Sam writes widely for national magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone.

His Harper’s cover story, The Demon Slayers, about a group of contemporary exorcists, won the Wilbur Award for magazine-writing, Religion News Association’s Story of the Year prize and a Headliner Award for features. It was adapted for the stage with Nihil & Friends.

Sam’s reporting has received support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism and other prizes from the Los Angeles Press Club, the Rockower Award for Excellence in Feature-Writing and a Silurians Press Club award.

He has written about a variety of religious life during the pandemic, including a prophecy-and-politics roadshow; New Age author Christiane Northrup’s conspiracy turn; Kathryn Krick, a faith-healing TikToker whose fandom grew during lockdown months; and a Pentecostal church that tripled in size after flouting health orders.

Sam is a regular contributor to The New York Times, where he has covered topics like the publisher Stephen Strang and Charisma Media; New Age figure Marianne Williamson and A Course In Miracles; an End Times evangelist who says the Bible foretold Donald Trump; the revival of a forgotten 19th-century scripture called the Oahspe; poet-turned-psychic Jane Roberts; the New York subway fortuneteller known as Keano; and more. Find that writing here.

He is a contributing editor and former staff writer at The Forward. Sam’s reporting on Black Hebrew Israelites from this time appears in a collection from Routledge.

Sam speaks often about religion and journalism, at the American Academy of Religion, the Religion News Association, and many college campuses. In 2024, he was the J. Arthur Martin Lecturer at Wheaton College (MA), part of a speaking series for thinkers and writers who have “made remarkable achievements in the field of religion.”

Sam hosts and curates of The Old-Time Cosmic Revival Hour, an occasional musical variety show of religious Americana, aired most recently at Montez Press Radio.