by Susan Trollinger and William Trollinger

In spring 2016, we launched the RACM (Righting America at the Creation Museum) website. One of the primary purposes of the site was to get word out about the publication of Righting America at the Creation Museum (by Susan and William Trollinger, Johns Hopkins UP, 2016). We also hoped to create an online community interested in a scholarly conversation about topics discussed in Righting America at the Creation Museum, including creationism, evangelicalism, fundamentalism, the culture wars, the Christian Right, and so forth.

In the course of the last couple of years, we have been astonished and thrilled to see that our second purpose easily eclipsed the first! In the first year, six University of Dayton faculty and three alumni contributed articles to the RACM blog. In the second year, 18 authors wrote 45 posts out of the total 104 posts. Nearly half of our blog posts in our second year were written by guest bloggers. And that has continued such that by now they come from an array of disciplines including history, rhetoric, communication, English, art history, sociology, history of education, geography, chemistry, physics, biblical studies, and theology. Importantly, while all of our guest bloggers write from a scholarly perspective, not all would identify (strictly speaking) as academics. Some are pastors. Others are independent scholars. And still others are graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Dayton.

As we reflected on how our second purpose wonderfully took over our first, we became convicted that it was time to bring the site into better alignment with what it really is—something on an informal online journal that makes available many scholarly voices on topics of growing interest in the US. Instead of featuring Sue and Bill’s book, our newly renovated site showcases the blog and its contributors. As you have likely already surmised, Bill serves as the primary blogger for the site. He will continue in that role and his role as recruiter of contributors. He seems to have a great knack for that! Patrick will continue as site manager and contributor. Sue, who loves thinking about visual rhetoric, will serve as something of a visual editor of the site and contributor.

Finally, with this renovation of the site, we are also changing its name from Righting America at the Creation Museum to “Righting America.” That change simply reflects the fact that the blog seeks to offer insights about topics that go well beyond the confines of the Creation Museum.

We hope you will enjoy the newly renovated site. As always, we certainly welcome your feedback. Most of all, we look forward to learning more from all of our contributors and to keeping the conversation going.