Straight White American Jesus

Brad begins by tracing the extreme Christian nationalism of the 2020s to the years following 9/11. The thesis: the ways that Republican politicians and conservative pastors responded to 9/11 led to a new chapter of American Christian nationalism.

Dan then picks up the thread to discuss how Black churches and other groups are teaching Black history in Florida given the fact that it is being left out of school curricula in the state.

The episode finishes with an extended discussion of the lapsed child tax credit - and what it says about our country's morals and priorities.

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/

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Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

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“Let Go and Let God”

Maybe you’ve heard the admonition to “let go and let God.” Maybe it provides some comfort. Maybe it’s frustrating. Maybe it makes you angry. What does it mean, and why can it provoke such a range of responses? Why do people say this? How does it relate to a culture of self-help consumerism? Dan explores these issues in this week’s episode.

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 American Idols: https://www.axismundi.us/american-idols/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Ahead of the premier of American Idols next week, Brad talks with Dr. Andrew Whitehead about the podcast series, his new book, and why Christian nationalism is such a threat to our democracy. He shares insight from his own life as a kid who grew up in church, only to see many of his fellow Christians succumb to the temptations of Christian nationalism's idols: fear, power, and violence.

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 American Idols: https://www.axismundi.us/american-idols/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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In her new book, 24/7 News: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America From Watergate to Fox News, Dr. Kathryn Cramer Brownell, Associate Professor of History at Purdue University, shows how cable became an unstoppable medium for political communication that prioritized cult followings and loyalty to individual brands, fundamentally reshaped party politics, and, in the process, sowed the seeds of democratic upheaval.

In her conversation with Brad, Dr. Brownell reveals how cable TV created new possibilities for antiestablishment voices and opened a pathway to political prominence for seemingly unlikely figures like Donald Trump by playing to narrow audiences and cultivating division instead of common ground.

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/

Buy the book here in order to support SWAJ: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Brad and Dan begin by discussing the fact that Trump may be kept off the ballot in some states. The 14th amendment prohibits those who have "engaged in insurrection" from holding office. Dan breaks down the case and what may happen going forward.

In the second segment Brad analyzes Project 2025, a program from the Heritage Foundation that lays out a frightening totalitarian vision for a 2nd Trump Term. He also outlines why he won't support a third party candidate this election.

In the final segment the hosts discuss the federal rulings that AL and FL need to rewrite their congressional maps - and their resistance to doing so.

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/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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“It’s In the Code.” But in what sense is a code something public and shared? And in what sense is a code something secret, communicated only the select few “in the know?” Dan explores these issues in this episode, arguing that secret codes that operate below the surface are dependent on public codes we all share and can understand. He also suggests that this interplay is vital in our current context defined by endless culture war.

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/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Brad talks to Rev. Nathan Empsall, the Executive Director of Faithful America. They discuss the Reawaken America Tour, which just relaunched in Las Vegas a week ago. As Rev. Nathan says, the tour platforms speakers who are anti-Semitic, anti-democratic, and openly violent. It is a dangerous movement that is, unfortunately, tying together explicit Christian practice - like baptism on stage - with insidious American nationalism. The result? Maybe the most potent magnet for Christian nationalism alive today.

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/

Learn about Faithful America here: https://act.faithfulamerica.org/sign/indictment-lee-lcms/?source=med-swaj

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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How does a racially fueled tragedy tie into the policies of a state governor? And what sinister patterns can we uncover when we trace the origins of the 'lone gunman' phenomenon? Brad and Dan investigate the chilling Jacksonville shootings, the disturbing racial motivations behind the crime, and the ways these events echo the policies of Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis. .

We then shift our focus to the Christian homeschooling movement, helmed by Michael Farris, and its possible impact on public education. Discover how a group of devout millionaires are bent on uprooting the education system, alleging that schools teaching about gender identity and race are unconstitutional.

Finally, we wade into the murky intersection of Christian and Hindu nationalism, and the ways Vivek Ramaswamy is transposing the latter onto the former.

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/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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“You Have to Get ‘Em Lost to Get ‘Em Saved”

What can it possibly mean when some Christians say that you “have to get people lost before you can get them saved?” What does it mean to be “lost”? What does it mean to be “saved”? And what are some of the effects of this language? Is it just a way of summarizing basic Christian teachings, or does it have further-reaching, possibly significant, negative effects? Dan tackles these issues in this week’s episode.

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/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

SWAJ Book Recommendations - September 2023: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023/edit

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Brad speaks with Dr. Robert P. Jones, President of PRRI and author of the new book The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future.

Beginning with contemporary efforts to reckon with the legacy of white supremacy in America, Jones returns to the fateful year when a little-known church doctrine emerged that shaped the way five centuries of European Christians would understand the “discovered” world and the people who populated it. Along the way, he shows us the connections between Emmett Till and the Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto in the Mississippi Delta, between the lynching of three Black circus workers in Duluth and the mass execution of thirty-eight Dakota men in Mankato, and between the murder of 300 African Americans during the burning of Black Wall Street in Tulsa and the Trail of Tears.

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/

Buy the book here in order to support the show: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-recommends-september-2023

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices