Episodes

Here's a concise, two-paragraph set of podcast show notes in the style you've been using for Axis Mundi Daily Brief. Violence in Nigeria is escalating, and Christians are undeniably among its victims. But does that mean Nigeria is experiencing a "Christian genocide"? In this episode of the Axis Mundi Daily Brief , host Holly Berkley Fletcher examines the growing political narrative surrounding the crisis and asks whether it reflects the realities on the ground. Looking beyond headlines, Holly ex...

In this Sunday interview, Brad Onishi is joined by historian and author Warren Throckmorton to discuss his new book, The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History . Together they examine some of the most persistent myths at the heart of Christian nationalism: that America was founded as a covenant nation, that the colonies' state churches prove the United States is inherently Christian, and that the Founders intended to establish a Christian govern...

Here are two concise paragraphs suitable for podcast show notes: As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller examine how Donald Trump has transformed the semiquincentennial celebration into a showcase for political patronage, executive power, and Christian nationalism. They unpack the controversy surrounding the America250 festivities on the National Mall, including allegations of corruption, the role of PragerU and Hillsdale College in shaping historical narrati...

Dan Miller continues the Questions You Weren't Supposed to Ask in Church series by tackling one of the most common—and most unsettling—questions many Christians eventually ask: Why doesn't God perform big miracles anymore? From the parting of the Red Sea to raising the dead, the Bible is filled with spectacular divine interventions. But if God is unchanging, why don't we see those kinds of miracles today? Dan examines the most common Christian response—that God still performs miracles every day ...

The Supreme Court's narrow birthright citizenship ruling has triggered an extraordinary reaction from influential voices on the American right—and the backlash reveals much more than disagreement over immigration policy. In this episode of Axis Live , Brad Onishi, Annika Brockschmidt, and Matthew D. Taylor examine the response from figures including Kevin Roberts, Stephen Miller, Matt Walsh, and Joel Webbon, unpacking what their rhetoric tells us about the future of the 14th Amendment, Christian...

In this Straight White American Jesus Sunday interview, Annika Brockschmidt speaks with journalist and researcher Madeleine Peltz about her years-long reporting on the conservative youth ecosystem and the gendered strategies shaping the modern far right. Peltz, formerly of Media Matters, has spent thousands of hours documenting right-wing media and events like Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit—an increasingly influential gathering that blends lifestyle branding, faith language, and p...

This week, Brad Onishi argues that a series of seemingly separate headlines point to a single political project: the construction of a white Christian homeland. He examines the unprecedented sentencing of the Prairie Land protesters under domestic terrorism charges, the Trump administration's growing use of "Antifa" as a catch-all label for political dissent, Supreme Court decisions affecting Temporary Protected Status, and the continued targeting of Haitian immigrants. Together, Brad argues, th...

Why does God forgive only as much as we forgive? In this episode, Dan Miller explores a listener’s challenging question about the nature of divine forgiveness, justice, and fairness in Christian theology. He examines how high-control religion responds to tough questions and why these core issues matter. How different interpretive frameworks alter understanding of divine forgiveness The relationship between human imperfection and divine perfection The threats and control tactics embedded in relig...

In this episode of Axis Live , Brad Onishi and Matt Taylor are joined by PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman to unpack Vice President JD Vance’s new book Communion and the theological vision animating it. The conversation focuses on Vance’s turn toward a form of Christianity oriented less around the person and teachings of Christ than toward a broader project of Christendom and civilizational restoration. Rather than centering the lived realities of individuals or communities, Vance’s framework is read as ...

What does American religious history actually tell us about the present moment? In this episode, Brad sits down with historian and author Brook Wilensky-Lanford to discuss her sweeping new book, A God-Shaped Nation: 500 Years of Religion in America . Rather than focusing on famous founders and powerful institutions, Wilensky-Lanford tells the story of America through ordinary people—religious dissenters, immigrants, Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and others whose struggles shaped the natio...

In this week's Weekly Roundup, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller unpack the fallout from the Trump administration's Iran deal, the growing fractures within the MAGA coalition, and why Vice President JD Vance appears to be carrying the political burden for a foreign policy debacle. They examine the deal's similarities to the Obama-era agreement Republicans once condemned, the tensions between America First isolationists and pro-Israel conservatives, and what Vance's comments reveal about the future of t...

What are the questions you aren’t supposed to ask in church—the ones that earn you a sit-down with the pastor, worry your parents, and might even make you leave your faith entirely? In this episode, Dan kicks off a brand-new series, "Questions I Wasn't Supposed to Ask in Church," by revisiting a question that got him into trouble during his own time as a pastor: does it really look like human beings were "intelligently designed" by a maximally perfect, omnipotent Creator? While a hypothesis of s...

This week, Brad Onishi and Matthew D. Taylor break down three major stories shaping the American political and religious landscape:🔹 The Southern Baptist Convention’s hard-right turnThe SBC elected a new president, Willie Rice, and moved to further restrict women in church leadership. What do these developments reveal about the growing influence of Christian nationalist and reconstructionist movements within America’s largest Protestant denomination?🔹 Trump’s little-known domestic terrorism...

Axis Daily Brief on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 Axis Daily Brief on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033zp4MbwXJvxp6MoDkmtj?si=a758e87169e74ede Axis Daily Brief RSS Feed: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1145852/s/400220.rss In this episode of the Axis Mundi Daily Brief, Brad Onishi examines the viral comments made by UFC fighter Josh Hokit after his victory at t...

What if one of the most important political symbols in American evangelicalism isn't a campaign slogan, a policy platform, or a charismatic preacher, but a worship song? In this episode of the Straight White American Jesus Sunday Interview , host Leah Payne speaks with Religion News Service journalist Bob Smietana about his reporting on the unexpected political life of Chris Tomlin's worship anthem "How Great Is Our God." Over the past several years, the song has appeared everywhere from the Cap...

This week on Straight White American Jesus, Brad and Dan unpack the GOP’s latest claims of voter fraud in California and show how conspiracy thinking, Christian nationalist spiritual warfare, and anti-democratic rhetoric continue to undermine public trust in elections. Focusing on comments from Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, they explore how evidence-free allegations of fraud function politically, why California has become a symbolic target, and how narratives of hidden, “unprovable” cor...

What are the broader takeaways from Josh Hawley’s presentation on “manhood?” How does Hawley’s vision of “masculine America” illuminate the dynamics of high-control Christianity, Christian nationalism, and the broader MAGA movement in America today? What lessons can we learn through engaging Hawley’s vision of masculinity? Join Dan to find out, as we conclude our look at Hawley’s vision of manhood. Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠ Order American Caesar by Brad Onish...

In this episode, Brad Onishi sits down with Rev. Alba Onofrio, the Executive Director of Soulforce and author of Spiritual Violence: Religious Phenomena That Defile the Faith . Rev. Alba brings nearly two decades of global activism across four continents to a critical conversation about the exact mechanisms religious systems use to inflict deep psychological and physical harm. Moving past vague concepts of religious trauma, she provides a clear framework that categorizes spiritual harm along a s...

This week on Straight White American Jesus, Brad and Dan trace the connections between Trump-era immigration policy, rising far-right extremism, and a growing international movement built around the idea of “remigration.” Beginning with unrest at New Jersey’s Delaney Hall detention center, they examine former ICE official Greg Bovino’s appearance at a European far-right conference and discuss how anti-immigrant rhetoric, Christian nationalism, and white identity politics are increasingly intertw...

Josh Hawley is a dyed-in-the-wool, self-described Christian nationalist. But he’s careful not to make this too obvious in discussion of Christian masculinity and masculine virtue. But if we look past his smoke and mirrors, if look behind the curtain, his Christian nationalism comes through when he talks about role of men as “kings.” Check out this week’s episode as Dan walks us through Hawley’s Christian nationalist vision of America. Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠ Subsc...

In this episode, hosts Annika Brockschmidt and Roland Meyer sit down with media scholar Roland Meyer to dissect the unsettling intersection of generative AI, right-wing extremism, and the emerging aesthetics of digital fascism. Meyer, a professor at the University of Zurich, breaks down why AI-generated visual culture is uniquely suited for far-right propaganda. Rather than acting as a neutral mirror of reality, these algorithms are structurally nostalgic—relying on past training data to build i...

Brad Onishi and Dan Miller discuss the Texas Senate race between Trump-backed Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico as a public theological contest between Christian authoritarianism and a Christianity centered on love of neighbor, noting Paxton’s scandals and the right’s misogynistic, transphobic attacks portraying Talarico as weak or deviant. They connect this politics of masculinity and domination to reports that Trump’s DOJ opened (or is attempting to open) a perjury investigation into E. J...

Josh Hawley claims to present a “biblical” model of masculinity and masculine virtue. But if we look more closely, it turns out that Hawley’s “Bible” is actually really weird. And so is his model of masculine kingship. And what does “kingship” mean for Josh Hawley? Well, pretty much the same thing you could read in any self-help book. Join Dan for this week’s episode as he tells us why. Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠ Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substa...

In this episode of Straight White American Jesus , host Brad Onishi sits down with Dr. Liz Bucar, religious ethicist and professor at Northeastern University, to unpack the hidden costs of the modern wellness industry. Exploring themes from her new book, Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us , Dr. Bucar argues that consumer culture has stripped profound traditions like yoga, mindfulness, and psychedelics into a "spiritual salad bar"—trading real tr...