Straight White American Jesus

On the first episode of the year, Brad looks ahead to various scenarios in 2024 and what they might mean for our country. One thing is certain: This year will shape our country for the rest of our lives. It could mean a second Trump term. It could mean more political violence. It could mean an acceleration of the American cold civil war. But, there are reasons to hope. Reasons to keep fighting. To...

Brad begins by discussing the news that Trump is off the ballot in Maine and what that means in the wake of the Colorado decisions. He breaks down why the complexity and tumult of these decisions does not warrant objection to them and why they are necessary in order to safeguard democracy. In the second segment he decodes Nikki Haley's weak answer on the causes of the Civil War (and her follow up...

“Everyone has an ultimate authority.” Last episode considered the intellectual merits of this claim. In this episode, Dan considers the emotional appeal of this claim and the work that claims like this do within high-control religious contexts. How do claims to ultimate authority provide us with a sense of control over, or assurance about, our lives? And how do they serve the interests of those wh...

Brad speaks to Chris and Mendi Tackett, two Texas activists who are fighting Christian nationalism tooth and nail in their state. They explain how the school voucher scam, the abortion ban, the Ten Commandments bill, school board takeovers, and so much more all trace back to an overarching ideology - Christian nationalism. Mendi talks about how White Christian women uphold Christian patriarchy and...

For the end of the year Weekly Roundup, Dan provides his airing of grievances in the great Festivus tradition. Brad's to come soon. 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/ Subscribe now to Pure White: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pure-white/id1718974286 To Do...

Brad speaks to constitutional lawyer Andrew Seidel about the Colorado Supreme Court decision barring Trump from the ballot. They discuss whether or not this was the right decision, what will happen if it goes to SCOTUS, the arguments for leaving Trump on the ballot, and much more. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discor...

Rep. James Talarico is a Christian fighting Christian nationalism in the Texas legislature. He's also an 8th generation Texans; a former middle school teacher; and a seminarian. He calls school voucher schemes "scams," and "welfare for the rich," while labeling Gov. Abbott "Robinhood in reverse." He went viral for opposing the Ten Commandments bill on religious grounds and is now squaring up again...

Brad and Dan begin by discussing the abortion ruling in Texas, pointing to the ways that the vague wording in the law and the threats from state officials have made abortion effectively banned in the state. They discuss how the case represents a new chapter in the cruel approach to reproductive non-rights and what it means for the state and the nation. They then pivot to Iowa, where a display by t...

“Everyone has an ultimate authority.” You might encounter this claim in a discussion about the authority of the Bible, or in religious debates about LGBTQ+ inclusion, or the respective roles of men and women in church and society, or about evolution, or vaccines, or any number of other topics. But what, exactly, does this mean? Why will people with a particular view of religious authority make thi...

Axis Mundi Media is proud to introduce Pure White - A history podcast series that traces the relationships among sexual purity, White supremacy, and Christian nationalism from the 19th century to the present. What happens when you link national renewal to the sexual lives of teenagers? This is exactly what evangelical purity culture did in the 1990s. In this first episode, host Dr. Sara Moslener r...

In When Religion Hurts You, Dr. Laura Anderson takes an honest look at a side of religion that few like to talk about. Drawing from her own life and therapy practice, she helps readers understand what religious trauma is and isn't, and how high-control churches can be harmful and abusive, often resulting in trauma. She shows how elements of fundamentalist church life--such as fear of hell, purity...

Brad begins by laying out the current state of conflict in Israel-Palestine: the ceasefire is over; Israel is threatening to displace millions in southern Gaza; 15,000 Palestinians have died; Netanyahu is talking about ending the Palestinian territory . . . Dan then provides three ways that we are duped into thinking and talking about the conflict in reductive and binary frameworks - from zero sum...

Why don’t conservative Protestants who oppose Christian nationalism, but who choose to remain in MAGA-affirming churches, seem to say anything in opposition to Christian nationalism? Do the theological beliefs underlying their Christian identity prevent them from doing so? Is it an issue of how groups regulate individual identity? Dan explores these questions in this week’s episode. Subscribe for...

The Bible is full of ravenous violence, sexually explicit scenes, sexual assault, murder, and more. But somehow it's considered the universal good book. While histories show us that white Christians in the US have frequently appealed to their Bibles in support of issues now judged to be on the wrong side of history, including racism, sexism, and colonialism, contemporary white evangelical figures...

Brad and Dan begin by gauging the right-wing reactions to the death of Henry Kissinger. They then compare these, and the hallmarks of Kissinger's life, to those of Rosalynn Carter, who was buried this week in Plains, Ga. In the second segment, Dan unpacks a knot of issues related to no-fault divorce, abortion, and the ways that the GOP continues to try to control women's bodies. In the final segme...

“Why be so hard on conservative Christianity, to the point of dismissing it entirely? Why not fix it?” This is a real question we receive, and it’s a fair question. Can conservative Christianity be “fixed”? Or are the problems with it too deep for that? In this episode, Dan answers these questions, arguing that because the problematic elements of conservative American Christianity are “in its code...

Beginning in the 1960s, stakeholders on the American Right began astro-turfing conservative student organizations in order to counter the challenges to their power from the New Left and Black Power student resistance movements. By examining the range of conservative student organizations and coalition building, Dr. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd shows how wealthy donors and conservative intellectuals tra...

Brad is joined by Congressperson Jared Huffman, who represents California's 2nd District. Rep. Huffman is the only member of the House who is not affiliated with a religious tradition. He started the Freethought Caucus in 2018 to highlight the concerns and needs of Americans who are humanists, freethinkers, agnostics, and otherwise invested in freethinking in politics and the public square. Perhap...

This week Dan talks about the popular praise and worship song, “Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart.” What is the message of this song? Written as a song of solace and hope, how does it also express an attitude that denies the reality of the things about this world and our places in it that should change? And what is the significance of expressing this attitude in the form of a song? Take a listen a...

After two years in the White House, an aging and increasingly unpopular Ronald Reagan looked like a one-term president, but in 1983 something changed. Reagan spoke of his embattled agenda as a spiritual rather than a political project and cast his vision for limited government and market economics as the natural outworking of religious conviction. The news media broadcast this message with enthusi...

Brad begins by discussing the history of Murfreesboro, TN, where a city ordinance banned homosexuality in public. As Brad recounts, this isn't the first time the city has been in the news. A decade ago, citizens tried to prevent the construction of a mosque on the grounds that Islam isn't a religion. Brad draws on scholarship to outline how Christian nationalists employ a framework wherein the USA...

We’ve all had the experience of sitting around a Thanksgiving table sharing what we’re grateful or thankful for. But why do some people seem to demand that we feel grateful? Why do they demand that we express gratitude? And what role to these demands play in high-control religious contexts? What is harbored within these demands that can make us so uncomfortable? Dan dives into these issues in this...

The massive bronze sculpture of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, in uniform, astride his horse Traveller, stood in a downtown Charlottesville park for nearly a century. It was at the center of a deadly white nationalist rally in 2017, when Neo-Nazis and white supremacists tried to stop the city's plans to remove the statue. It came down to cheers in July of 2021. Dr. Jalane Schmidt has been part...

Brad and Dan begin by discussing the porn-accountability app that Speaker Mike Johnson uses with his son. They explain how apps like these are a feature in evangelical circles and how they are a part of the purity culture landscape. Dan then zooms out to explain why he doesn't buy the idea that contemporary Christian nationalism, as it embodied in Johnson, is not a divergence from American history...

“Evangelicalism isn’t just Christian nationalism. There are also a lot of great individuals who are evangelicals but not Christian nationalists.” We hear that a lot. But is it as plausible a concern as it sounds? And why do people say this? Are they really just concerned about “great individuals” who are portrayed badly? What is there to decode in this sentiment? How might we respond to it? In thi...