Faithful Politics

Latino Christians are often discussed as a voting bloc. Rev. Dr. Cristal Silva-McCormick and Dr. Daniel Montañez explain why that misses much of what is actually happening. Silva-McCormick, a professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary who researches Latino Christianity and Christian Zionism, and Montañez, founder and executive director of the Center for Public Theology and Migration, ex...

Most Americans know Hobby Lobby as a craft store. Investigative journalist Michael Blanding says the bigger story is how the Green family has used the fortune behind the company to advance its understanding of the Bible in American law, culture, education, and politics. Blanding joins Faithful Politics to discuss his new book,  The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby . We trace the family’s rise from...

What happens when your political opponent becomes more than wrong and starts to look like an agent of evil? Religion scholar Michael E. Heyes joins Faithful Politics to trace America's long history of mixing demons with politics. From spiritualists, abolition and Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War era to Billy Graham, the Satanic Panic, modern spiritual warfare, C. Peter Wagner and the New Apost...

Who should choose a party’s vice presidential nominee - the presidential candidate or the delegates? Mike ter Maat, the Libertarian Party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee, joins Faithful Politics to explain why he wants to change how the Republican Party chooses its VP candidate. ter Maat is now seeking the GOP’s 2028 vice-presidential nomination while arguing that Republican convention delegates...

For Faithful Politics, this conversation is especially local. Rep. Rob Wittman represents Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, the same district where our Josh lives. We ask Wittman, in this shorter interview, what Congress can do about the cost of living, including energy, housing, health care, and grocery prices. We also press him on President Trump’s proposed $5,000 payment to Americans and h...

Why are millions of women walking away from American churches, and what finally pushes them to leave? Journalist Sarah Stankorb, author of  Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion , traces an exodus she says has been building for decades. The conversation examines purity culture, sexual abuse and institutional cover-ups, racism, LGBTQ exclusion, polit...

What happens when moderation becomes a political liability inside your own party? Filmmakers Meg Griffiths and Scott Faris join Faithful Politics to discuss  The Life of the Party , their documentary following three Republican women in Texas whose careers reveal a party undergoing significant change. Former State Rep. Sarah Davis was once the last pro-choice Republican in the Texas House and repre...

The Department of Homeland Security sent undercover agents into churches to monitor anti-ICE activists. In at least one case, an agent entered a Baptist church that was already protected by a federal court order restricting certain DHS activity on the property. Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, joins us to walk through the court documents behind his reporting. We discuss...

Robert P. Jones argues that the crisis facing American democracy is also a crisis inside white Christianity. In this conversation, Jones, president and founder of PRRI and author of Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy, explains why he believes white Christian support for Donald Trump and Christian nationalism represents both democratic backsliding...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s fight over Muslim wudu stations at Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth airports opens into a much larger question: who gets protected by religious liberty in America? Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein joins Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram to explain why facilities that existed for years suddenly became a political target, how legal experts view Abbott’s Fi...

Why would a parent take their child on a dangerous journey to the United States? Gabrielle Oliveira argues that one of the most overlooked answers is care. Oliveira, a Harvard professor who studies immigration, education, and family migration, spent years following 16 migrant families from Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. She explains how violence, insecurity, and a lack of opportunit...

Historian Joseph Kelly argues that the roots of American fascism reach much further back than Nazi Germany or Mussolini’s Italy. They can be found in the antebellum South and the political system built to defend slavery and racial hierarchy. Kelly, author of  The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818 - 1915 , traces how the promise that “all men are created equal” collided with a g...

With the 2026 midterms approaching, the rules around voting are becoming part of the political fight itself. Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey joins Faithful Politics to explain what voters actually need to know about election security, voter registration, mail-in voting, voter ID laws, voter roll purges, and misinformation. Andrea walks through current efforts to change how elections are administered, i...

What does the Bible actually say about politics, and what happens when Christians allow a political party to shape how they read Scripture? Biblical scholar Michael Rhodes joins us to discuss Reimagining Biblical Politics and why Christian political discipleship cannot be reduced to a handful of verses or a partisan platform. We explore Christian nationalism, immigration, poverty, justice, politic...

Congressman Jared Huffman joins Faithful Politics to discuss his new book,  No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism , and the growing influence of Christian nationalism in American politics and government. We talk about Donald Trump, January 6, the New Apostolic Reformation, prophetic politics, Christian Zionism, church-state separation, Christian founding myths, and th...

Chelsea Kim Long grew up deeply embedded in conservative evangelical Christianity. She knew what she believed, what Christian womanhood was supposed to look like, and the life she expected to have. Then life got complicated. Motherhood, a traumatic birth, miscarriage, infertility, a complicated pregnancy, and questions about women's place within Christianity forced Chelsea to reconsider much of th...

Why does American patriotism sometimes feel almost religious? Church historian Wes Crawford joins Faithful Politics to discuss his forthcoming book, One Nation over God, and the complicated relationship between Christian faith, patriotism, and American civil religion. Crawford explains how the United States developed a kind of civil religion built around sacred texts, symbols, rituals, holidays, a...

Technology entrepreneur Patrick Gruhn joins Faithful Politics to discuss how artificial intelligence is being used to explore the writings and theology of Pope Benedict XVI. Gruhn explains how the Pope Benedict XVI AI works as a research tool, how it uses verified sources to reduce hallucinations and bias, and why the project is designed to help users investigate Benedict’s thought rather than sim...

Josh and Will sit down with Dr. Syed A.H. Zaidi, a scholar of Islamic philosophy, theology, and intellectual history, for a wide-ranging conversation about his personal journey from New York political operative to academic, and what that journey reveals about faith, identity, and politics in America today. Dr. Zaidi traces his path from a politically connected Pakistani-American family in New York...

Historian Joseph L. Locke joins Faithful Politics to discuss his new book, One State Under God: A History of Religion in Texas. Locke traces how religion shaped Texas from Indigenous traditions and Spanish missions to Protestant growth, segregation, the Religious Right, and today’s Christian nationalist politics. He also explains why early Texas Protestants strongly defended church-state separatio...

The conversation delves into the work of Warren Throckmorton, who fact-checks historical claims, particularly those made by political operative David Barton. The discussion highlights the influence of Barton and the credibility and integrity of historical claims, shedding light on the need for accurate historical representation and the impact of political alignment on historical narratives. The co...

How did once-fringe religious movements gain influence within the Republican Party and access to the highest levels of American political power? Will Wright speaks with author and scholar Keri Ladner about her book,  American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of a New Christendom . They examine the history and political influence of dominionism, a movement built around the belief that Christia...

What happens when journalists cover politics without understanding the religion shaping the story? Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way and the leader of A Public Witness, joins Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram to explain why religion reporting matters in an era of Christian nationalism, government-sponsored worship, and growing confusion about the role Christianity plays...

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com What happens when Christians begin to believe they are entitled to rule over everyone else?  Matthew D. Taylor, a scholar of religion and politics and visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, joins Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram to explain how Chris...

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com What does “Christian nationalism” actually mean, and how can people tell the difference between public faith, patriotism, and a political project built around power?  Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, two leading sociologists of religion and politics, join Pastor Josh Burtram and Will...