Hayden Royster
@haydenroyster.bsky.social
San Diego 🌯 ➡️ Bay Area 🌁
🖋️RNS/IA Religion Journalism Fellow 25-26
Huge fan of dying industries like magazines, theatre, and unconditional love | Stories: RNS, KQED, Berkeleyside, California, etc.
Tips? Signal: haydenroyster.65
🖋️RNS/IA Religion Journalism Fellow 25-26
Huge fan of dying industries like magazines, theatre, and unconditional love | Stories: RNS, KQED, Berkeleyside, California, etc.
Tips? Signal: haydenroyster.65
My first official story for the @rns.org / @interfaithamerica.bsky.social Fellowship: I chatted with Buddhist technologists like Chris Scammell, former COO of AI safety startup Conjecture, about how they’re working to shape—and perhaps enlighten—the future of AI and AGI.
The Buddhist technologists working to shape the future of AI
(RNS) — Launched publicly in August, their initiative is mapping how Buddhism and AI are already shaping each other and striving to infuse Buddhist principles into AI development.
religionnews.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:27 PM
My first official story for the @rns.org / @interfaithamerica.bsky.social Fellowship: I chatted with Buddhist technologists like Chris Scammell, former COO of AI safety startup Conjecture, about how they’re working to shape—and perhaps enlighten—the future of AI and AGI.
Reposted by Hayden Royster
Saturday’s pepper-balling of Baptist pastor Michael Woolf is not an isolated incident.
Several other clergy have been shot, teargassed, and violently arrested during peaceful protests, including Rev. David Black (PCUSA), Rev. Hannah Kardon (UMC), and Rev. Jorge Bautista (UCC).
Several other clergy have been shot, teargassed, and violently arrested during peaceful protests, including Rev. David Black (PCUSA), Rev. Hannah Kardon (UMC), and Rev. Jorge Bautista (UCC).
Baptist Pastor Shot in Leg by Officer During All Saints’ Day March Outside ICE Facility
As Baptist pastor Michael Woolf marched on All Saints’ Day in an anti-ICE protest in the Chicago area, he suddenly felt a sting in his leg as a pepper ball round struck him.
publicwitness.wordandway.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Saturday’s pepper-balling of Baptist pastor Michael Woolf is not an isolated incident.
Several other clergy have been shot, teargassed, and violently arrested during peaceful protests, including Rev. David Black (PCUSA), Rev. Hannah Kardon (UMC), and Rev. Jorge Bautista (UCC).
Several other clergy have been shot, teargassed, and violently arrested during peaceful protests, including Rev. David Black (PCUSA), Rev. Hannah Kardon (UMC), and Rev. Jorge Bautista (UCC).
Hey, I wrote this! Glad @maddow.msnbc.com is highlighting Rev. Bautista’s story and words.
“Our presence as pastors, rabbis, imams and lay leaders is meant to be a moral mirror,” he told me. “It reminds the world that this is not normal.”
“Our presence as pastors, rabbis, imams and lay leaders is meant to be a moral mirror,” he told me. “It reminds the world that this is not normal.”
October 27, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Hey, I wrote this! Glad @maddow.msnbc.com is highlighting Rev. Bautista’s story and words.
“Our presence as pastors, rabbis, imams and lay leaders is meant to be a moral mirror,” he told me. “It reminds the world that this is not normal.”
“Our presence as pastors, rabbis, imams and lay leaders is meant to be a moral mirror,” he told me. “It reminds the world that this is not normal.”
Reposted by Hayden Royster
FYI: it’s, uh, *not nothing* that the head of an entire Christian denomination — here Rev. Karen Georgia A. Thompson of the United Church of Christ — issued a statement decrying DHS agents for shooting one of her pastors in the face with a pepper round, adding, “No one is safe from tyranny."
October 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
FYI: it’s, uh, *not nothing* that the head of an entire Christian denomination — here Rev. Karen Georgia A. Thompson of the United Church of Christ — issued a statement decrying DHS agents for shooting one of her pastors in the face with a pepper round, adding, “No one is safe from tyranny."
Reposted by Hayden Royster
NEW: Rev. Bautista spoke with @haydenroyster.bsky.social about his harrowing experience being shot in the face with a pepper round by IVE.
“I immediately felt burning pain,” he said. “I was in shock, disoriented and terrified that I might stop breathing altogether.” religionnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
“I immediately felt burning pain,” he said. “I was in shock, disoriented and terrified that I might stop breathing altogether.” religionnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
October 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM
NEW: Rev. Bautista spoke with @haydenroyster.bsky.social about his harrowing experience being shot in the face with a pepper round by IVE.
“I immediately felt burning pain,” he said. “I was in shock, disoriented and terrified that I might stop breathing altogether.” religionnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
“I immediately felt burning pain,” he said. “I was in shock, disoriented and terrified that I might stop breathing altogether.” religionnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
Reposted by Hayden Royster
Church for Today, founded in 1957, was a multiracial hub known for its concert series showcasing Black opera stars and classical musicians.
Berkeley church to be razed and replaced with 3 homes
Church for Today, founded in 1957, was a multiracial hub known for its concert series showcasing Black opera stars and classical musicians.
www.berkeleyside.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Church for Today, founded in 1957, was a multiracial hub known for its concert series showcasing Black opera stars and classical musicians.
My new story out in @berkeleyside.org: Church for Today, a multiracial congregation founded in 1957 by a civil rights leader and classical music promoter, will soon make way for a trio of homes.
Berkeley church to be razed and replaced with 3 homes
Church for Today, founded in 1957, was a multiracial hub known for its concert series showcasing Black opera stars and classical musicians.
www.berkeleyside.org
October 21, 2025 at 4:10 PM
My new story out in @berkeleyside.org: Church for Today, a multiracial congregation founded in 1957 by a civil rights leader and classical music promoter, will soon make way for a trio of homes.
I flapped my way over to BlueSky for a bit a self-promo! Here's my first story with @rns.org about a beloved and contentious San Francisco Easter tradition: Hunky Jesus.
religionnews.com/2025/04/17/s...
religionnews.com/2025/04/17/s...
San Francisco’s Hunky Jesus Contest stirs up controversy, community and 'courage'
SAN FRANCISCO (RNS) — Hosted by a global order of drag nuns, the Easter event draws thousands to what some call sacrilege but its participants say is liberating, joyful, even sacred.
religionnews.com
April 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM
I flapped my way over to BlueSky for a bit a self-promo! Here's my first story with @rns.org about a beloved and contentious San Francisco Easter tradition: Hunky Jesus.
religionnews.com/2025/04/17/s...
religionnews.com/2025/04/17/s...