A White Christian Nationalist Coup Long in the Making – with Dr. Kelly J. Baker
Dr. Kelly J. Baker, author of Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930, stops by to discuss how the January 6 insurrection was long in the making. Using the 1920s Klan as a historical precedent, she and Brad discuss White supremacy in American culture and politics, the longstanding entanglement of […]
Weekly Roundup: Trump’s Insurrection
Josh Hawley Deep Dive
S1.Ep3 (Re-Release): The History of the Religious Right
What if I told you the Religious Right formed on the basis of racism and not abortion? What if segregation was the real issue and the unborn were used later to justify it? That’s what we discover on this episode. Brad and Dan trace the history of the Religious Right from the 60s to the present. And then Brad interviews Dr. Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Dartmouth College and one of the world’s leading scholars on American Evangelicalism.
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S1.Ep.2 (Re-release): 81% WTF
Think of this as a SWAJ primer. We cover many of the major themes of the show in a relatively brief conversation.
On our second ever episode, we put the White Evangelical support for Trump in historical perspective. Brad lays out the details on how more White Evangelicals supported him than Bush, McCain, or Romney. Dan then provides a sociological analysis as to how this happened.
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S1.Ep.1 (Re-Release): Why Straight White American Jesus?
After many requests, we begin the re-release of Season 1! On this first episode Brad and Dan introduce themselves and tell their stories of being evangelical youth group kids, ministers, and seminarians, and then leaving the movement. They also explain why it was necessary to start Straight White American Jesus. This is our origin story. Take a listen!
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Weekly Roundup: American Insurrection and Beth Moore’s Anti-Christian Nationalism
On the last Weekly Roundup of the year, Brad and Dan discuss: 1) the myth of the stolen election and how it has gained legitimacy through support from GOP leaders 2) comparing it to the lasting nature of the Birther controversy 3) examining the consequences of the myth, including the radicalization of a generation of White Americans, calls for implementing the Insurrection Act, and the development of a new Lost Cause (what Brad calls the Lost Pause).
We finish the episode by examining Beth Moore’s call for Evangelicals to back away from Trumpism and Christian nationalism.
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Ken Kemp on White People Doing the Work
Ken Kemp is not the person you’d expect to be leading small groups and table talks helping White folks understand the histories of racism and strategies to combat it. He’s a White male Boomer. Someone born into evangelical culture. A guy who went through seminary and was almost ordained twice. But late in life he had an awakening through visits to India, South Africa, and via friendships and events that woke him up to the racialized dimensions of White Evangelicalism. He shares his story with Brad and talks about how other White people can do the work to become anti-racist.
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Weekly Roundup: Christian Privilege and Raced Religion
Brad and Dan briefly touch on three stories: MAGA rebellion in Georgia, Obama on “Defund the Police,” and the federal government’s abandonment of the American people in the face of COVID.
We then dig deeper into two stories about religion and politics:
-the attacks on Raphael Warnock as part of a long history of White Evangelical castigation of Black faith and movements.
-the Supreme Court’s ruling that religious gatherings override COVID health measures
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Sophie Bjork-James on the Similarities Between White Nationalists and Christian Nationalists
Dr. Sophie Bjork-James is an anthropologist at Vanderbilt University. She is a specialist in race, gender, and religion with a focus on White nationalism and White evangelicalism. One of her recent projects is a close reading of the Left Behind series and the Turner Diaries, the latter many consider the Bible of the White supremacy movement. Reading these two texts together reveals the stunning similarities in White nationalism and Christian nationalism, including their belief that violence is justified to achieve their political goals, their fear of global organizations such as NATO and WHO, and their willingness to trample democracy if it means they can stay in power.
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Anne Nelson on the Shadow Network Behind Trump’s Coup, ACB’s nomination, and the Coming Cold Civil War
Brad speaks with journalist Anne Nelson whose book Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right outlines in vivid detail the network of organizations, media empires, and churches that sync the Radical Right. She explains how groups such as the NRA, Susan B. Anthony List, and Family Research Council are all interwoven into a nexus that both helped create the presidency of Donald Trump and will continue the takeover of the United States even after he’s gone. For example, they created a website promoting ACB’s nomination to the Supreme Court way back in 2015. They are the people behind Parler. And they are the largest voter mobilization vehicle in the country. If you want to understand how we got to Trump’s soft coup and where we are headed next, this conversation is essential.
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Weekly Roundup: Frederick Douglass on a Divided Nation, Whose Faith Counts as Really American?, and American Exceptionalism in Religious Terms
Brad and Dan begin by drawing on a famous speech by Frederick Douglass in order to put the nail in the coffin on the idea that it is the Democrats’ job to reach across the aisle. They then explain why Republicans think it is okay to attack the faith–including the sermons–of Raphael Warnock, but would not allow one utterance of criticism related to Amy Coney Barrett’s religious belief and practice. They finish by looking at stats that tell the real story of American Exceptionalism–the presence of almost equal numbers of highly religious people (85 million people) and non-religious people (100 million). No other developed country has this kind of religious/non-religious make up. It has important consequences for our politics and culture.
We finish this episode with a new segment, “He’s No James Madison”.
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Sarah Posner on the Secession of MAGA Nation
Brad speaks with Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump. They discuss how Trump is the result of strategies used by GOP operatives in other countries. The approach is simple: label liberal democracy as an assault on family, faith, and nation; sell a strong, charismatic leader as the only hope to save the country from ruin at the hands of godless socialists; then systematically weaken all democratic guardrails in order to ensure the leader has maximal power over the country. Unfortunately, this strategy has worked by uniting the Religious Right and the Alt-Right into an alliance of aggrieved White Americans-or MAGA Nation. With Trump’s loss to Biden, MAGA Nation is carrying on a cultural secession with Trump at the helm of the alternative United States of America.
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