Straight White American Jesus
704 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 13 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 1.6K ratingsAn in-depth examination of the culture and politics of Christian Nationalism and Evangelicalism by two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors. If you have ever wondered what social and historical forces led white evangelicals to usher Donald Trump into the White House this is the show for you. As former insiders and critical scholars of religion, Dan Miller and Bradley Onishi have a unique perspective on the Religious Right. Guests have included Chrissy Stroop, R. Marie Griffith, Janelle Wong, Randall Balmer, Katherine Stewart, and many others.
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Episodes
It's In the Code Ep. 96: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult - Part II
April 24, 2024 19:26 - 32 minutesSWAJ Premium IS ON SALE! Subscribe to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ In Dan's second conversation with Michelle Dowd, author of Forager: Fieldnotes for Surviving a Family Cult, they discuss the ways patriarchy and authoritarianism often mix in high-demand religions, how trauma from these experiences lives in the body, and the lifelong practices o...
How Do We Organize an Interfaith and Secular Coalition in 2024?
April 22, 2024 22:44 - 47 minutesSWAJ Premium IS ON SALE! $50 for the whole year! Subscribe to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Sometimes we have to pivot from analysis to organizing. From study to action. In order to do that, Brad speaks with the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, President of Interfaith Alliance. They discuss ways to organize and mobilize for the 2024 elections in order to ...
Weekly Roundup: Clarence Thomas, Husband of J6 Insurrectionist, Oversees Insurrection Cases
April 19, 2024 16:06 - 1 hourSWAJ Premium IS ON SALE! $50 for the whole year! Subscribe to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad and Dan open with a discussion of the J6 cases at SCOTUS - and the fact that Clarence Thomas has not recused himself, despite his wife being involved in J6. The hosts then move to the details of the Stormy Daniels Hush Money case - going through the ...
SUBSCRIBER PREMIUM: The Horror and Spectacle of "Civil War" (the film)
April 18, 2024 14:33 - 18 minutesSWAJ Premium IS ON SALE! Subscribe to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad is joined by his brother, Dr. Brian Onishi, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Penn State Altoona, to breakdown the politics, horror, spectacle, and meanings of "Civil War" - the new film out now. Weird Wonder by Dr. Brian Onishi: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/97...
It's In the Code Ep. 95: Fieldnotes for Surviving a Family Cult Part I
April 17, 2024 16:19 - 29 minutesSWAJ Premium IS ON SALE! Subscribe to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ In this episode, Dan interviews Michelle Down, author of Forager: Fieldnotes for Surviving a Family Cult, about her experiences and insights growing up in an extreme high-control religious community founded by her grandfather. Michelle helps us understand some of the dynamics of...
Christian Supremacists Are Radicalizing Your Neighbors via the 7 Mt. Mandate
April 15, 2024 22:01 - 53 minutesMatt Taylor joins Brad to discuss a new breed of chauvinistic, theologically bull-headed Christian nationalists who might be better called “Christian supremacists.” These hard-liners believe that Christianity deserves a privileged space in American society — that Christians, being better than other human beings, should be entitled to a superior form of citizenship. They claim that Christians are even destined by God to rule over society. What is hazy nostalgia to the “God Bless America” crowd...
Weekly Roundup: Trump's Abortion Strategy Emerges and the NAR Converts Gen Z
April 12, 2024 10:53 - 1 hourSWAJ Premium IS ON SALE! Subscribe to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ We kick things off with a humorous reflection on Dan's eclipse-chasing escapade in Vermont, drawing parallels to the comical misanthropy of Larry David. We then segue into a critical discussion on Donald Trump's latest strategic remarks on abortion and the perplexing enforcement...
It's In the Code Ep. 94: How Christian Focus on Death Affects Reproductive Rights
April 10, 2024 23:18 - 25 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ In this episode, Dan continues talking with Beatrice Marovich, author of Sister Death: Political Theologies for Living and Dying. In this episode, she talks with us about the concrete social and political effects of a Christian and cultural fixation on death, particularly as it relates...
When Extremists Take Over . . . You Run for Office (+ Bonus Content: Dawkins' God Delusion)
April 08, 2024 23:22 - 45 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Kaylee Peterson is running for congress in Idaho. She's a thirty-something working-class mom who saw her hometown taken over by extreme right-wing politicians through coordinate funding and marketing campaigns. She explains why big money interests and Christian nationalists are teaming...
Surprise Episode: Fargo Season 5: Christian Nationalism, Patriarchy, and Pancakes
April 07, 2024 14:25 - 39 minutesSurprise! Brad sat down with Rev. Angela Denker to discuss Fargo Season 5, a series rife with Christian nationalism and related themes: violence, patriarchy, and right-wing authoritarianism. It's also a series full of love, forgiveness, and the hope of going home. Angela Denker is a Lutheran pastor and veteran journalist. She has written for many publications, including Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, and FORTUNE magazine. Denker has appeared on CNN, BBC and SkyNews to share her rese...
Weekly Roundup: Easter/Trans Visibility Day + Abortion is a Religious Right
April 06, 2024 01:15 - 1 hourSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ In the first segment, Dan and Brad discuss the growing call to overturn the 22nd Amendment in order for Trump to be president for more than two terms. They analyze why this is a step on the way to authoritarianism and one more sign of teetering democracy in the USA. In the second segme...
It's In the Code Ep. 93: Rethinking the Relationship Between Life and Death
April 03, 2024 21:03 - 24 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Life and death are commonly seen as representing the starkest of binaries: Death is the ultimate adversary of all that lives. Dan talks with Dr. Beatrice Marovich, faculty at Hanover University, who argues that such understandings of mortality have been deeply influenced by a strain of...
Bonus Ep. 3: That Time Brad Was a Fisher of Fish
April 02, 2024 21:00 - 31 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ On this two-hour bonus episode, Brad and Dan are joined by Brad's former ministry partner and friend of 25 years Jason Thompson. They recount an absurd, whimsical, and somehow instructive story of flinging fresh fish at a wall with teenagers in order to build the Kingdom of God. From t...
Not Just Evangelicals: The Christian Nationalism Problem in Mainline Christian Spaces
April 01, 2024 20:38 - 47 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad speaks to Dr. Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood about their new book, "Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism." They discuss how those Christians who are often thought of as liberal and/or progressive not only shaped key Christian nationalist ...
Weekly Roundup: Trump Endorses Bible Days Before Easter
March 30, 2024 00:02 - 1 hourSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ In the first segment, Dan breaks down the mess at NBC where Ronna Romney McDaniel was ousted from her position after protest by numerous on-air figures. While some have labeled this a travesty of a biased news environment, Dan explains why McDaniel should not be on any credible news ne...
It's In the Code Ep. 92: "A Biblical House of Cards"
March 27, 2024 20:06 - 28 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ In this final episode exploring the idea that the Bible is without error, that it is “inerrant,” Dan looks at what happens if this doctrine is abandoned. The doctrine of inerrancy appears as a key foundation supporting high-control religion’s house of cards. When that foundation is rem...
John Birch Society x Today's GOP
March 25, 2024 17:59 - 44 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as histo...
Weekly Roundup: "Some Migrants Aren't Human" Says GOP Frontrunner
March 22, 2024 16:42 - 1 hourSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad and Dan begin by discussing a terrifying law in Texas that would allow law enforcement to detain people based on any suspicion of them being undocumented. This is frightening in itself, but even more so that the presumptive GOP nominee for president recently said some migrants are...
It's In the Code Ep. 91: "So Much for the Holy Spirit"
March 20, 2024 18:35 - 29 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ High control Christian communities often claim that the Bible is without error, that its teachings are absolute, and that if we read our Bibles we can learn about God for ourselves. But is that how it really works? What if, instead, claims that the Bible speaks with “inerrant” authority are actually mechanisms of religious c...
The Wannabe Warlord Leading the US Into Christendom + Bonus Content
March 18, 2024 23:06 - 43 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad goes into a deep dive into Charles Haywood, the self-proclaimed "warlord" who is using his fortune to lead the United States into a medieval Christian oligarchy. Haywood started the Society for American Civic Renewal, which Brad and Dan talked about last Friday. SACR, as it is known, is a secretive male-only group of Wh...
Weekly Roundup: The Secretive Christian Nationalist Fraternal Order Planning American Domination
March 16, 2024 01:15 - 1 hourSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad and Dan break down the revelations surrounding the Society for American Renewal, which according to the Guardian is "an exclusive, men-only fraternal order which aims to replace the US government with an authoritarian “aligned regime”, and which experts say is rooted in extreme Christian nationalism and religious autocr...
It's in the Code Ep. 90: "Direct Relationship with God"
March 13, 2024 15:38 - 31 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ One of the effects and purposes of the doctrine that the Bible is “without error” is to provide assurance that when we read it, we have unmediated access to divine teachings. But do we? Can the Bible provide the kind of “immediate” access to God this doctrine promises? In this week’s episode, Dan talks about why this isn’t p...
The Age of Insurrection w/ David Neiwert
March 11, 2024 17:07 - 46 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ From a smattering of ominous right-wing compounds in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s, to the shocking January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, America has seen the culmination of a long-building war on democracy being waged by a fundamentally violent and antidemocratic far-right movement that unironically calls i...
Weekly Roundup: State of Disunion - Contraceptive Nationalism and the Innocent White Christian Woman
March 09, 2024 00:42 - 57 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad and Dan begin by discussing the State of the Union speech by Pres. Joe Biden and the GOP response by Sen. Katie Britt (AL). They analyze the theatrics of the civic ritual - and how the chamber has turned into something more like the comments section on a YouTube video than a stately affair where all three of our branche...
It's In the Code Ep. 89: "Believe It Or Not"
March 07, 2024 01:43 - 28 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ When someone says they “believe” that the Bible is “inerrant” (without error), what do they mean? What does it mean to “believe” something in this way? Is believing the Bible is without error the same thing as “believing” that there are 24 hours in the day or that we perceive the sun to rise in the east? Are there different ...
Bonus Ep. 2: That Time Brad Told You About Eternal Torment at Lunch
March 05, 2024 23:08 - 25 minutesBrad tells cringy stories from his teenage years in order to make a point: Christian conservatives often start arguments by saying that everyone has a worldview, so everyone is religious. If you don't worship God, they say, then you worship yourself or something else. Brad and Dan decode and refute this argument, while telling hilarious stories from the past. They also answer a ton of AMA questions. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500...
Brynn Tannehill on Civil War, Trump, and the Violence Ahead in 2024
March 04, 2024 05:45 - 36 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ What happens if Trump wins? If he goes to jail before the election? If Biden wins, but the House GOP won't certify the election? Brad goes through all these scenarios with Brynn Tannehill, author of American Fascism: How the GOP is subverting democracy. Brynn Tannehill is a Naval Academy graduate, former naval aviator, autho...
Weekly Roundup: SCOTUS and McConnell Surrender to Trump
March 01, 2024 23:57 - 1 hourSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad and Dan begin by demonstrating how Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down from Senate leadership because of his party's extremism, created that extremism by poking holes in democracy. His work is coming to fruition in SCOTUS' decision to hear the Trump immunity appeal - and thus almost guarantee he won't be prosecuted be...
It's In the Code Ep. 88: "The Bible is Historically Flawless"
February 29, 2024 01:05 - 30 minutesSubscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Christian inerrantists, those who claim that the Bible is literally “without error,” often present this as a “historical” doctrine. That is, they often claim that the view that the Bible is without error is the result of historical investigation, that the historical claims of the Bible have been tested against real history a...
Talking to Red-Pilled Friends and Loved Ones with Dr. Steven Hassan
February 26, 2024 08:00 - 32 minutesBrad welcomes Dr. Steven Hassan to discuss strategies for talking to red-pilled relatives who have gone down the rabbit holes of MAGA-ism, Q-Anon, and other forms of high-control religion and conspiracy. The author of the Cult of Trump and Combating Cult Mind Control, Dr. Hassan was member of the notorious Unification Church in the 1970s. Dr. Hassan experienced firsthand the devastating effects of undue influence and coercion. His escape from the church and subsequent recovery process inspire...
Weekly Roundup: Embryos are People Now?
February 24, 2024 00:10 - 1 hourBrad and Dan begin by discussing the shocking decision from the Alabama Supreme Court proclaiming embryos to be human beings. They dissect the legal, philosophical, theological, and political dynamics of the ruling - and breakdown the Christian nationalism baked into the opinion written by Chief Justice Tom Parker. They then turn their attention to Oklahoma, where a non-binary teen died days after being attacked by a group of classmates in a school bathroom. Finally, they look to Tennessee wh...
It's In the Code Ep. 87: "With All Apologies"
February 21, 2024 23:48 - 31 minutesThe doctrine of inerrancy isn’t convincing philosophically, theologically, or factually. Yet it remains a cornerstone of belief within a conservative Christian circles. What explains its persistence? In this episode, Dan begins exploring this issue by suggesting that the doctrine of inerrancy, despite all of its intellectual failings, speaks to a deeply felt need within a particular kind of religious adherent, and that this is one significant reason it persists. Check this week’s episode to h...
Dan Partland - Director of God and Country + (Bonus Content)
February 19, 2024 07:10 - 1 hourBrad's interview with Dan Partland, director of God and Country, a new documentary that examines Christian nationalism in the United States. Based partly on Katherine Stewart's The Power Worshippers, it includes many prominent voices speaking out against Christian nationalism - Andrew Whitehead, Jemar Tisby, Andrew Seidel, Anthea Butler, and many more. Brad speaks with Dan about what drew him to this project, what he learned about the threats Christian nationalism poses to democracy, and why ...
Moscow Mules: Trump. Nato. Putin. MAGA Mike. Tucker Gets Tuckered.
February 16, 2024 16:13 - 1 hourBrad and Dan begin by discussing Trump's comments on NATO and how they reflect eight years of Putin transforming the American Right's view of America's role in the world. This leads to an extended discussion of Mike Johnson and his reticence to send support to Ukraine without a border deal, even though that is what the Senate sent him. Democrats turned the table, perhaps, on the immigration issue - but at a cost. Then there is Tucker Carlson, parading around Moscow . . . Subscribe for $5.99 a...
It's In the Code Ep. 86: "The Last Line of Defense"
February 14, 2024 16:12 - 26 minutesWhat do those who insist that the Bible is inerrant, literally “without error,” do if they’re finally confronted with contradictions or errors in the biblical text that no one can plausibly explain? Does this lead them to abandon the doctrine? Do they finally have to give in to the evidence of the text they themselves claim as an authority? No! Instead, they marshal one, final, ultimate defense of an inerrant Bible. What is it? Check out this week’s episode and Dan will tell you! Subscribe fo...
We Are Living in the Klan's America Part II + Bonus Content: Abolish the National Prayer Breakfast
February 12, 2024 21:10 - 34 minutesIn a new Atlantic article, Ronald Brownstein reports on Trump's plans for a second term - using National Guard troops in American cities to round up migrants; massive camps for undocumented persons; the deportation of ten million people - in short, an operation to reshape American society by putting anyone suspected of not being a real American behind barbed wire or on a plane to another country. This is the Klan's America. Brad talks about it with Dr. Kelly J. Baker, author of the Gospel Acc...
Weekly Roundup: Walk by Faith, Not by Impeachment Votes (or Immunity Claims)
February 10, 2024 01:41 - 1 hourBrad and Dan take a winding tour through a bundle of issues: the GOP's failed impeachment vote; the lampooning of their own bill in the Senate; Red Shirts beating a Latino man live on Fox News; Elise Stefanik saying she wouldn't have certified the election if she was VP; book burning political candidates; a woman who has faith that God has chosen Trump for the presidency. The common thread: Democracy requires faith; authoritarianism only requires fear and anger. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to...
It's In the Code Ep. 85: "I Know What the Bible Says"
February 07, 2024 15:25 - 31 minutesInerrantists who claim that the Bible is “without error,” right down to the individual words of the text, also recognize that the Bible is full of factual inaccuracies. How do they reconcile these two positions? How can they acknowledge factually inaccurate claims and still insist that the Bible is “without error”? One theological strategy is to insist that the Bible is without error only in what it “affirms.” What do they mean by this? And does this slick theological trick work? Unsurprising...
We Are Living in the Klan's America Part I + Bonus Content
February 05, 2024 21:11 - 31 minutesBrad speaks with Dr. Kelly J. Baker, author of Gospel of the Klan. In the first segment, Brad outlines how TPUSA is akin to the 1920s Klan. Then he speaks with Dr. Baker, who outlines how the Klan was seen as a patriotic Christian organization that put God and country first. Sound familiar? In its time, the Klan was not considered a beyond the pale White supremacist group. It was part of mainstream society. Part of churches. Part of the American way of life. And, as they discuss, we are repea...
Bonus Ep. 1: That Time God Wanted Dan to Get Arrested
February 04, 2024 22:15 - 27 minutesThis is a free preview of our monthly 2-hour bonus episode. For access to this episode + ad-free listening, access to our archive, weekly bonus content, and an invitation to our Discord server sign up now! Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christia...
Weekly Roundup: Taylor Swift Plays Fool's Ball + Trucker Convoy and Satanists in Idaho
February 02, 2024 23:49 - 1 hourBrad and Dan begin by discussing the right-wing meltdown about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl. They point out the misogyny at the heart of the discourse, as well as the Christian nationalist and patriarchal dimensions. In the second segment, Brad analyzes the trucker convoy headed the Border - centering on how its participants are using J6 as its inspiration to be warriors for God. In the final segment Dan takes us through how satanists are warding of Christian nationalism in Idaho by using ...
It's In the Code Ep. 84: The Original Manuscripts
January 31, 2024 15:32 - 32 minutesThose who claim that the Bible is “inerrant” are clear that this applies to the “autographs,” or original manuscripts, of the Bible. But we don’t have ANY of those original manuscripts. What does that mean for claims that the Bible is “inerrant”? And even if we did have those originals, most of us can’t read the Bible its original languages. Can a translated Bible still be inerrant? In this episode Dan shows why the lack of manuscripts is a HUGE problem for claims to inerrancy, and argues tha...
Ahead in 2024? Abortion, Violence, and the Global Far-Right + Bonus Content
January 29, 2024 19:34 - 34 minutesIn the first part of this episode, Brad talks with journalist Annika Brockschmidt about what under reported or under the radar things she is watching in 2024. Annika walks through a number of court cases on reproductive rights and what they will mean for access to the abortion pill. She also analyzes the violent rhetoric Trump and MAGA Nation have been employing over the last month through the lens of the history of fascism. Finally, she details how the far-right is organizing around the worl...
Weekly Roundup: Ron DeSantis Aborts 8 Months In
January 27, 2024 00:41 - 1 hourBrad and Dan begin by discussing what happened to Ron DeSantis. Taking stock of pundits who blame his failure on policy or lack of people skills, Brad argues that DeSantis lacks the aesthetic and eroticism to be a fascist leader. He was never Trump+. Just Diet Trump. The MAGA movement wants a strongman autocrat - and so he didn't have it. In the second segment, Dan reports on "man camps" around the country where guys are going to "get hard." It's a wild ride. In the final segment, the hosts d...
It's In the Code Ep. 83: "The Very Words of Scripture"
January 24, 2024 08:00 - 27 minutesWhen inerrantists say that the Bible is “without error,” one of the things they mean is that the very words of the Bible itself were chosen by God. When they say that the Bible is “God-breathed” or “inspired,” this inspiration goes all the down to the biblical authors’ very choice of words. Why is this important to them? What does this claim mean? Does it remove the human element of the Bible’s production? Can we make this understanding of the Bible make sense? Take a listen to this week’s ep...
Congress Learns About Mike Johnson's White Christian Nationalism
January 22, 2024 18:32 - 1 hourExclusive to SWAJ - the Freethought Caucus in the House of Representatives held a seminar on Mike Johnson's Christian nationalism. Rep. Jared Huffman chaired the panel and heard comments from Dr. Matthew Taylor, Rachel Laser, President of Americans United, and Darcy Hirsch of the Interfaith Alliance. We are the only media outlet to distribute a recording of the event. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access...
Weekly Roundup: "MLK Was a Bad Guy" + Fallout from Iowa
January 19, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourBrad and Dan begin by discussing the ways White evangelicals pushed Trump to victory and Iowa - and then dispel a bunch of myths about why White Christians keep voting for him. They also dig into reactions to a mainstream media source calling out Christian nationalism (hint: White Christian nationalists weren't happy). In the second segment the hosts examine Charlie Kirk's characterization of MLK as "a bad guy" and his claims that the Civil Rights Act was a mistake because it signified a "ref...
It's In the Code Ep. 82: "The Proof of Inerrancy"
January 17, 2024 08:00 - 27 minutesThe claim that the Bible is inerrant is a claim that it is the sole and absolute authority in matters of religious truth. For millions of American Christians, that also means that it should be the source of social policy and legislation that shape public life for every American. Those are BIG claims. So what is the evidence for inerrancy? Why should we accept these claims for the Bible? As it turns out, inerrantists aren’t able to provide such evidence. The result is that inerrancy is either ...
Evangelical Trumpism: Then and Now Part II. w/ Tim Alberta
January 15, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourPart II of Brad's interview with journalist Tim Alberta, author of the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Evangelicalism in an Age of Extremism. In his intro, Brad goes through his criticisms of the book. They come down to three main points: It is a normative project in a journalistic format; it reproduces the theological frame it is trying to fix; it poses a neat separation of the religious and the political in a way that is incoherent. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-f...
Weekly Roundup: God's Chosen Is Above the Law
January 13, 2024 00:12 - 1 hourOn the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Brad and Dan first take stock of two wild but related claims by Trump: He is immune from the law and chosen by God to enact it. Sounds more like a medieval monarch than a democratically elected president . . . In the second segment, the two hosts analyze how Iowa, the center of American politics this weekend, became deeply red while its neighbors - Illinois and Minnesota and Michigan, and to some extent Wisconsin - have trended blue and progressive. It's a mat...