Subscribe 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 remove...
Mar 27, 2024•28 min
Subscribe 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 historia...
Mar 25, 2024•44 min
Subscribe 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 aren't...
Mar 22, 2024•1 hr 7 min
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/ 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 cont...
Mar 20, 2024•30 min
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/ 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 White...
Mar 18, 2024•44 min
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/ 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 autocracy...
Mar 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min
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/ 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 poss...
Mar 13, 2024•31 min
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/ 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 itse...
Mar 11, 2024•47 min
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/ 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 branches o...
Mar 09, 2024•57 min
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/ 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 way...
Mar 07, 2024•29 min
Brad 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-ep...
Mar 05, 2024•25 min
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/ 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, author, ...
Mar 04, 2024•36 min
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/ 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 befor...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 7 min
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/ 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 and ...
Feb 29, 2024•30 min
Brad 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 inspired h...
Feb 26, 2024•33 min
Brad 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 where...
Feb 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min
The 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 hear...
Feb 21, 2024•32 min
Brad'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 it ...
Feb 19, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Brad 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 mo...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 5 min
What 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 for $...
Feb 14, 2024•26 min
In 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 Accord...
Feb 12, 2024•35 min
Brad 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 ge...
Feb 10, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Inerrantists 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? Unsurprisingly,...
Feb 07, 2024•32 min
Brad 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 repeatin...
Feb 05, 2024•31 min
This 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-Christian-Nat...
Feb 04, 2024•28 min
Brad 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 the...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Those 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 that i...
Jan 31, 2024•33 min
In 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 world -...
Jan 29, 2024•34 min
Brad 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 disc...
Jan 27, 2024•1 hr 7 min
When 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 episo...
Jan 24, 2024•27 min