Hey y’all. Welcome to another week of Matter of Faith, where we talk about the intersection of faith, sexuality and politics.

Y’all know we’re not afraid of complicated relationships around here, so this week I wanted to share a piece I wrote for International Friendship Day, which happened over the weekend.

Send this newsletter to those people in the group chat you never expected to be friends if you learned something about one of these unlikely pairs.

History’s game-changers: 5 epic frenemies who reshaped politics

For International Friendship Day, we’re highlighting some political and ideological “frenemies” and iconic friendship duos that have shaped our cultural understanding of the role of religion, sexuality and politics in our society.

Let’s get to know these unlikely pairs:

George Bush and Michelle Obama

Former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s friendship became a hot topic on social media after a clip of Bush passing Obama an Altoid during Sen. John McCain’s funeral in September 2018.

The moment was shared on social media and created a host of memes and hot takes about what it means to have a connection to someone whose political views differ.

“President Bush and I… we are forever seat mates because of protocol, that’s how we sit at all the official functions so he is my partner in crime at every major thing where all the formers gather,” the former first lady explained. “So we’re together all the time, and I love him to death. He’s a wonderful man. He’s a funny man.”

Jerry Falwell and Larry Flynt

Megachurch pastor the Rev. Jerry Falwell sued Larry Flynt in 1983 after the mature media mogul ran a completely fictitious parody interview in his magazine Hustler in which the evangelical leader (and head of the Moral Majority) confessed that his first time having sex was with his own mother while drunk.

Falwell didn’t think the parody was very funny, so he filed a lawsuit asking Flynt to pay $45 million for libel and “emotional distress.” Flynt won the case in a landmark victory in the Supreme Court, which protected the right to publish satire works, no matter how distasteful.

Read on to learn more about more dynamic (sometimes in the good and bad way) duos in history.

‘If there are aliens, I’m not paying student loans’

By Alexis Wray

While scrolling Twitter — ahem, X — taking in all the UFO content, I ran across a gem:

“I’m not paying student loans if there are aliens sorry,” posted Braxton Brewington, press secretary of The Debt Collective, a debt-elimination advocacy group.

The broke and bothered second this alien motion.

Hopefully, these 4 common myths on student loan debt can give you the tools you need to hold the feet of the loud and wrong to the fire.

Myth: “I’ll have to pay on past interest from my paused loans”

If you have federal student loans that have been paused since March 2020 by the U.S. Department of Education, there is no current plan that borrowers will have to pay interest from the last three years.

Read on to bust more money myths and subscribe to Broke and Bothered.

From my browsing history:

Here’s a little sampling of what I’ve been reading in the last week. Some of it is light, some of it is not. Take what sounds interesting and leave the rest (but do let me know what you like reading–or your clicks will tell me too).

A note:

I am trying to get back up to speed after some time away, so if you’ve got any tips, you know where to find me on Instagram or Twitter (sorry, it’s not “X” – if anything I will be calling the bird website “Twix” from now on).

As always you can reply to this newsletter to send a message directly to my inbox or you can send your own hand-drafted electronic mail to [email protected].

Stay curious 😉

Anna