House Speaker Mike Johnson comparing himself to Moses while describing his divine call to the third most powerful office in the land stood out even as he accepted the National Association of Christian Lawmakers’ American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage. How can leaders prioritize democracy for all when their overt fealty is to a fundamentalist vision of a Christian nation? That’s the question host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush explores this week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast – along with strategies for organizing communities of resistance and resilience.

“We believe that all citizens have the right and responsibility to advocate for in government, to the government – so you have the right and responsibility regardless of faith - we’re equal citizens. The problem is when you’re doing so in order to enact and privilege one particular faith in ways that are going to harm others and in ways that are at odds with that principle of equal citizenship and equal rights to bring your religion to the public square.” – Holly Hollman, General Counsel and Associate Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Holly is a leading expert on Church-State issues and how Congress, the courts, and administrative agencies address them. She is also the co-host of BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast series.

“We are in a very polarized time, and people are very reactionary. And we need to remember our common bonds so that we can fight back against our common enemy - which, as we’ve discussed, is coming from this Christian nationalist playbook. So it’s just so important during this time for people of faith to come together and find common ground so that we can mobilize and speak out with a unified voice.” – Darcy Hirsh, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at Interfaith Alliance. Darcy is an attorney and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School. She is at the forefront of Interfaith Alliance’s work on Capitol Hill to combat Christian nationalism and the political leaders driven by its agenda.

Paul also responded to Speaker Johnson's Moses moment with some comments in an Instagram video. You can watch that reel here.

To expand our reach, State of Belief  is now being distributed via the Religion News Service family of podcasts. Be sure to subscribe to the next generation of State of Belief today via Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or at http://www.stateofbelief.com/newpodcast.