Episodes

June 5, 2020

Weekly Roundup: A National Uprising

This episode begins with the conveyance of wisdom from two African American women who are scholars of religion. First, Dr. Anthea Butler on how and why protest works. Then, Dr.Shannen Dee Williams on the history of racism in…
June 4, 2020

What Do Religion Scholars Think of Trump's Violent Bible Photo Op?

On this emergency episode, Brad asks religion scholars to weigh in on Trump’s violent Bible photo op. He speaks with first with Dr. Richard Newton, Assistant Professor of Religon at the University of Alabama. They discuss…
June 2, 2020

Every End is a Beginning: The Orange Wave Episode 1

On this installment of the Orange Wave: A History of the Religious Right Since 1960, Brad traces two intertwined histories. First, the Sun Belt Migration, which led to a massive westward population shift in the 1950s and 196…
May 26, 2020

Oranges and Peanuts: The Orange Wave: Episode 0

The Religious Right has not always existed. White evangelicals have not always been the guardians of far-right immigration policies and patriarchal models of the family. In the 19th century, they were often progressive activ…
May 15, 2020

Weekly Roundup: The COVID Info Wars

Brad and Dan discuss recent data that shows White Evangelicals are the only group who believes Trump's response to the pandemic has been appropriate. They connect this to recent studies that show how Trump supporters get the…
May 8, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Justice is Barred

Brad tells a story of an encounter with a French philosopher and . . . marshmallows. Then Dan and Brad discuss the DOJ decision to drop the case against Michael Flynn (4:00), William Barr's dominionist win-at-all-costs polit…
May 6, 2020

QAnon, Evangelicals, and COVID-19

Brad speaks with Marc-André Argentino, a PhD candidate and public scholar at Concordia University in Quebec, and an Associate Fellow with the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) at King's College London. They d…
May 1, 2020

Weekly Roundup: The COVID Culture Wars

Brad and Dan discuss the COVID culture wars: the armed "protest" at the Michigan capitol, the masculinity of face masks, in-person church meetings, the stunning decline in Trump's approval ratings, the Bill Gates conspiracy,…
April 28, 2020

Evangelicals, Individualism, and COVID Re-Open Protests

Brad discusses the correspondence between libertarian politics and evangelicalism. He points out that the stay at home orders undercut the central myth of both: working hard leads to God's favor and economic prosperity. The …
April 24, 2020

Weekly Roundup: President Lysol, Mark of the Beast Conspiracies, and Reporters Kidnapped

Brad tells the story of buying an heiress a crepe in France. Then he and Dan discuss the president's remarks on using disinfectant to help with COVID, the conspiracy theories about vaccines and the Mark of the Beast, a repor…
April 22, 2020

Evangelicals and Inoculation

Brad discusses the "re-open" protests happening at state capitols through the historical episode of the Puritans and their protests to inoculation efforts during a smallpox outbreak in 1721. The historical parallels shed lig…
April 17, 2020

Weekly Roundup: COVID-19 Protests, Confederate Flags, and Stimulus $ Going to Churches

Brad begins with another story of hijinks and nostalgia from Oxford. Then Brad and and Dan discuss a long list of religion, politics, and COVID-19 stories, including Gov. DeSantis classifying wrestling as essential business,…
April 10, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Is COVID-19 a Punishment from God?

Brad and Dan begin by discussing a the demand for in-person church meetings in Kansas, Liberty University's attack on the press, and Bill O'Reilly's comment that most of those who have died from COVID-19 were "on their last …
April 7, 2020

Freedom from Religion Enables Freedom of Religion

During the COVID-19 pandemic many are discussing the liberty to hold religious gatherings despite the public health risks. In an interview from 2019, Dan speaks with Andrew Seidel, constitutional lawyer at the freedom from r…
April 3, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Pastors Endanger Lives by Holding Services: Masculinity, Anti-Intellectualism, and Ecclesiology

Brad and Dan begin by adding some humor to the mix--they tell stories of how they didn't fit in at Oxford and the hijinks that ensued (00:30). They then discuss the pastors who continue to hold services and how a mix of toxi…
April 1, 2020

The Entangled Histories of Christianity, Atheism, and Racism

Brad speaks to Dr. Nathan Alexander about his new book on the entangled histories of Christianity, atheism, and racism in the 19th and 20th centuries. They try to answer some compelling questions: Are non-religious people mo…
March 27, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Trump, Evangelicals, and Covid-19

Religion was in full view this week as it relates to COVID-19. Brad and Dan discuss evangelical leaders and politicians resisting shelter in place directives, the Trump Bible study leader blaming LGBT+ people for the pandemi…
March 24, 2020

From Evangelical Leader to Feminist Superhero

Asha Dahya was a happy evangelical when she moved to LA from Australia. But the politics of the Religious Right led her out of the faith. Indian by ethnicity, British-born, Australian raised, and living in the USA since 2008…
March 24, 2020

SWAJ Daily: All the Made-Up Things

" . . only the invented part of life was satisfying." -Gerald Murphy to F. Scott Fitzgerald. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/message Support this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.f…
March 20, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Bernie Sanders and American Civil (Non) Religion

Brad and Dan discuss why in this sort of crisis everyone's a socialist (2:55), the fallout from the Burr/Loeffler revelations (7:35), and then spend the bulk of the episode discussing why Bernie Sanders would be a revolution…
March 20, 2020

SWAJ Daily: Burr Should Resign, Fact-Checking Cornyn, How to Avoid Turning Anxiety to Racism

Brad discusses the moral failing of Senator Richard Burr and calls on him to resign, fact checks Sen. Cornyn on China, viruses, and more, and challenges us not to allow our fear to transform into racism and xenophobia. --- …
March 18, 2020

A White Southern Pentecostal Bernie Voter

Aaron Simmons has been asked to leave numerous churches over the last decade. Not over theology or the Bible. But because he votes the wrong way and wants to have open discussions about abortion, race, justice, and other iss…
March 17, 2020

SWAJ Daily: Trump's COVID Dog-Whistle and Christian Nationalism, Elections in Ohio, and Space Force!

On today's daily dispatch, Brad discusses why Trump labeling COVID-19 the "Chinese virus" is part of a long lineage of anti-Asian xenophobia and part of the Christian nationalism held by his supporters (4:00). He discusses a…
March 14, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Conspiracy and Corona Virus, Title IX and Discrimination, and the Appeal of Biden

Brad and Dan discuss the conspiracy theories Evangelicals and the President are pushing about Corona Virus (0:30), Title IX exemptions for universities that discriminate against LGBT+ people (17:50), the surprising surge of …