Straight White American Jesus

Brad asks Dan to explain how the Southern Baptist Convention is a barometer for White American Christianity and what it means moving forward. They then discuss how the White panic over CRT has led to dangerous legislation and lawsuits. In AZ, a new law stipulates that teachers will be fined 5k if they discuss divisive topics without giving time to "both sides." In PA, a family is suing a school di...

Brad speaks again with journalist Jonathan Krohn who is covering the Southern Baptist Convention for the New Republic. Krohn takes Brad through all the major events at the convention: From an SBC presidential candidate leaving a sexual abuse survivor and activist in tears to the war on CRT and the surprise victory of Ed Litton in the presidential election. While the Southern Baptist Convention is...

Brad talks with Dr. Matthew Boedy, Associate Professor of English at the University of North Georgia, about the rising young star of Christian nationalist circles and the GOP writ large--Charlie Kirk. Dr. Boedy traces Kirk's "conversion" from young conservative to staunch Christian nationalist. According to him, one of the reasons Kirk has become America's Christian nationalist youth pastor is his...

Brad and Dan begin with insight from Prof. Jason Stanley: “History shows that propaganda can make a dominant group mad with panic and fear about the threat of a small minority subjugating them, supposedly by seizing the institutions and doing things to their children.” They use this idea to explore the myths that are inciting panic and fear in White Americans, including White Christian nationalist...

Brad speaks with Jonathan Krohn ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting. Jonathan is an investigative journalist and essayist whose work has appeared at Mother Jones, the Washington Post, and many other outlets. He also grew up in the SBC and was once considered a teenager star in the denomination. He will be covering the annual meeting for the New Republic. He and Brad discuss w...

Brad speak with R.L. Stollar, a writer and advocate for homeschooled children. As someone homescholed from Kindergarten to high school graduation, Stollar knows firsthand how homeschool parents are radicalized into extremist Christian nationalist ideologies. He discusses why homeschool spaces open the doors for authoritarian personalities and abusive figures to operate without oversight. He also e...

Brad makes a big announcement regarding the show and a new direction in his professional life . . . with Dan on vacation he then discusses the long list of cases wherein Trump and Trump allies signal their desire to overthrow the democratic process in order to stage a coup. From General Flynn welcoming a Myanmar-style coup to Paul Gosar conspiring with the Proud Boys to Louie Gohmert speaking at a...

Brad is joined on a special Wednesday episode by co-host Dan Miller to discuss a question that many will be hearing at BBQs and on social media: Why is the 1/6 insurrection bad but you have nothing to say about the BLM protests? Those protests led to property damage and violence. Aren't 1/6 and the BLM events the same? Dan draws on his expertise in populism and material from his new book, Queer D...

Brad speaks with Dr. Jill Hicks Keeton about her critical review of Beth Allison Barr's popular new book "The Making of Biblical Womanhood." Here is an excerpt of the article: "Barr is certainly right that patriarchy is socially constructed and not a given or natural framework for organizing society. But one of the tasks of the historian, I think, is to make visible the work that has gone into mak...

Brad and Dan begin this Memorial Day episode by discussing the theme of memory and erasure. They point out that there are some things we can't stop remembering--that's how trauma works. The replay of certain events plays on repeat even when we want it to stop. Other things are put under the banner of erasure--from the Tulsa Massacre 100 years ago to the Insurrection of 1/6 a few months ago. They t...

In a re-release from 2019, Dan and Brad discuss how evangelicalism is a fundamentalist worldview. They draw on scholarship on global fundamentalisms in order to explain why evangelicals are so prone to nostalgia and so resistant to societal and political change. They also illuminate why fundamentalists are willing to use symbolic and physical violence to advance their cause. This episode is especi...

Brad speaks with Dr. Charles McKinney, a historian of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Church in the South. Dr. McKinney puts the conservative war on Critical Race Theory in historical perspective, explaining how it works as a deflective strategy to demonize racial justice phenomena without directly demonizing Black people and other people of color. They finish by analyzing how White Christ...

Brad and Dan discuss the GOP's opposition to 1/6 commission and how the GOP is doing myth making in real time to change the perception and memory of the Insurrection. They then discuss SCOTUS' decision to hear a case about abortion that could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The episode wraps with a discussion of the Ur-Christian Nationalist, Billy Graham, and the new PBS doc about his life...

In light of the Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case that could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we are re-releasing Dan's interview with Professor R. Marie Griffith, author of Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics. Professor Griffith explains that evangelicals were once moderate on the whole on the issue of abortion. In the 60s, 90% of Texas Bap...

Dr. Audrey Clare Farley stops by to discuss her article, "The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values," which outlines how the family values discourse so prevalent in Evangelical culture has its origins in eugenics. Eugenics was a junk-science movement started in the early 20th century that tried to show the genealogical and biological superiority of Whites over other racial groups. It was use...

Brad and Dan demonstrate how the only standard of Republican orthodoxy left is whether or not one supports Trump's Big Lie. Through examples from Liz Cheney, to Kevin McCarthy, to Internet-trolls-turned-congresspeople such as Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert--one thing is clear: if you don't believe in and support the Big Lie, you will be ousted from the GOP. This portends a...

Brad discusses something that has been bothering him since his Twitter spat with Timothy Keller: Why are all the Reformed Theo-Bros always talking about worldviews. Brad unpacks the buzz words they use to uncover the will to power, the righteous arrogance, and the relativism at the heart of this theological system. After listening to this you will understand why Reformed pastors and theologians--J...

Brad speaks with Dr. Philip Gorski, Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at Yale University. They preview his new co-authored book (with Sam Perry) on the history and future of Christian nationalism in the United States. Professor Gorski illuminates how White Christian nationalism has been part of the American fabric since the Puritans. One of the reasons it is hard to combat is that its t...

Brad and Dan examine the competing ideals often put forth by the GOP: 1) Be an individualist who thinks for herself vs. 2) work to unite the country behind a common cause. They discuss how these ideals are often contradicted by the GOP's actions and policies. First, they look at the ouster of Liz Cheney for thinking for herself by opposing Trump's Big Lie. Put in her leadership place: Elise Stefan...

Where is the GOP headed four months after an attempted coup? Even further down the rabbit hole of authoritarianism. In the wake of his jarring interview with Dr. Sarah Riccardi-Swartz on fascism in rural America, Brad shows that these anti-democratic impulses are not limited to fringe pockets of the country. They are at the heart of the contemporary conservative movement and GOP. This portends eve...

Brad speaks with Dr. Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Recovering Truth Project (Arizona State University) about her recent article, "The Hybridity of Rural Fascism." She discusses the Evangelical converts to Orthodoxy in rural Appalachia, at least one of which self-identifies as a fascist. She explains how the group sees Trump as too conservative, and instead looks to Putin as the...

Brad and Dan discuss how racism and patriarchy stem from a desire for power and control. They relate this to comments by Rick Santorum on Native American culture, American culture, and the history of the nation. They also apply it to statements from Lyndsey Graham, who said we can't be a racist nation because we elected Obama, and Tim Scott who gave the response to Pres. Biden's address a few days...

Brad speaks with Dr. Jill Hicks-Keeton, Associate Professor of Religion at Oklahoma University and co-editor of The Museum of the Bible: A Critical Introduction, about the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. Started by the Green family, who own the Hobby Lobby franchise, the Museum of the Bible is what happens when an evangelical megachurch tries to transform into a Smithsonian museum--it mixes...

Brad and Dan connect the threads of the Chauvin murder conviction, the proposed America First caucus, and racialized violence across the country. They use historical instances from the Civil War, the 1920s, and other moments in the nation's history to explain how we are still living in two countries with two sets of rules. They conclude by examining how Sikh individuals were targeted in the Indian...

In the wake of the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Brad argues that family values have been used for centuries as a vector for White supremacist Christianity. Not only are family values used today as a way to draw attention away from racial inequality and other systemic issues, but they have been used throughout American history to justify racism a...