Return episode following a great thread by @CaitlinJStout, Brad discusses why the people who leave evangelicalism are often the ones who devoted themselves wholeheartedly to it. 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 Learn...
Apr 20, 2022•11 min
Back in the early 1990s, the Unification Church demanded an apology from a brash real-estate mogul they accused of using the church as “a scare tactic” in a “morally reprehensible” effort to get Palm Beach, Florida, officials to grant his zoning wishes. But that religious sect, founded by Sun Myung Moon — and thus often derisively called the “Moonies” — has apparently since made amends with that owner of Mar-a-Lago. Now his son is leading a dangerous movement in MAGA Nation through his church--w...
Apr 18, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan begin by discussing the new Hillsong documentary, "Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed," and the various sexual abuse and infidelity scandals that have rocked the church of the stars. They draw on work by Dr. Leah Payne in order to link Hillsong to a long line of celebrity megachurches that use spectacle, entrepreneurial tactics, and slick marketing to attract young, hot, and rich parishioners. History tells us that eventually scandal will rock the church, due in large part to the author...
Apr 15, 2022•9 min
In this final series episode, Dan tries to understand why well-meaning liberals and progressives so often experience identity politics as a threat, and why they fail to take hold of the opportunities it provides. He outlines how defensiveness and a presumption of insight into the experiences of marginalized communities leads to paternalism and condescension that undermines a progressive politics that could meaningfully change our political and social reality. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get b...
Apr 13, 2022•10 min
When the rallying cry “Black Lives Matter” was heard across the world in 2013, Andre Henry was one of the millions for whom the movement caused a political awakening and a rupture in some of his closest relationships with white people. As he began using his artistic gifts to share his experiences and perspective, Henry was aggrieved to discover that many white Americans—people he called friends and family—were more interested in debating whether racism existed or whether Henry was being polite e...
Apr 11, 2022•11 min
It's a small world after all. So small we can go from Florida to Alaska to Arizona to California in one episode. A magically tragic journey through American politics and history. Brad and Dan begin the road trop in Florida, where Uncle Ron DeSantis has labeled Disney the wokest place on earth due to its opposition for the Don't Say Gay bill. Marjorie Taylor Greene stated that Disney wants to indoctrinate children with sexual filth. While it's laughable to think of Disney as "woke," the absolute ...
Apr 08, 2022•9 min
One of the fallacies that often arises when we think about diverse identities, marginalization, and exclusion, is that all those groups who have experience marginalization or exclusion will naturally or organically come together in solidarity. But the social and political landscape is full of examples illustrating that this doesn’t happen. This episode explores this fallacy and looks at how it operates with an eye to thinking about how we can cultivate real solidarity and shared social identitie...
Apr 06, 2022•10 min
"Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our Christian brothers and sisters to join us in opposing this threat to our f...
Apr 04, 2022•11 min
Brad and Dan begin by discussing how Madison Cawthorn's claims about cocaine and orgies sounded like youth group scare tactics. They then dig into the significance of the texts between Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows, focusing on the Christian nationalism rife in their conversations, their characterization of Democrats as "evil," and the hope that God would not allow for the fair and free election of Joe Biden to go through. They also point out how this poses a conflict of interest for Clarence Th...
Apr 01, 2022•13 min
How do we understand a complex social and political phenomenon like Christian nationalism? Does it represent a strategic coalition of different identity groups (e.g., political conservatives, conservative Christians, etc.)? Or is it something else? Dan argues that understanding something like Christian nationalism requires a different understanding of social and political identity. Instead of a strategic coalition, a phenomenon like Christian nationalism represents the emergence of a single new,...
Mar 30, 2022•10 min
Dr. Carolyn Chen is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Co-Director of the Program for the Study of Religion at Berkeley. Her new book, Work, Pray, Code explores the ways tech is replacing religion for some workers--and what this means for the future of the American public square and American religion. Work, Pray, Code: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691219080/work-pray-code Silicon Valley is known for its lavish perks, intense work culture, and spiritual gurus. Work Pray ...
Mar 28, 2022•12 min
Brad and Dan are joined by special guest host Dr. Sara Moslener, the professor for our May 2022 seminar: Purity Culture, Race, and Embodiment. The three of them begin by discussing the Senate hearings from SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be nominated for the USA's highest court. We dig into why GOP senators focused their questioning on pedophilia and sex offenders, the definition of womanhood, and whether or not children are born racists. As Dan and Sara explain th...
Mar 25, 2022•11 min
If individual identity and group identity are deeply intertwined, why does it seem that group identity shapes individual identity, but not the other way around? Why are group identities so hard to change, even when there are those within them working to change them? And what does this mean for understanding identity politics? 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/ L...
Mar 23, 2022•11 min
In Part 2 of a two-part interview, Brad speaks with Philip Gorski (Yale) and Sam Perry (Oklahoma University) about their new book, the Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-flag-and-the-cross-9780197618684?cc=us&lang=en&#. Gorski and Perry explain what white Christian nationalism is and is not; when it first emerged and how it has changed; where it's headed and why it threatens democracy. Tracing ...
Mar 21, 2022•10 min
In Part 1 of a two-part interview, Brad speaks with Philip Gorski (Yale) and Sam Perry (Oklahoma University) about their new book, the Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-flag-and-the-cross-9780197618684?cc=us&lang=en&#. Gorski and Perry explain what white Christian nationalism is and is not; when it first emerged and how it has changed; where it's headed and why it threatens democracy. Tracing ...
Mar 18, 2022•14 min
We often think of individual and groups identities as separate, or as incompatible in some way. But in this episode, we consider the ways in which our group identities determine and shape our individual identities, and argue that an understanding of this is crucial for understanding both identity and identity politics. 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...
Mar 16, 2022•17 min
While the bill in Florida has received more attention, South Carolina has its own Don't Say Gay bill on the docket. The bill would prevent instruction, presentations, discussions, counseling, or materials in any medium”that involve LGBTQ+ identities. It would prevent queer teachers fro being out to their students because that would constitute discussing such matters. It would prevent teachers from affirming or supporting queer students, offering them materials, or even assigning books that menti...
Mar 14, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan discuss a wide range of topics— from GOP voter fraud to Madison Cawthorn calling Zelenskyy a thug, to Don’t Say Gay Bills—through the lens of the idea that Christian nationalism is about order and violence. The takeaway: whether it’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, or democracy itself— Christian nationalists will use violence to achieve the societal order they want. Also: Trump says to bomb Russia and say China did it. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episo...
Mar 11, 2022•10 min
Why can it be so apparent to us that people’s political behavior or social views are a reflection of their group identity, but they will insist that they’re group identity has no impact on these areas of their life? Or why do we have such a strong sense that we hold the social views we do or behave politically as we do because of who we are as individuals, when we know that people are shaped by their group identities? This episode explores these questions and outlines the relation between indivi...
Mar 09, 2022•11 min
Why are American Christians rooting for Putin? How did the Russian autocrat become the ideal leader in their eyes? Brad speaks to Dr. Sara Riccard Swartz, an expert on Russian Orthodoxy and American religions, about her brand new book, "Between Heaven and Russia": https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823299515/between-heaven-and-russia/ Historically a minority immigrant faith in the United States, Russian Orthodoxy is attracting Americans who look to Russian religion and politics for answers to West...
Mar 07, 2022•13 min
Brad and Dan begin by discussing the recent AFPAC conference, where the far-right figure Nick Fuentes compared Putin to Hitler in a positive way, while giving a speech full of racial and ethnic slurs. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar attended the conference--and Greene gave an address after being introduced by Fuentes. Dan unpacks the historic significance of this chapter in the GOP's intimacy with what are essentially Neo-Nazi White supremacists, while Brad compares Greene's remarks ...
Mar 05, 2022•9 min
What do we mean when we talk about “recognition”? What is it to recognize someone in their identity? What is it to recognize ourselves in a particular way? What happens when someone doesn’t recognize me in the way I identify myself? What happens when I don’t recognize someone others in the way they recognize themselves? This episode explores the complex dynamics of recognition and the significance of identity and recognition for understanding our current cultural politics. Subscribe for $5.99 a ...
Mar 02, 2022•11 min
Brad speaks with the Danté Stewart about his journey into, and then out of, the White Church. Stewart grew up a Black Pentecostal until he reached university. There he began attending a White megachurch. He spent years in White churches convinced that the Jesus worshipped there--one coded as a White American, as superior to the one found in the Black church, as the true and right way to be a Christian and an American--was saving him from his own blackness. The murder of Trayvon Martin, the elect...
Feb 28, 2022•10 min
Brad and Dan discuss Putin's war on Ukraine and the Christian nationalist/GOP responses at home. They focus the first segment on how the only people on the global stage defending Putin openly are Donald Trump and select politicians and leaders from the GOP. This leads to an exploration of the Christians who admit that they identify more with Putin's Christian values than Joe Biden's leadership. Link to Brad's interview on Putin and American Christian nationalists: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/p...
Feb 26, 2022•11 min
This episode explores the concern that people act against their own social or political interests because of their identity. Because they privilege their identity, they oppose political, social, or economic policies that would be beneficial to them. Dan argues that this is a mistaken conception, and that we have to recognize that identity and interests are entangled with each other in complex ways. Changing how we understand the relationship between identity and interests is the key to advancing...
Feb 23, 2022•12 min
*Correction*: "Jeff" says that Locke's church is in McMinnville, TN. It is in fact in Mt. Juliet TN. Brad didn't catch it in the conversation. Both he and Jeff were a bit tense--wanting to get the story right and bring listeners into the scene, without giving away Jeff's identity. Our apologies. Brad speaks with a man he calls Jeff (identity hidden) who went undercover at the book burning led by Pastor Greg Locke. The book burning happened ominously in the wake of the banning of Art Spiegelman's...
Feb 22, 2022•11 min
Steve Bannon is a familiar figure by now. One of the super villains from the Trump administration, he is still a force in right-wing politics in the USA and across the globe. He reportedly pushed Trump to overturn the election by any means possible. He is often referred to as a White nationalist whose misogyny and racism need no further explanation. But what if Bannon's worldview is more complex, more sinister, and more weird than you ever expected? Brad speaks to Dr. Benjamin Teitelbaum about h...
Feb 21, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan begin by discussing the Jericho Marches connected to the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Ottawa. Drawing on work by the writer Chrissy Stroop and scholar Thomas Lecaque, they discuss how the Jericho story provides a narrative in which both American J6 and Canadian convoy protesters/rioters are able to use as a way to build group cohesion and justify their actions. Chrissy Stroop on Christian nationalism and the Canada convoy: https://conversationalist.org/2022/02/17/freedom-convoys-ext...
Feb 18, 2022•10 min
What is the relation to class and identity? Does a focus on identity and identity politics overlook, trivialize, or eliminate the significance of class or economic inequality in contemporary politics and social conflict? This episode suggests that a focus on identity does not discount, and is not at odds with, a focus on class or economic inequality. On the contrary, Dan argues that class is a dimension of identity of vital relevance for understanding, and changing, political and social culture....
Feb 16, 2022•13 min
Brad speaks to filmmaker Kat Gellein Viken who is the co-creator of two recent documentaries on churches, conspiracy, and the war on democracy. In 2020's People You May Know, Gellein and her co-creator Charles Kriel connect the dots among the Council for National policy, American oligarchs, and nefarious data mining firms. The film follows a trail that eventually reveals how churches are collecting their parishioners' most sensitive data and how that data is being sent to political operatives in...
Feb 14, 2022•14 min
