Straight White American Jesus
725 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days 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
Weekly Roundup: Legitimate Fascist Discourse
February 12, 2022 00:00 - 14 minutesBrad and Dan begin by discussing the RNC calling J6 "legitimate political discourse." While it may seem like a blip in a busy news cycle, Dan relates it to the pearl clutching Republicans did about civility and bi-partisanship early in the Biden presidency, while Brad argues that the history books will reveal it as evidence leading to the GOP's development into full-blown fascism. This segment ends with a comparison of this language with the once-upon-a-time concern about Hillary Clinton's em...
You’re Not Welcome Here, Ep. 6: "You’re Not Who You Think You Are”
February 09, 2022 10:00 - 30 minutesThis episode revisits the idea that identity is about recognition and explores the significance of this. Because identity is not only about how I recognize myself, but also about how others recognize me, identity is never merely a matter of individual preference. Rather, identity is always shared and collective in nature. This is particularly true of identities with the “critical mass” to effect social or political change. This is one of the reasons why criticisms of identity politics on the ...
"You’re Not Welcome Here", Ep. 6- "You’re Not Who You Think You Are”
February 09, 2022 08:00 - 8 minutesThis episode revisits the idea that identity is about recognition and explores the significance of this. Because identity is not only about how I recognize myself, but also about how others recognize me, identity is never merely a matter of individual preference. Rather, identity is always shared and collective in nature. This is particularly true of identities with the “critical mass” to effect social or political change. This is one of the reasons why criticisms of identity politics on the ...
J6 ONE YEAR LATER, Ep. 6: This Was a Dress Rehearsal - with Anne Nelson
February 07, 2022 10:00 - 11 minutesWhat if J6 and the Anti-CRT movements trace back to the same secretive organization? What if J6 was the result of years of planning and organizing? And what if there's a plan in place to make sure that a secretive network has the chance to pick our next president? Anne Nelson is the author of Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right. She explains how J6 was the result of a year-long strategy implemented by the Council for National Policy. Once the CNP realized tha...
Weekly Roundup: Patriarchal Safe Spaces Aren't Safe
February 04, 2022 21:00 - 10 minutesBrad and Dan begin with a discussion about the new bill in Florida that would outlaw referencing gender and sexual identity. This new "Don't Say Gay Bill" is an attempt to create a patriarchal safe space in which all those who are not straight are considered outside threats to children. It shows how, despite all their ire toward the idea of safe spaces, Christian nationalists and conservatives attempt to create safe spaces as same spaces--a place where everyone is made to be, or assumed, to b...
You’re Not Welcome Here Ep. 5: “It’s Not Like Social Media”
February 02, 2022 10:00 - 10 minutesContemporary critics on both the right and the left essentially accuse those who politically mobilize around social identities of being fundamentally selfish in nature. The charge is that their politics reflects only personal interest, that they seek special treatment or privilege on the basis of an identity that isn’t shared with others, and that they fragment any shared political vision. But none of these criticisms hold up if we consider the actual social groups that figure prominently in ...
J6 ONE YEAR LATER, Ep. 5: The Violence of Playing Indian
January 31, 2022 10:00 - 10 minutesDr. Dana Lloyd is an expert on Native American religious traditions and faculty at Villanova University. She speaks to Brad about how the QAnon Shaman's appropriation of Native American symbols extends a long lineage of White people "playing Indian." According to Dr. Lloyd, "playing Indian" is a means of eliminating indigenous peoples by using their symbols, rituals, and traditions while leaving them behind--often through violence and attempted genocide. She draws on her own upbringing in Isr...
Weekly Roundup: Falwell's Fall and America's Backlash
January 29, 2022 00:49 - 9 minutesBrad and Dan begin this episode with a discussion of the new profile of Jerry Falwell Jr. at Vanity Fair. In their view, Falwell is a type for contemporary Christian nationalism. He describes himself as not particularly religious while subscribing to a vision of the United States wherein White Christian men hold power. He was formed politically by Rush Limbaugh. He lavished praise on Donald Trump. For Dan, it's a perfect example of how Christian nationalism is a religious-political-cultural i...
You're Not Welcome Here, Ep. 4: “Why Now?”
January 26, 2022 10:00 - 8 minutesIf all of politics involves “identity,” and if we all possess identities, why do so many feel like contemporary “identity politics” is something new and experience it as threatening? If identity has always been a fundamental part of shared social and political life, why does identity figure so prominently in that shared life now? In this episode, we explore this question, looking at three significant social and political events over the latter half of the 20th century that help us to understa...
J6 ONE YEAR LATER, Ep. 4: Shofars, Flags, and a Declaration of War
January 24, 2022 10:00 - 8 minutesDr. Leah Payne is a historian of Pentecostalism and other Christian traditions in the United States. She speaks with Brad about the overwhelming presence of charismatic Christians at the Insurrection. Drawing on her insider-scholar perspective, Dr. Payne helps decode some of the religious elements at at J6: the shofars (the horns used as instruments to declare war), the flags, and other symbols. She also explains why charismatic Christianity became such a prominent part of Trump's presidency ...
Weekly Round Up: Party of Lincoln and Election Fraud
January 22, 2022 01:00 - 9 minutesBrad and Dan lay out the timeline and details of the fake electors the Trump campaign organized in order to overthrow the election. If you thought the details of Trump’s coup couldn’t get worse, wait until you hear the full scope of the plan to commit election fraud throughout the country in order to overturn the will of the people. They then discuss a new article at Christianity Today that maintains God’s pronouns must be he/him. Dan draws on his training as a theologian and queer theory to...
You're Not Welcome Here, Ep. 3: "Identities are like elbows and a**holes."
January 19, 2022 10:00 - 11 minutesWhat is identity? It isn’t something limited to particular social groups claiming equal rights or something that only applies to minority groups of different kinds. On the contrary, “identity” is something we all have and it’s how we categorize and sort individuals and groups to shape our shared social life. It’s also fundamental to our shared political life, which means that the concept of “identity politics” is actually redundant. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free l...
Identities are like elbows and a***holes.
January 19, 2022 08:00 - 11 minutesWhat is identity? It isn’t something limited to particular social groups claiming equal rights or something that only applies to minority groups of different kinds. On the contrary, “identity” is something we all have and it’s how we categorize and sort individuals and groups to shape our shared social life. It’s also fundamental to our shared political life, which means that the concept of “identity politics” is actually redundant. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free l...
J6 One Year Later, Ep 3: It’s Us Against Them
January 17, 2022 10:00 - 10 minutesBrad interviews Phil Gorski, Professor of Sociology at Yale, and the author of the new co-authored book with Sam Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to Democracy. Gorski breaks down how the rioters thought about the Insurrection–it was not about right or wrong. It was about us vs them. This explains how the various spiritualities on display at J6 worked to form a coalition of forces even if they don’t all have the same worldview. It also explains the func...
Weekly Round Up: The Civility Rights Movement
January 16, 2022 00:35 - 12 minutesBrad and Dan begin this MLK weekend show by going over the outlines of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Selma marches, and King’s missives to White moderates. They link this to the current fight for voting rights and the misugided logic of Senator Synema, who continues to stand in the way of new voting rights legislation. They then transition to new scholarship that shows White Christian nationalists are on the whole in favor of making it harder to vote and are unwilling to admit that voter su...
You’re Not Welcome Here: Religion, Politics, Identity Ep. 2
January 12, 2022 10:00 - 11 minutesWhat do politicians like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders have in common? They’re critical of “identity politics.” In this episode, we’ll take a closer look at how people on both the political left and the political right are critical of identity politics and the unexpected similarities of their perspectives. We’ll also talk about some of the obvious problems with these perspectives and suggest some of the issues we’ll tackle in future episodes. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to...
J6 One Year Later, Ep 2: The Radical Right Shows Up
January 10, 2022 10:00 - 7 minutesBrad speaks with journalist and researcher Teddy Wilson, who has spent a decade covering the Radical Right in the United States. Teddy describes the J6 rioter network map he has built, showing the connections among the 725+ rioters who have been arrested in the year since the Insurrection. He paints a picture of how radical right groups like the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, and 3 Percenters were already at the Capitol before anyone else arrived. He also connects J6 to a lineage of right-wing terr...
Weekly Round Up: J6 Past, Present, Future
January 08, 2022 02:00 - 10 minutesBrad and Dan begin this J6 anniversary episode by zooming in on certain religious elements manifest at the Insurrection. Dan decodes the various Braveheart references and signs on display, connecting them to a form of Christian nationalist masculinity via work by Kristin Kobes du Mez. Brad talks about how and why the rioters prayed as they crossed every boundary and threshold of the Capitol. It was a way of transforming the space into theirs and transforming them from criminals to God’s warri...
You Don't Belong Here: Religion, Politics, Identity Ep. 1
January 06, 2022 00:00 - 9 minutesOn the first episode in this series, Dan Miller explains why identity politics gets a bad rap and why that's a mistake. He introduces basic concepts in identity formation, group dynamics, and cultural identity in order to explain how identity is at the core of everything we do--including politics. It's not a matter of doing away with identity politics. It's a matter of understanding how they work and why in order to create a society in which everyone can flourish. Subscribe for $5.99 a month ...
J6 ONE YEAR LATER, Ep. 1: Christian Supremacy and Holy War - with Sarah Posner
January 03, 2022 23:00 - 12 minutesIn the first installment of J6 One Year Later, Brad speaks with the journalist Sarah Posner. Sarah discusses the various aspects of Christian supremacy and myth that provided a basis for the religious dimensions of the Insurrection. She and Brad touch on the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and the Jericho March in order to uncover how and why the Insurrection was saturated with Christian imagery and symbols. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire ...
Weekly Roundup: Alpha Male Anti Vaxxers
January 01, 2022 21:00 - 12 minutesBrad and Dan kickoff this New Year's Day roundup with a look at the false binary anti-vaxxers use to criticize the COVID vaccine and put forth a bad argument as to why they shouldn't get it. Dan discusses the case of NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, while Brad uses the binary reference point to show why anti-vaxxers are natural allies to those who adhere to fundamentalist religions. They then discuss the very cringe worthy poster for the Alpha Conference--a gathering for male entrepreneurs who ...
Christian Nationalism: The Principles, the Statistics, the Threat- with Samuel Perry
December 30, 2021 02:19 - 10 minutesIn an interview from early 2020, Brad talks with Dr. Samuel Perry, co-author of Taking America Back for God and a leading scholar on the phenomenon of Christian nationalism. They discuss the principles, structures, statistics, and threat of Christian Nationalism. For Perry, Christian Nationalism isn't just theocracy. As they discuss, it's a code word--a dog-whistle--used to signal xenophobia, racism, patriarchy, and so on. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, ...
The Evangelical Anti-Vaccine Movement 50 Years in the Making
December 28, 2021 00:00 - 13 minutesBrad speaks with scholar Mark Fugitt whose recent work explores the various sources and factors in evangelical opposition to the COVID vaccine. He provides the historical context for this movement, showing that it is half a century in formation. He explains to Brad how everything from creationism, to Christian wellness, to anti-abortion sentiment, and the apocalypse play into fear-mongering around the COVID vaccine. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access ...
Weekly Roundup: Mad Mirth and the War on Christmas
December 24, 2021 21:00 - 11 minutesBrad and Dan begin by discussing how Joe Manchin is giving everyone coal for Christmas, even though coal workers want him to vote for the Build Back Better Act. It shows that his actions are based on corporate lobbying, rather than looking out for his voters. They then discuss Americafest--the event put on by Turning Point USA where Kyle Rittenhouse was given celebrity treatment. The episode finishes with a look at how the war on Christmas in America was started and waged by Puritans. Subscri...
The Proto-History of the Religious Right: the KKK
December 23, 2021 03:00 - 10 minutesIn an interview recorded in 2019, Brad talks with Dr. Kelly J. Baker, author of the award-winning book "Gospel According to the Klan." They talk about how and why the Klan's story is THE story of white Protestant America and how the Klan is an important antecedent to the modern-day Religious Right. 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.e...
White Evangelicals and Mass Incarceration
December 21, 2021 01:00 - 13 minutesBrad speaks with Aaron Griffith, Assistant Professor of History at Whitworth University. They discuss his book, God's Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America. Griffith links the rise of the American carceral state to shifts in evangelical theology and anthropology on the 20th century, showing that the individualistic and punitive ethos of evangelical thinking influenced the rise of mass incarceration in the USA. They discuss figures like Billy Graham who was a conduit...
Weekly Roundup: Texting to Stop a Coup
December 18, 2021 03:00 - 10 minutesBrad and Dan begin by discussing the text messages to Mark Meadows revealed by the J6 Select Committee. They dig into why this confirms all the worries we had about the plot to overthrow the election. They also underscore the callousness of the then Commander in Chief who ignored the pleas of fellow citizens to stop an attempted coup in progress. Brad then does a deep dive into Kyrsten Sinema in order to understand her opposition to abolishing the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation....
Deconstruction: 2021's Hottest Sexy AF Trend
December 16, 2021 01:00 - 13 minutesBrad responds to pastor Matt Chandler's claim that deconstruction is only for those who were never real Christians in the first place. Brad dissects Chandler's blithe reference to Derrida (and moral relativism), explains why this is a convenient straw man that skips over the devastating process of leaving one's faith, and then explains why Chandler's response comes from a place of helplessness at the hands of a story that doesn't make any sense, but tries to make sense of everything. Subscrib...
Law, Order, and Romans 13
December 14, 2021 02:00 - 10 minutesRobert Mason is a biblical scholar whose recent work focuses on Romans 13. This passage of the New Testament has been frequently used (and abused) by authority figures trying to manipulate their subjects into obeying the law. It was used by Jeff Sessions to justify separating migrant kids from their parents. It was used to justify slavery. And the Holocaust. And the divine right of kings. But, Mason argues, these defenses rely on a profound misunderstanding of the text--and are nothing more t...
Weekly Roundup: Christmas Wars
December 11, 2021 00:00 - 10 minutesBrad begins by reviewing the bombshell document on Trump's plan to commandeer a recount of the 2020 election by using the military and other government agencies. He links this to comments this week by Matt Gaetz about how when the GOP takes over power once again they will come for their political opponents directly--using "shock troops" to overrun the American government. He then turns his attention to a SCOTUS case on funding religious schools. What is at stake, among other things, is the qu...
Mild at Heart: Love, Sex, and Masculinity After Purity Culture: Ep 10
December 09, 2021 02:00 - 8 minutesOn the final installment of Mild at Heart Brad discusses how purity culture taught him to treat his body as an enemy that his mind was in charge of controlling. This had after effects long after he left purity culture. It took him years to learn how to exist in his own body, to recognize how his mind was preventing him from feeling in real time, and how to quell the hypervigilant inner dialogue that he couldn't turn off. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, ac...
Undercover in MAGA Nation
December 06, 2021 10:00 - 11 minutesAmanda Moore spent a year undercover attending rallies, events, and conferences in the trenches of MAGA Nation. She hung out with Proud Boys, got up close and personal with QAnon grifters, and got invited to join a fascist grassroots organization while attending a Turning Point USA event. She was also present at January 6th. She joins Brad to share what she saw and heard. They play clips she recorded secretly while at these events and talk about why we should all be worried about the future o...
Weekly Roundup: Dying on the Altar of Handheld Killing Machines
December 04, 2021 00:00 - 11 minutesBrad and Dan are back after a week off. They begin by discussing SCOTUS and the very real possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. Dan distills the arguments of the Trump appointed judges. Brad points to the religious history and context that made this moment possible. They then turn their attention to Oxford, Michigan and the school shooting from a few days ago. Brad argues that the reason we have not seen meaningful gun control in this country is that guns--handheld killing machines--re...
God Save the Men: Evangelical (Toxic) Masculinity with Professor Kristin Kobes du Mez
November 30, 2021 02:52 - 10 minutesBrad and Dan are joined by Professor Kristin Kobes du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne, and an expert on evangelical masculinity and culture. They discuss why evangelicals imagine Jesus to be a heterosexual strong man, how evangelical pastors prime their congregations for fear, the trappings of gender complementarity, the #churchtoo movement, and the damaging effects of patriarchal church cultures. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 5...
God Save the Men: Evangelical (Toxic) Masculinity with Professor Kristin du Mez
November 30, 2021 02:52 - 1 hourBrad and Dan are joined by Professor Kristin Kobes du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne, and an expert on evangelical masculinity and culture. They discuss why evangelicals imagine Jesus to be a heterosexual strong man, how evangelical pastors prime their congregations for fear, the trappings of gender complementarity, the #churchtoo movement, and the damaging effects of patriarchal church cultures. To Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/BradleyOnishi For an ad-free experience and to su...
The Myth of the Persecuted Christian and the Inverted Golden Rule
November 26, 2021 10:25 - 10 minutesBrad speaks with Dennison University political scientist Paul Djupe. They discuss Djupe's findings that those Christians who live in homogenous Christian communities are most likely to believe that Democrats, atheists, and others are trying to take their rights away. They also discuss data that shows a large majority of Evangelicals are willing to strip rights from nonbelievers. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Dis...
The Myth of the Christian Nation
November 24, 2021 10:33 - 9 minutesDan speaks with author and constitutional lawyer Andrew Seidel. They discuss his new book, "The Founding Myth," and dissect the idea that the USA is a Christian nation. 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 new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163 SWAJ Ap...
Confronting the Sh*ttiness of Paul
November 23, 2021 01:00 - 8 minutesIn his new book, Profaning Paul, USC Professor Cavan Concannon takes an unflinching look at the letters of Paul through the metaphor of excrement--or shit. "The letters of Paul have been used to support and condone a host of evils over the span of more than two millennia: racism, slavery, imperialism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism, to name a few. Following the lead of feminist, queer, and minoritized scholarship, Profaning Paul asks what would happen if we stopped recycling Paul’s writings. By...
Weekly Roundup: One God, One Country, One Leader - On Leaving the Realm of Democracy
November 20, 2021 03:00 - 8 minutesBrad and Dan discuss the censuring of Rep. Paul Gosar for his tweet depicting him as an anime character killing Rep AOC. This leads to a bold, but evidence-based thesis: There is no good Republican party. If it ever existed in the first place, it is now gone. What has taken its place is a party founded on Trumpism, grievance, and fascist tendencies. After providing evidence for this thesis, Brad and Dan ask two questions: What happens in parties and states where contradicting the leader is th...
Mild at Heart: Love, Sex, and Masculinity After Purity Culture: Ep 9
November 17, 2021 16:00 - 7 minutesOn Mourning the One and the lessons about love you never learn in church. 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-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163 SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron...
Christians Against Christian Supremacy -with Dr. Obery Hendricks
November 16, 2021 01:00 - 11 minutesA life long social activist, Obery Hendricks is one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. Dr. Hendricks’ appearances include CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Fox News, Fox Business News, the Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, among others. Dr. Hendricks has served in the Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group at the U. S. Department of State under ...
Weekly Roundup: Big Bird Was Immunized
November 13, 2021 04:00 - 8 minutesBrad and Dan begin by discussing the case of Aaron Rodgers, who was recently found out not to have been vaccinated. They discuss the various components at play in the case--from becoming an anti-vaxxer wiithout realizing it, to blaming the "woke mob" for cancel culture, and the politics of scientific authority. This leads to a discussion of Ted Cruz's criticism of Big Bird's immunization. Yes, Big Bird. Staying with Ted Cruz, Brad and Dan then analyze how and why our nation's freeways and oth...
Mild at Heart: Love, Sex, and Masculinity After Purity Culture: Ep 8
November 11, 2021 03:00 - 7 minutesBrad uses recent comments by Josh Hawley to talk about what people mean when they say that the country (and the church) needs to return to masculinity. Brad argues that this is a common trope in Christian nationalism and the theme opens the door for seeing how Christian nationalism is the original purity culture. 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: h...
Reading Evangelicals
November 08, 2021 12:00 - 9 minutesBrad's spirited and at times contentious interview with Daniel Silliman, the news editor for Christianity Today and the author of Reading Evangelicals:: How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and Faith. Their discussion of Silliman's book includes rumination on the themes of race, class, politics, and the contours of evangelical culture. Where Silliman sees diversity, Brad sees a narrow focus on suburban White evangelicals whose homogenous,, Trumpian politics are reflected in the fiction Sill...
Weekly Roundup: Trumpism Without Trump
November 06, 2021 02:00 - 10 minutesBrad and Dan begin by debating the fallout of the gubernatorial election in Virginia. Dan points out that historically the party in power doesn't perform well in midterm and off-year elections. This is especially true in Virginia. Brad takes a different approach by discussing the ways that the GOP has made extremism mainstream in the past and how Glenn Youngkin, who ran on a Trumpian platform without Trump as the mascot of his campaign, may be the next iteration of making racism and prejudice...
Parenting After Purity Culture
November 04, 2021 04:00 - 11 minutesBrad takes a break from Mild at Heart to talk to writer, podcaster, and organizer Cindy Wang Brandt, the person behind Parenting Forward. Cindy discusses her journey from Evangelical convert to the go-to person helping folks navigate parenthood after deconstruction and in the wake of purity culture. Her new children's book, You Are Revolutionary, provides an inspiring child-affirming message that is poignant and timely. You are Revolutionary: https://www.beamingbooks.com/store/product/9781506...
Gay Activism and the Christian Gaze
November 01, 2021 10:00 - 8 minutesDr. Brett Krutsch is the editor of the Revealer and the Director of the Center for Religion and Media at NYU, He speaks to Brad about his book, "Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics." In Dying to Be Normal, Krutzsch argues that gay activists have in the past enacted a political strategy to present gays as similar to the country's dominant class of white, straight Christians. Through an examination of publicly mourned gay deaths, Krutzsch counters ...
Weekly Roundup: America on Trial
October 30, 2021 02:00 - 11 minutesBrad and Dan begin by discussing three trials happening right now: the Charlottesville Unite the Right Trial, the Kenosha Shooter Trial, and the Murder of Amaud Arbery. They analyze the racial, legal, and historical dynamics of each, pointing to the failure of our legal system to reckon with the baked-in White supremacy of our system. They then dissect the revelations about January 6th planning meetings and Trump's War Room. This leads to a discussion of myth making in real time and how every...
Mild at Heart: Love, Sex, and Masculinity After Purity Culture: Ep 7
October 28, 2021 02:00 - 8 minutesWhy does love feel like death? Brad continues to reflect on the soulmate myth and purity culture's vision of love. He analyzes how the model of love in these stories sees it as the end of life--the completion of one's journey, and thus something like death. With help from Plato and the Odyssey he explains why it is such a toxic, and potentially abusive, vision of love within the purity culture context. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire ...
The Denomination Manufacturing the Culture Wars
October 26, 2021 00:00 - 10 minutesCalvary Chapel started in Southern California in the 1960s. From the beginning, the aesthetic was laid-back, casual, and welcoming--the type of place barefoot hippies and wet-haired surfers could find a church home. But below the surface a militant conservative theology and politics took shape. Fast forward half a century and Calvary Chapel is now a nation-wide network that is at the forefront of shaping the contemporary culture wars. By offering a ready-made circuit for Christian nationalist...