Brad speaks with Dr. Arlene Sanchez-Walsh, author of Latino Pentecostal Identity, about how and why many Latinx Evangelicals have signed on to Trump's brand of Christian nationalism. They discuss the history of Latinx conversion to evangelicalism and Pentecostalism and how such conversions require participation in an American colonial project that demands assimilation. They also discuss the religious-political Latinx leaders who have risen to prominence in the Trump era and sometimes inescapable...
Aug 08, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan begin by discussing takeaways from Kansas, where voters soundly rejected a state amendment proposal to ban abortion. In one sense, it offers hope that pro-abortion movements and candidates can push back in the wake of the Dobbs decision and make headway in the fight for women's rights, reproductive rights, and healthcare in this country. On the other, it will provide fodder for the American Right to argue to conservative voters that the only way forward is a national ban on abortion...
Aug 05, 2022•10 min
What does it mean when a Christian says something is “biblical?” Why do some Christians talk this way, while others don’t? What do “biblicist” claims tell us about Christians’ understanding of religious authority and social control? Do all Christian groups share these understandings? In this episode, Dan helps to crack the code of being “biblical” to answer these and other questions. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, D...
Aug 03, 2022•9 min
What is power? How can power be yielded in helpful and harmful ways? Brad is joined by Dr. Stephen Backhouse, an international scholar, speaker, and podcaster. They discuss the idea of magical thinking - not in the sense of sleight of hand tricks - but in the sense of trying to bend other peoples' wills towards yours. This form of power yielding is a zero-sum game - one in which either I win and you lose, or vice versa. There is no room for dialogue, compromise, or cooperation. The goal is vanqu...
Aug 01, 2022•11 min
Dan is joined by guest co-host Dr. Sara Moslener. They begin by the calls by Mike Pence and others for a national abortion ban. Dan puts this in the context of the "culture of life" many Christian conservatives tout as their reasons for implementing inhumane reproductive rights policies. Dan zeroes in on the slogan, "Save the Babies, Save America" as a nationalistic straw man with tragic consequences. In the second segment, the hosts discuss the Turning Point USA conference, which is a vehicle f...
Jul 29, 2022•8 min
On a special episode, Brad is joined by Dr. Thomas Lecaque to discuss the likelihood that Trump will face criminal charges for his role in the Insurrection. Brad begins by recounting the late breaking news that Trump is reportedly part of the DOJ investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. This news followed on the heels of Attorney General Merrick Garland's interview with Lester Holt, in which he said that anyone found to have broken the law will be prosecuted. Dr. Lecaque sum...
Jul 28, 2022•10 min
In this episode, Dan takes his lead from listeners who’ve written in about hearing that “God hates divorce,” that “the family that prays together, stays together,” and so forth. What does this language mean? How have theologically conservative and "traditional" Christians understood divorce? How has Christian rhetoric and messaging about divorce changed over time? Are those changes positive, or do they harbor negative dimensions as well once we decode them? Listen to the episode to find out! Sub...
Jul 27, 2022•10 min
Brad is joined by Dr. Charlie McCrary, postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University and author of the new book, Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers. They discuss how SCOTUS determines what counts as religion, and thus what is deserving of protection under the 1st Amendment. Their conversation focuses on the "sincerity test" of religious belief, which has become a cornerstone of US jurisprudence, framing what counts as legitimate grounds for First Amendment claims in the ...
Jul 25, 2022•10 min
Brad and Dan begin by discussing last night's J6 hearing, focusing on the 187 minutes between when violence erupted at the Capitol and when Trump finally released a video telling his followers to go home. They focus on the callousness of the Commander in Chief watching Fox News for three hours while the Capitol was attacked, police were killed, and the peaceful transfer of power was disrupted. Dan takes us through a leaked memo from AG Merrick Garland that states there won't be indictments befor...
Jul 22, 2022•7 min
“Church Family” What does it mean when a church or spiritual community refers to itself as a “family”? If this is intended as a statement of support and affirmation, why does it make some people feel uncomfortable? And how does it relate to common workplace ideas like being part of the “team” or “community”? Dan tackles all these questions in this episode. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: htt...
Jul 20, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan discuss immigration, refugees, and White evangelicals with Dr. Janelle Wong, Core Faculty in Asian American Studies and Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland. Professor Wong discusses her new book on evangelicals and immigration in an era of policy change. 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/ Sign up for the SWAJ seminar: straigh...
Jul 18, 2022•9 min
This week’s episode focuses on the intersections of cultural and political debates about race, history, sexual violence, and abortion. Dan and guest co-host Professor Sara Moslener discuss a Fox new claim that "wokism" has taken over Thomas Jefferson's legacy because tour guides at Monticello now highlight his sexual relationships with the people he enslaved. Sara recounts her recent visit to Thomas Jefferson’s home in Monticello, VA and the lessons for understanding current debates a race, hist...
Jul 16, 2022•8 min
What does it mean when cultural and religious conservatives proclaim that they affirm a “culture of life?” We know it means that they oppose abortion and abortion access. But what else does it mean? In this episode, Dan dives in to decode this message to look at the racial, gender, and social positions that are encoded in this seemingly familiar slogan. 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:...
Jul 13, 2022•12 min
Brad speaks with Stanford scholar of religion Dr. Kathryn Gin Lum about her new book Heathen. They discuss how White American Christians have used the label "heathen" in order to name those they deem not only different, but in need of saving. In this context, "saving" often meant the occupation of native lands, the overtaking of entire cultures, and the exclusion of those "unassimilable" to the American way of life. Race continues to operate as a heathen inheritance in the United States, animati...
Jul 11, 2022•7 min
Brad is joined by guest co-host Dr. Leah Payne. They begin by discussing how many White Americans - especially White Christian nationalists - view the national body as straight, White, patriarchal, and American-born. This framework helps guide a discussion on the drastically different reactions law enforcement took in the cases of Jayland Walker, who was shot by police 60 times in Akron, Ohio, and the Highland Park shooter who was apprehended without violence after he allegedly killed 7 people a...
Jul 08, 2022•10 min
What does it mean when Christians say that we “live in a fallen world”? Where does that language come from? Most importantly, what to different kinds of Christians do with that language? Dan tackles these topics in this episode, discussing what different kinds of Christians imagine when they describe the world as “fallen,” how they think we should respond to that, and exploring how that plays out in our contemporary culture. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, a...
Jul 06, 2022•8 min
Brad speaks with Dr. Kelsy Burke, a sociologist from the University of Nebraska, who discusses her new book The Pornography Wars: The Past, Present, and Future of America's Obscene Obsession. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/pornography-wars-9781635577365/ Burke spent the last five years researching and interviewing internet pornography's opponents and its sympathizers. She does a deep dive into the long history of pornography in America and then turns her gaze on our present society to examine the...
Jul 04, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan are back together. They begin by discussing the validity and significance of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony at the J6 hearing this week. Brad implores us not to get distracted by claims that her account of certain episodes is being disputed by off-the-record sources who won't testify under oath in front of the nation. They then turn to SCOTUS. Dan breaks down the religious freedom case in which the Court ruled that praying after football games is part of the free exercise of religio...
Jul 01, 2022•14 min
In this episode, Dan decodes a phrase that A LOT of listeners have contacted him about: the claim that Christians are called to “love the sinner, but hate the sin.” What does this mean? What kind of Christian claim is this? Why does it strike such a nerve among those who hear it? Dan tackles these questions in the episode. 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/ Link...
Jun 29, 2022•10 min
Brad is joined by writer R.L. Stollar who discusses his recent article on Voddie Baucham and the Stay at Home Daughter Movement. Baucham may not be a household name-but he was nearly elected the president of the largest Protestant denomination in the country just over a week ago. According to Stollar, Bacuham is a pillar in the SAHD movement, which "argues that girls should remain at home—even after they become adult women—and submissively serve their fathers until they’re married." Here is how ...
Jun 27, 2022•7 min
Brad is joined by guest co-host Annika Brockschmidt, a historian and journalist who has written a wonderful new book about Christian nationalism in the USA. Brad and Annika begin by discussing the Texas GOP party platform, which claims Biden's election win was illegitimate, calls homosexuality "abnormal," promotes repealing the Civil Rights Act, denounces the ERA, pushes a total abortion ban, tries to set up an electoral college within Texas, and opens the door for secession from the Union. They...
Jun 24, 2022•10 min
In this episode, Dan decodes the admonition to “remember who you are,” as well as the related admonition to “remember whose you are” and the question “what would Jesus do”. What are these admonitions intended to convey? What do they presuppose about authority, control, and Christian identity? Decoding these admonitions helps us to answer these questions. 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...
Jun 22, 2022•9 min
Brad is joined by Dr. Joe Blankholm, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. They discuss his new book, the Secular Paradox: On the Religiosity of the Non-Religious. The Secular Paradox: https://nyupress.org/9781479809509/the-secular-paradox/ Blankholm argues that, despite their desire to avoid religion, nonbelievers often seem religious because Christianity influences the culture around them so deeply. Relying on several years of ethnographic rese...
Jun 20, 2022•9 min
Brad and Dan begin this weekly roundup with takeaways from the J6 hearings. They focus on the ways the committee demonstrated how Trump and Eastman both knew the theory was illegal, but pushed it anyway. The question: Will it make a difference? Dan then provides a helpful explainer on the difference between a nation and a state in response to a new statement on Conservative nationalism signed by a bunch of MAGA superstars like Charlie Kirk and conservative thinkers like Rod Dreher. He and Brad d...
Jun 17, 2022•10 min
On June 11, 2022 31 alleged members of Patriot Front were arrested near the Pride celebration in Coeur d'Alene Idaho. Brad speaks with two people who were at the event--Alicia Abbott of The Idaho 97 and Chad Schobert, who was born and raised in the region. They talk about how even before Patriot Front arrived there were armed militia members circling the Pride event, how all of this fits into the radicalization of the region during the Trump years, and the experience of living in a Christian nat...
Jun 16, 2022•10 min
Building from the previous episode, Dan explores what’s going on when people say that Christianity is “a religion, not a relationship,” when salvation is understood as requiring a “personal relationship” with Jesus, and so on. Like so many other uses of popular religious language, this language tells us a great deal about the identity of those who talk this way, who the “real” Christian are, and who they aren’t. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the ...
Jun 15, 2022•11 min
In his recent article at Religion Dispatches, historian Thomas Lecaque writes: In the wake of every mass shooting in this country, we have a brief moment where we talk about the guns used and the need for gun control. And then rapidly, the gun lobby, conservative politicians, Second Amendment absolutists, and the rest find every conceivable other possible thing to focus on, starting with “thoughts and prayers” and moving on to hardening school buildings. The mass shooting at Robb Elementary Scho...
Jun 13, 2022•9 min
Brad is joined by guest co-host Dr. Leah Payne. They begin by discussing the first primetime hearing of the J6 Select Committee. Brad observes that they seemed to have two goals - first to show that Trump and Trump's team knew that there was no legal basis for contesting the election, whether via voting machines, vote counts, or anythign else. Two, that there was a months-long conspiracy to stop the certification of the election by the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. They then focus on Tucker C...
Jun 10, 2022•9 min
What does it mean when someone asks you if you’re “saved”? If you’re active in the life of a Christian church or tradition (of whatever kind), and someone says, “that’s fine, but are you saved,” what’s going on? In this first of paired episodes, Dan explores this question, decoding the different ideas of “salvation” and Christian identity that define and structure so much of the terrain of contemporary American religion. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, acces...
Jun 08, 2022•8 min
Brad speaks with journalist Elle Hardy about her new book, Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is Taking Over the World. How has a Christian movement, founded at the turn of the twentieth century by the son of freed slaves, become the fastest-growing religion on Earth? Pentecostalism has 600 million followers; by 2050, they’ll be one in ten people worldwide. This is the religion of the Holy Spirit, with believers directly experiencing God and His blessings: success for the mind, body, sp...
Jun 06, 2022•10 min
