On Jan. 6, 2021, a group of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to interrupt Congress as it was set to formalize the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States. These supporters fervently claimed that the vote was stolen by the Democrats — or “demoncrats.”

In reference to the popularity of zombie narratives in popular culture over the last two decades, witnesses of the insurrection described it as being in a scene from a horror movie. And surprisingly, end-of-world scenarios involving zombies and the apocalypse are increasingly referenced in political narratives.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Christopher Lockett at Memorial University writes that “Commentators have noted how the extremist ideologies of Trump supporters are entwined with a revival of religious impulses.”

And Christopher Douglas at the University of Victoria draws a connection between this religious morality and conspiracy theories popular with conservatives: “It is no accident that some of the conspiracy theories most detached from reality and most dangerous have Satanic or religious components,” he writes.

Also today:

• The reasons for science skepticism can be complex and founded on real concerns 
• In Latin American, not only abortions but miscarriages can lead to jail time 
• U.S. abortion bans compel women to be not just Good Samaritans, but ‘splendid’ ones