Episodes

Sam Kestenbaum is an award-winning freelance journalist who regularly contributes to the New York Times. He recently wrote a feature on Godspeak, a Calvary Chapel church in Ventura County, CA. At Godspeak, Sam writes, defiance to COVID mandates takes on a holy aura. It is the reason business is booming--attendance has tripled during the pandemic and the head pastor, Rob McCoy, is a rising star in the Right-Wing influencer world. Sam shares his experiences reporting on Godspeak and how it is a ne...

Brad compares the current moment to other times in American history when crisis and conflict led to a new normal. What will be our new normal after COVID? Will myth or policy drive us forward? On one hand, the Dems are tepidly putting forward legislation on COVID relief, voting rights, and protections for the LGBTQIA+ community. On the other, the GOP is driving the Big Lie forward, along with culture war items like Dr. Seuss and Potato Head. Which story--and which future--will prevail?Brad and...

Following a great thread by @CaitlinJStout, Brad discusses why the people who leave evangelicalism are often the ones who devoted themselves wholeheartedly to it.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Conversion therapy" is a discredited practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Lucas Wilson is a Liberty University grad who took part in the university's ongoing "conversion therapy" program. Now a writer and scholar, he shares his experiences and those of others who endured the efforts to change their sexual orientation.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At CPAC this week, there is a golden calf, um, statue of Trump making the rounds. Brad and Dan explore how this emblematizes Trump's continuing reign over the GOP. A majority of Republicans view him as a true patriot. Almost half say they would defect if he started a new party. Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan say Trump is the figurehead of the GOP and will be for the indefinite future. This means, we believe, that the type of violence seen on 1/6 will happen again.In the second segment we discus...

Brad lays out the case as to why the REvangelical movement coming from The Gospel Coalition and other voices in the Evangelical universe should not be considered deconstruction.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad talk to Dr. Ruth Braunstein, Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, about the nostalgic myths that drive MAGA Nation. Their conversation centers on how recognizing the structure of these myths enables us to better see how Christian nationalism pervades right-wing movements that don't have any explicit religious identity markers or symbols. Think: the Proud Boys and the NRA. These groups structure their identities around a certain Christian nationalist interpretation of Ame...

What is the point of government? Is is capitalist profit or the common good? Brad and Dan explain how these questions connect notable events from this week--from Rush Limbaugh's death, to the energy disaster in Texas, Ted Cruz's Cancun misadventure, and one small town mayor's cruel understanding of how to treat people suffering through a weather catastrophe. We finish with a favorite segment: He's No James; Madison Cawthorn.---Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanj...

Brad and Dan's interview with Reilly, Associate Pastor at Presbyterian New England Church in Saratoga Springs NY. Reilly shares how she grew up evangelical, realized she was gay right about the time she received the call to ministry, and her role as a possibility model to young people.---Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/supportLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...

Brad discusses the Ravi Zacharias scandal and why sexual abuse is so rampant in Evangelical spaces: authoritarian leadership structures, patriarchal theology, in group/out group mentality, and a lack of oversight. He then relates it to Evangelical theologies of sex and gender by examining how Kamala Harris has been given the Jezebel label. Not is it sexist, but its origins are racist in nature. The Jezebel type is a slur against Black Women.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...

Is talking about Christian nationalism akin to demonizing White Christians? Some right-wing theologians and leaders would like you to think it is. But they are wrong. We provide strategies for talking about Christian nationalism without reducing all Christian political involvement as Christian nationalism. We then continue to outline why it is essential to recognize the threat of White Christian nationalism, especially as it relates to rhetoric of war, violence, and political enemies.Our secon...

Dan's 2018 interview with ethicist and former AAR president David Gushee, who left evangelicalism after changing his views of LGBTQ relationships.---Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/supportLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad talks about:Christian nationalism and Bruce Springsteen's Meet in the Middle adTom Brady's friendship with Donald Trump and White PrivilegeTom Brady and Colin Kapernick: The Center and the MarginThe Kansas City Football Team's name as the chef's kiss to all of this---Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/supportLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad and Dan talk about the false equivalence the GOP tried to draw this week between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ilhan Omar. This takes place in the context of a discussion about the generational legacy Trump holds over the Republican party, which is now dominated by extremists, conspiracy theorists, and Christian nationalists. Dan breaks down why it's a big deal that Trump didn't attend the National Prayer Breakfast and what it says about how Christian nationalism is not about personal religiou...

On an episode from fall of 2018 Brad and Dan share stories from their experiences with purity culture and provide a primer on gender and sexuality in Evangelicalism. They then interview Reverend Sarah Buteux about her journey from Evangelicalism (where she was told women couldn't be pastors) to ministering at an LGBT+ affirming church. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

Monica Rodden is a novelist and ex-evangelical. She wrote this recent piece in the Boston Globe about how she would have been the type of Christian to be part of the Capitol Insurrection. In her interview with Brad, she discusses the binary thinking that plagues Evangelical culture, how certainty can act as a shield from the harsh realities of the world--and why that's a bad thing--and how the Capitol Insurrection brought back all the memories of feeling hate and disrespect towards those who dis...

Brad and Dan unpack how religions are what people do. The same goes for political parties. This means that White Supremacist Christians and QAnon Christians are Christians. They may not be the kind you like or want to be associated with, but it's unhelpful to write them off as lone wolves who can be dismissed. This also means that insurrection-inciters and conspiracists like Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Kevin McCarthy are the real Republican party. After discussing why it's important...

In an episode from fall of 2018, Brad and Dan discuss the issue of abortion in Evangelical culture and how it became a litmus test for who is a "real Christian." Brad then interviews Dr. Myev Rees, an expert on reproductive rights and abortion in Evangelicalism. She discusses the concept of an "angel baby" and what it means for how Evangelicals understands life, conception, and embodiment.---Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: ht...

Dr. Peter Manseau is a curator of American religious history at the Smithsonian and the author of ten books. He started #capitolsiegereligion soon after the January 6 insurrection in order to facilitate a crowdsourced collection of religious symbols and imagery from the siege. He talks to Brad about the Christian (and non-Christian) symbolism among the participants, the ways religious media and rhetoric fostered the resentment and anger that fueled the riot, and the examples from American religi...

Brad and Dan discuss the inauguration, including the theological aspects of Biden's speech and the civil religiosity of Biden's approach.They then transition to how key members on the Right, including Tucker Carlson and Rand Paul, were "offended" by Biden's call to dismantle White Supremacy and what it means going forward.Dan explains the troubling aspects of the 1776 Report. Brad explains why QAnon and the Proud Boys are in a moment of transition.They wrap up by discussing how to have emp...

An episode from Season 1 where Brad and Dan discuss nationalism and populism in the White Evangelical subculture. This is a nice primer for understanding what we now call Christian nationalism and its pervasiveness in American politics.---Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/supportLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad is joined by Dr. Richard Steigmann-Gall, a historian and expert in Nazi Germany. They compare Hitler's failed coup of 1923 and the Jan. 6 Insurrection at the US Capitol. The discussion focuses on several themes present in 1923 Germany and 2021 USA:Cultural resentmentRight-wing authoritarianismExtra-military militiasThe danger of unity with fascistsChristianity as a marker of cultural identityLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad and Dan begin by recalling their episode from the eve of Trump's first impeachment, when the quoted a number of Evangelical leaders threatening/predicting civil war if Trump was impeached. Then, it seemed hyperbolic. Now, it is terrifying. They relate this to the prevalent "cosmic war" motif among various White (Christian) nationalists: from the Proud Boys to White Evangelicals and QAnons. Brad talks about the Q Caucus (Madison Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene) and the l...

In an interview from 2018, Brad and Dan talk to Dr. Glenn Bracey of Villanova University about his experiences in White churches as a Black man. Dr. Bracey unpacks racialized dimensions of the Evangelical culture that shed light on what's happened during the the last four years--and even the last few weeks. His firsthand account and researcher's sensibilities make for a compelling interview on the troubling dynamics of race and White supremacy in contemporary American Evangelicalism.---Send ...