Episodes

Dartmouth professor and pre-eminent scholar of Evangelicalism Dr. Randall Balmer returns to talk about his new book, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right. He and Brad discuss how over the course of the 20th century, race and xenophobia have been the drivers of Evangelical theology and politics. Balmer explains how Evangelicals once invested in social reform, but over the last century have undergone a transformation at the hands of conservative political operatives and fear of ethn...

Brad and Dan discuss the vehement support for the Iraq War and the invasion of Afghanistan during the Bush years and comment briefly on the ills of American Empire.They then discuss the dangers and implications of the alliance between anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers with the Proud Boys and how cultural melding leads to strange--and in this case, scary--bedfellows.This leads to a reflection on the Christian nationalism of the Capitol Bomber. He blames immigrants for his family's ills. He spout ...

+ 5 Minutes on Josh Harris

Luke Wilson is a survivor of "conversion therapy." He has written about his experiences at Liberty University for Religion Dispatches, Queerty, and other outlets. In this conversation, Luke provides his response to the Netflix doc "Pray Away." They discuss the complexities of those who are both survivor and perpetrator sharing their stories and taking the spotlight. They also discuss the (unsurprisingly) blithe reactions to the film by Evangelical sources, namely the Gospel Coalition.Learn mor...

Sean Feucht, the Proud Boys, 2020 Census Data, and What's Happening in Idaho

Podcaster and Writer Emily Torres

Brad speaks with Dr. Laura Anderson, founder of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery and co-founder of the Religious Trauma Institute. They discuss the nature of religious trauma, why it can be hard for individuals to label it trauma, and how it can be treated.One of the issues for victims of religious trauma is the absence of a clear cut "before" and "after" that indicates when and how the traumatic event happened.Their discussion addresses the specific contours of high demands on ...

Tucker Carlson in Hungary, Latino Evangelicals, and COVID Culture Wars with Uncle Ron DeSantis

Brad addresses two common refrains about racism and social issues--the "racism is a heart issue" response and the "not of this world" response. He shows how when Evangelicals hold power, they turn to individualist responses to issues like race and guns. They don't want the systems changed, so the response is to turn it into a changing hearts for God issue. When they have lost the power, they do everything possible to elect their candidates, change laws, and get the power back. It's an offense-de...

Can Autocracy and Nihilism Work for the GOP?

Brad and Dan begin with extended analysis of the testimony of the Capitol Police officers before the 1/6 committee. Their words are shocking and harrowing. They reflect on the words hurled at them that day as they were being attacked, words marked by the racism, xenophobia, Trumpism, and Christianity of the capitol rioters.They then turn to the explicit Christian nationalism of the rioters.This leads Dan to comment on how "religions are what religions do." There is no calling them insurrecti...

Response to Skillet's John Cooper

Brad speaks once again with Dr. Susannah Crockford. They discuss her new book, Ripples of the Universe, which provides an ethnographic account of New Age spiritual practitioners in Sedona, Arizona. Dr. Crockford explains the various spiritual beliefs, cosmologies, and rituals that makeup the peculiar and dazzling form of spirituality in the Arizona desert. She also explains the term "conspirituality," which denotes the combination of conspiracy + spirituality.One of the most interesting parts ...

+1/6 Select Committee and Texas KKK in Schools

Response to Owen Strachan's Misguided Biblicism

+ Catholicism's White Supremacy Problem

Trump's Reichstag Moment, Texas Democrats Try to Save Voting Rights, and Child Tax Credits as Good

Brad discusses a new article at WaPo on the Trumpism and Christian nationalism of non-denominational churches.He points out that this is not a new phenomenon to anyone who has been paying attentionHe points out that the identity of non-denominational Christian might replace the Evangelical identity for some people--which helps make sense of recent data on a decline in Evangelical numbers across the countryHe spends the bulk of the episode explaining how non-denominational churches are ripe...

On Paul Gosar, Nick Fuentes, Timothy Keller, Ralph Drollinger, and More

The Cruel Nihilism of the Right's "Brain Trust"

Brad begins by responding to Pennsylvania Senate candidate Josh Mandel who claimed last week that the Bible and the Constitution were "not supposed to be separate."He then spends the bulk of this response episode dissecting the comments of conservative "theocratic fascist" Matt Walsh, who spent last week whining that the House voted to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol.Brad uses the metaphor of family and representation to demonstrate how bogus it is to maintain that any Confederat...

Benjamin Park on Hidden Christian Nationalist Histories and Contemporary Trumpism of the LDS Church

Brad and Dan begin this 4th of July weekend episode with thoughts from James Baldwin, who discussed his love for America as a "lover's quarrel."They then lay out the evidence for the fact that the Cold Civil War is escalating--from Trump's Revenge Tour, to new data on how White Evangelicals voted in 2020, to Governor Kristi Noem turning the South Dakota National Guard into soldiers-for-hire, to the Oath Keepers admitting the armed conspiracy to prevent Biden from becoming president on 1/6.Th...

Brad speaks with author and pastor Ruth Everhart about her new book, "The #MeToo Reckoning: Facing the Church's Complicity in Sexual Abuse and Misconduct." They discuss the connections between rape culture and purity culture, how patriarchal theology contributes to toxic church environments. Link to Ruth Everhart The #MeToo Reckoning: https://www.ivpress.com/the-metoo-reckoning"The #MeToo movement has revealed sexual abuse and assault in every sphere of society, including the church. But victim...