox will be on campus Oct. 15 with “Dodging the Sisters: Why Queer Nuns Keep Going Viral,” a broader look at the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, queer and trans nuns caught up in today’s culture wars. Cosponsored by the departments of religious and feminist studies, the event takes place 5–6:30 p.m. at Henley Hall.

An online-only event accessible via Zoom, “Election 2024 and Religion,” will bring together UCSB associate professor of religious studies Joseph Blankholm, University of Pennsylvania’s Anthea Butler and Julie Ingersoll from the University of North Florida to discuss religion in the competing visions of American values and governance, particularly in the context of the rise in secularization, religious diversity and Christian nationalism. Their roundtable webinar takes place 5–6:15 p.m. Oct. 22.

From 5–6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Henley Hall, Amanda Baugh — an associate professor of religious studies at California State University, Northridge — will shed light on la tierra environmentalism of Spanish-speaking Catholics with her new book, “Falling in Love with Nature: The Values of Latinx Catholic Environmentalism.”

This event, part of the Capps Forum on Ethics and Public Policy, is cosponsored by the departments of religious studies and Chicana and Chicano studies, the Environmental Studies Program and the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

The events are free and open to the public.