The Braver Angels Podcast

Extra! Extra! In this special roundtable edition of our podcast, two red and two blue Braver Angels leaders square off about the media. Where do the left and right step up or fall short in their approach to the Fourth Estate? Is all the partisan messaging out of line, or do the ends justify the memes? Featuring John Wood, Jr. (national ambassador), April Lawson (director of debates), Ciaran O'Conn...

Sheba Williams is the founder of Nolef Turns and an advocate with deeply personal experience surviving life after incarceration. In this episode of the Braver Angels Podcast, Sheba chats with John Wood, Jr. and Silas Kulkarni about her recent appearance in the Braver Angels Coliseum Debate on Voting Rights and the efforts underway to bring together a cross-partisan, cross-cultural coalition to rei...

Later this month, thousands of Americans—including several Braver Angels—will gather near Mount Rushmore for FreedomFest, a three-day conference dedicated to furthering libertarianism in America.  In this episode of the Braver Angels Podcast, Ciaran O'Connor sits down with Valerie Durham, the executive director of FreedomFest, for a wide-ranging conversation on the meaning of liberty, the influenc...

Boom! In this special roundtable edition of our podcast, two red and two blue Braver Angels leaders share their takes on critical race theory and the recent out-of-this-world UFO stories fascinating both right and left. Also in this episode: some real talk about the hard work of building a house united—plus some stories about how thrilling (or terrifying!) everyone found Fourth of July fireworks a...

In an era in which politics have become a religion, what role do religious people have to play? And how can people look to their faith as an inspiration for coming together rather than breaking apart? Former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam joins the Braver Angels Podcast to discuss the role of faith in the public square and how Christians can become a force for reconciliation in our politics.  Bill...

Sho Baraka is a hip-hop artist known for bringing a deep lyrical and philosophical treatment to Christian rap. But he's also a cultural commentator who takes a nuanced perspective on issues of race and politics—and has a front row seat for seeing these controversies play out in the church. Sho joins John Wood, Jr. to talk music, the culture of hip-hop, the challenge of race relations, Kanye West,...

Author Jonathan Rauch is a long respected voice in American journalism on matters ranging from marriage equality to freedom of speech. In his upcoming book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth , Rauch explains the social infrastructure by which truth is protected, breaking down assaults on truth from the right and the left and exploring what we can do about it. April Lawson and John...

Not only does political polarization breed fear, anger, and mistrust—it also breeds a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.  How can we take action? Not only to make our voices heard but to work together with our political opponents to improve our communities and perfect our union? Braver Angels alliances are where the meat of our work takes place—where ordinary reds and blues across the country...

Professor Steven Pinker is on a mission to spread the good news of human progress. He asserts that human life, for all its problems, has overwhelmingly improved in recent generations. But how is the progress of humanity threatened by our inability to appreciate it? And how is that progress threatened by our inability to communicate respectfully with one another? Professor Pinker ( Enlightenment No...

America is more than half a year removed from the 2020 election. Most Trump voters still suspect voter fraud determined the outcome. The vast majority of Biden voters think such ideas are off the wall. Many Americans, meanwhile, believe that media bias and the practices of Big Tech are the real corruptors of American elections. Can left, right and center reason together about the 2020 election? Ca...

John McWhorter is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University, the author of many books, a witty and passionately independent voice on the subject of American race relations.  Hear him join John Wood, Jr. of Braver Angels to compare perspectives on the traditional narratives that shape our racial conversation, the post Civil Rights era Black experience, and the ways in which the varieties of...

For 20 years, Nick Gillespie has been the "intellectual godfather" of Reason Magazine and one of the leading minds of the libertarian movement in America. Yet while libertarianism has a notable place in American culture and has proven influential in our political conversation, it hasn't yet proven itself to be a strong force in electoral politics.  What are the challenges facing political libertar...

Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist, has been heralded as "the conscience of Silicon Valley." He most recently starred in The Social Dilemma on Netflix, one of the most popular documentaries of 2020. Tristan has been steering the conversation about how social media interacts with democracy and the human mind in American and global society. In the second of Tristan's conversations with Jo...

Jason is a black stay-at-home father from South Lebanon, Ohio. Believing that Biden is too conservative, he voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. A few towns over, Lance is a white father and utility locator who enthusiastically voted for Trump. Though miles apart in their politics, they both believe working-class Americans like them are getting cheated and that most politicians ar...

Cooperation feels good. Human society is built on it. So why do we clash so destructively—in our marriages, at work, and especially when talking about politics?  Julia Minson is a social psychologist who studies the psychology of disagreement, aiming to tease out ways we can make fraught conversations more enjoyable and productive. Her current research is inspired by Braver Angels' workshops, and...

In her latest book, High Conflict, Amanda Ripley explores how good people get captured by devastating conflict and how they can break free. Amanda combines storytelling with data—drawing lessons from examples like the FARC militants of Colombia and the violent gangs of Chicago—to develop a theory of successful conflict resolution. In this edition of the Braver Angels Podcast, Amanda joins hosts Ci...

Collaboraction Theatre Company is a Chicago nonprofit exploring theatre's role in social change. Through its year-round programming, the group invites its crew and audience members alike to listen and learn from one another, bringing their disagreements and questions in tow. In this episode, Collaboraction's artistic director Anthony Moseley and executive director Dr. Marcus Robinson share their e...

Michael Patrick F. Smith is a musician, playwright, former oilfield hand, and author of a new memoir documenting his experience in the North Dakota oil patch. He and Braver Angels host Alma Cook—a fellow musician with experience in the same oil patch Michael writes about in his book—traded stories about life in North Dakota and chatted about the global petroleum dependency, the dignity of blue col...

Are calls to unity too weak, too generic, or too "blue" to move Americans? What are the hard truths that stand in the way of unity? Educator, activist, and author Tim Shriver joins the Braver Angels Podcast to talk about his new book, The Call to Unite, and the budding nationwide movement to unite America. Joined by April Lawson and John Wood, Jr., Tim reflects on the history of nonviolent movemen...

Sarah Anderson is the author of forthcoming book The Space Between Us: How Jesus Teaches Us to Live Together When Politics and Religion Pull Us Apart. Host April Lawson and Sarah discuss her background being raised in a very political family, her journey of learning that people of faith can differ politically, and how she engages—and teaches others to engage—faith and politics in our key relations...

Photographers Roben Bellomo and Jim Hamel created Behn Gallery to explore the different ways people might experience their work. Randy Lioz chats with them about how—through their own very distinct views of the world, often experienced side-by-side—they've come to a much more complete understanding of perspective and meaning. Roben and Jim are co-owners of Behn Gallery ( www.behngallery.com and @b...

"America's politics diet is broken," says Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle News. "And Tangle is here to fix it." Isaac Saul, a former reporter, has quickly grown his newsletter, Tangle, into one of the most original, informative political newsletters in the country, combining a left/right breakdown of the news of the day with Isaac's raw personal perspective. Whatever the issue, Isaac's goal is to re...

Author and journalist Bari Weiss stops by the Braver Angels Podcast to talk about her upbringing in Pittsburgh, how the Tree of Life massacre and her Jewish roots informed her journalistic mission, the ideological capturing of mainstream media, and the reasons she resigned from The New York Times. Hosts Ciaran O'Connor and John Wood, Jr. chat with Bari about the need for diversity in the editorial...

James Lindsay is a leading critic of antiracism in the digital space. But he is a lightning rod for criticism and condemnation, with a style that many believe makes him a damaging influence on the public discourse. For others, he is a champion of truth telling and an independent intellectual voice that needs to be heard. John Wood, Jr., national ambassador for Braver Angels and a public voice on m...

Should the outcome of the 2020 election be up for debate?  Braver Angels exists to connect Americans in dialogue over their differences. That's why Braver Angels decided to hold a debate about the 2020 election—though some BA leaders think the decision was a bridge too far. Braver Angels leaders Ciaran O'Connor, John Wood, Jr., David Blankenhorn (BA president) April Lawson, and Silas Kulkarni talk...