On Becoming

In our final episode in the series on Christian nationalism, we turn to the town of Moscow, Idaho and the vision of Christian nationalists to take over the world for what they consider to be 'Christianity' or what I would term 'anti-Christian' nationalism.

We continue the discussion of Christian nationalism by going back to its roots in Christian Reconstructionism, a very peculiar reading of the Bible that leads its followers to think that Jesus' call to evangelism is really a call to take over civil governments across the world in the name of Jesus. As we'll see, the goal of Reconstructionism is to tear down the existing order with the goal of rebuilding it to be explicitly and exclusively Christian.

This week's episode is the first of a short series on the phenomenon known as Christian nationalism. You have probably heard that term. Alternatively, you may have read or heard Evangelical Christians talking in way that presumes that the US is a Christian nation and it needs to become even 'more' Christian. Much of this episode interacts with an interview in Rolling Stone magazine with Dr. Bradley Onishi, who thinks that civil war is just around the corner.

In this episode, we consider what's going on the state of Florida regarding education. Under a new law there, discussion of anything to do with sexuality is considered 'inappropriate' for all students from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Similarly, discussions of injustice that have to do with race, colour, sex, or national origin are equally off limits. In order to see why this law is so problematic, I introduce the idea of 'intersectionality', the idea that we are all composed of multiple features, all of which serve to provide our identity. My conclusion is that DeSantis is only concerned with smiting his enemies, and has absolutely no concern for either justice or truth.

In this episode, we consider the various meanings of the term 'queer'. As I say at the beginning of the episode, my goal is make it clear that all of us have had experiences of what it's like to be 'queer'. At the core of the discussion is a basic distinction: the centre versus the margins. We consider how those in the centre have a certain privilege, as well as the point that what counts as either centre or marginal can change over time. 

This week we consider a recent, lengthy article on homeschooling. It's a troubling article, for it focuses on a married couple who were both homeschooled but decide not to homeschool their own children. Simply because of the subject, the article raises the question of what it means to be 'indoctrinated'. My comments on this topic are set in the context of what Kant and Foucault have to say about what it means to be 'enlightened'. 

Having gone through the series in which we considered whether Evangelicalism qualifies as a 'cult' and then having interviews with Tim Whitaker and J. Aaron Simmons, I offer some insights into the ways in which Christian theists and people who choose the label 'atheist' argue against one another. In effect, much of what counts as 'argument' is really a kind of bullying--a practice found on both sides. I suggest that such bullying should always be resisted. But I also point out that there is more than one way to define what a 'Christian' is.

This week's episode is an interview with J. Aaron Simmons. We talk about how the Evangelical world has changed over the past few decades. Both of us see these changes as moving from being somewhat welcoming to the Other to a place where the Other is not only not welcomed but is vilified. Yet Aaron talks about how he has managed to still find a place in that world, even while making his lack of agreement clear. 

In this episode, I speak with Tim Whitaker. Both of us grew up in the Evangelical world. Those of you who've listened to this podcast know that I was more or less removed from it. We discuss the various ways in which Evangelicals have failed to read the Bible seriously and ignored some of the core teachings of Jesus.

This is the final episode in the series considering Evangelicalism from the point of view of a cult. It also concludes my own story--at least up until now--begun in Part One of The Dispensing of Existence.