Episodes

Fascism is Trending and the Worst is Yet to Come

Orthodoxy, Putin Veneration, and Fascism in Rural Appalachia

On Rick Santorum, Promise Keepers, Josh Duggar, and Caitlyn Jenner

Monument to White American Evangelicalism and Christian Nationalism

America First, George Floyd, and Racial Violence

Thoughts on the Derek Chauvin Murder Conviction

With Constitutional Lawyer Andrew Seidel

Brad and Dan discuss how returning to normal after the pandemic is tragic in contemporary America: from the murder of Daunte Wright during the Derek Chauvin murder trial to the propagation of White replacement theory by prominent pundits and politicians to the Evangelical reticence to get the vaccine. They draw on the work of James Baldwin and others to draw connections among these disheartening facets of American life.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Response #2 to Timothy Keller

Response #2 to Timothy Keller

Brad and Dan draw on Sophie Bjork-James' new book, the Divine Institution, to demonstrate how Evangelicals use the nuclear family in order to both attack members of the LGBTQ+ community and draw attention away from systemic issues related to race and other public health threats. In particular, they discuss a) the trans bill and healthcare for trans children in Arkansas b) Biden's executive order on gun control and the issue of gun violence as a public health threat c) the CDC's labeling of racis...

Brad is joined by Dr. Susannah Crockford, author of "Thank God for the greatest country on earth: white supremacy, vigilantes, and survivalists in the struggle to define the American nation," an article in which she shares her ethnographic field work from the Arizona desert, near the US-Mexico border. Her work illuminates how Christian nationalism works in the minds of those who see defending the border as the most pressing issue in maintaining the greatness of the USA. She also explores how cer...

Brad responds to a Twitter thread by Timothy Keller, pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Keller argues for sex in a lifelong covenant marked by deep permanent union. He calls this biblical. Brad points out that the only biblical soulmate story we have of this kind is between God and Israel, which is a problematic example since God is both Israel's Husband AND maker. How do you have consent and symmetry if your spouse is your creator? He then shows that the soulmate myth Keller is advancing c...

Brad and Dan are happy to announce that SWAJ is joining the Irreverent Media Group--a collective of podcasts that offers content on deconstruction, rediscovery, and everything in between. We outline the details at the top of the episode. Check out irreverent.fm for more details!We spend the major segment discussing the 82 anti-trans bills up for vote across the country. Dan shares analysis about how and why the trans body is so disruptive to the Christian nationalist vision of the USA. By usin...

TEDx speaker and author Asha Dahya is the Creator and Editor in Chief of GIRLTALKHQ. She was born in the UK, raised in Australia, and now lives in the USA. Of Indian descent, Asha grew up in Evangelical churches and was imbued with the teachings of purity culture. She discusses how it shaped her understanding of love, embodiment, and relationships, and why it prevented her from seeking the proper help when her marriage turned abusive. She also discusses how being a woman of color in the United S...

Brad’s response to Focus on the Family head Jim Daly, who mentioned him in a recent article. In the article Daly tried to deflect the analyses that connect the Atlanta shooter with Evangelicalism and purity culture.Brad dissects Daly’s argument that:The Atlanta shooter’s actions were born from insanity, and thus warrant no further investigationThis is unfair to ChristianityPurity culture = healthyMarriage is for procreation = biblicalHe concludes by extolling Daly to focus on his own...

Dan provides a detailed rebuttal to a piece claiming that there the concern about Christian nationalism is an overblown conspiracy by liberals and celebrities. Brad links this to the draconian voter-suppression law signed in Georgia last night. The law was bankrolled by Christian nationalists organizations and is a direct reaction to Black women and POC organizing to flip the state Blue. It even makes it illegal to give people in line to vote a glass of water. Talk about freedom, eh?They finis...

Brad talks with Adrian Gibbs, co-host of the Dirty Rotten Church Kids and an ex-evangelical of Filipino descent, about the connections between Ravi Zacharias' abuse of spa workers of Asian descent and the killing of six Asian women of Asian descent at day spas near Atlanta next week. They discuss the themes of misogyny, racial otherness, and purity culture as ways to understand why both cases involve Evangelical men carrying out violence against women of color.Learn more about your ad choices....

Brad was featured in a NYT article about purity culture and its affect on the Atlanta shooter along with other academics and advocates including Sam Perry, Joshua Grubbs, and Rachael Denhollander. Soon thereafter Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, derided the article and our comments on his podcast. This is Brad's response. He touches on the selective literalism of Evangelical readings of the Bible, queer theologies and lives from the Bible to the present, and...

Brad and Dan discuss the various threads connecting the massacre in Atlanta: from the history of anti-Asian racism, to the various dimensions of purity culture, to the cover Christian nationalism provides to acts of violence. They then discuss the Vatican's statement on why the Church can't bless same-sex unions. To Brad and Dan this is an instance of the hurtful "loving the sinner, hating the sin" ideal used in Evangelical spaces. They conclude with a segment on Russian interference in our elec...

In the wake of the mass shooting of 8 people, 6 of whom were Asian women, Brad ties together the threads of anti-Asian hate, purity culture, and Christian nationalism.Killing half a dozen Asian women and attributing it to sex addiction, not racism, is Christian nationalism in a nutshell: "Purity culture made me feel bad about my sexual needs, so I eliminated the temptation. What does race have to do with that?" (Hint: everything) Purity culture is not simply about sexual "purity." Sexual ethic...

Brad explains how evangelicalism destroys faith, because it destroys any sense of uncertainty and unpredictability. By working in a register of moral, political, and theological certainty, evangelicalism becomes the anti-thesis of faith. Brad calls this disenchanted theology. By contrast, he argues that as a secular person he has become a person of faith in ways he never experienced as an evangelicals. For him, even as a non-religious person, the world is enchanted--full of unknowability and unp...

Voter suppression laws are Christian nationalist policy. They are part of a long lineage of movements that see White Protestants as the only legitimate power brokers in the American landscape. The 253 voter suppression bills put forth by the GOP over the last month are the result of the belief that not everyone should be able to vote and thus not everyone should be able to govern.After this first segment, we turn to Beth Moore's departure from the SBC, and discuss why it is and is not a big de...

This is a re-release of an episode from last year. Brad talks to journalist Katherine Stewart, author of the Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. Her reporting takes us inside the world of Christian nationalism on the level of lived-experience. She conveys what she has seen at BBQs, political rallies, and even revival meetings at the Trump Hotel in DC. What emerges is a frightening picture of the mechanics of MAGA Nation and its religious communities.Learn more...