The Religion Beat blog has changed its name to Holly of the Woods!

New cute name, same cute blog!

I’m thrilled to welcome you to my new website, hollyofthewoods.com. If you searched for The Religion Beat Blog, you will have been automatically redirected here. If you found me another way, you’re equally welcome!

Why did you change the name of your blog?

When setting out on this project (which is now almost one year old!) the one thing I was uncertain about was the name. I wracked my brains and eventually landed on ‘the Religion Beat’.

For those who haven’t heard the term before, a ‘beat’ is an old-timey journalistic slang for a subject area, like ‘current affairs’ or ‘sports’. My favourite character from a favourite show, Paris Gellar from Gilmore Girls, worked the ‘religion beat’ when she and Rory, one of the aforementioned Gilmore Girls wrote for their college paper. In fact, she was desperate to have that particular beat, which I took to mean that Paris, like myself, understands how important spirituality and religion is to people, cultures and communities.

I love The Religion Beat as a name because I thought it was fun and I loved that it referenced my beloved Gilmore Girls. But I became aware that it needed a bit of explaining. In this mile-a-minute digital world, having a name which requires your audience to stop and ask themselves if that content is ‘for them’ is not great and I worried could be stopping my tribe and I from finding each other.

And I wanted us to be able to easily find each other!

So I had it on my heart to find a new name, and when Holly of the Woods popped into my head, it just felt right. It’s tells you who am I and where you can most often find me!

Cool, so what else is new?

Not much! It’s the same space for you to explore spirituality on your own terms. For people of all faiths and none. Questioning, exploring, and always growing. Queer-embracing, passionate about black lives and liberation for all.

I hope you’ll stay and explore with me.