Straight White American Jesus

Dr. Dana Lloyd is an expert on Native American religious traditions and faculty at Villanova University. She speaks to Brad about how the QAnon Shaman's appropriation of Native American symbols extends a long lineage of White people "playing Indian." According to Dr. Lloyd, "playing Indian" is a means of eliminating indigenous peoples by using their symbols, rituals, and traditions while leaving them behind--often through violence and attempted genocide. She draws on her own upbringing in Israel-Palestine to explain how the J6 rioters as a whole saw themselves taking what has always been given to them by God.

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Brad and Dan begin this episode with a discussion of the new profile of Jerry Falwell Jr. at Vanity Fair. In their view, Falwell is a type for contemporary Christian nationalism. He describes himself as not particularly religious while subscribing to a vision of the United States wherein White Christian men hold power. He was formed politically by Rush Limbaugh. He lavished praise on Donald Trump. For Dan, it's a perfect example of how Christian nationalism is a religious-political-cultural identity that often time has little to do with persona religious practice.

They then segue into analysis of a new piece by sociologist Ruth Braunstein that investigates the backlash against the Religious Right and White Evangelicals. Braunstein examines the rise of the Nones--those unaffiliated with religion--but also looks at how the Religious Left and the "spiritual but not religious" also represent a backlash to conservative American Protestants.

In the final segment Brad goes through the history of SCOTUS picks based on identity. Dan argues that identity politics are always at play and that there are no objectively best candidates for SCOTUS.

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If all of politics involves “identity,” and if we all possess identities, why do so many feel like contemporary “identity politics” is something new and experience it as threatening? If identity has always been a fundamental part of shared social and political life, why does identity figure so prominently in that shared life now? In this episode, we explore this question, looking at three significant social and political events over the latter half of the 20th century that help us to understand how identity has come to hold such a prominent place in our social and political life.

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Dr. Leah Payne is a historian of Pentecostalism and other Christian traditions in the United States. She speaks with Brad about the overwhelming presence of charismatic Christians at the Insurrection. Drawing on her insider-scholar perspective, Dr. Payne helps decode some of the religious elements at at J6: the shofars (the horns used as instruments to declare war), the flags, and other symbols. She also explains why charismatic Christianity became such a prominent part of Trump's presidency and MAGA Nation as a whole.

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Brad and Dan lay out the timeline and details of the fake electors the Trump campaign organized in order to overthrow the election. If you thought the details of Trump’s coup couldn’t get worse, wait until you hear the full scope of the plan to commit election fraud throughout the country in order to overturn the will of the people. 

They then discuss a new article at Christianity Today that maintains God’s pronouns must be he/him. Dan draws on his training as a theologian and queer theory to disssect the argument’s misguided and disingenuous foundations. 

The episode finishes with a discussion of the difference between feeling unsafe and uncomfortable a propos a new bill in Florida that would make it illegal for schools or workplaces to make people feel “uncomfortable” based on their racial identity. It is another ploy by Uncle Ron DeSantis to whitewash American history. 

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Produced by Brad Onishi and Dan Miller.

Edited by Shannon Sassone.

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What is identity? It isn’t something limited to particular social groups claiming equal rights or something that only applies to minority groups of different kinds. On the contrary, “identity” is something we all have and it’s how we categorize and sort individuals and groups to shape our shared social life. It’s also fundamental to our shared political life, which means that the concept of “identity politics” is actually redundant.

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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Episode produced by Brad Onishi and Daniel Miller.

Episode edited by Shannon Sassone.

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What is identity? It isn’t something limited to particular social groups claiming equal rights or something that only applies to minority groups of different kinds. On the contrary, “identity” is something we all have and it’s how we categorize and sort individuals and groups to shape our shared social life. It’s also fundamental to our shared political life, which means that the concept of “identity politics” is actually redundant.

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

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

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Brad interviews Phil Gorski, Professor of Sociology at Yale, and the author of the new co-authored book with Sam Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to Democracy. Gorski breaks down how the rioters thought about the Insurrection–it was not about right or wrong. It was about us vs them. This explains how the various spiritualities on display at J6 worked to form a coalition of forces even if they don’t all have the same worldview. It also explains the function of religious symbols, rituals, and dress on display that day. They all worked to tell a story of one team trying to overtake another. 

The discussion finishes with Gorski explaining how the Reformation and the wars that followed it are a good comparison point for our current situation. The breakdown of authority, the transmission of information, and the individualism of our time resonate with the Reformation period and portend difficult days ahead.

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

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Brad and Dan begin this MLK weekend show by going over the outlines of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Selma marches, and King’s missives to White moderates. They link this to the current fight for voting rights and the misugided logic of Senator Synema, who continues to stand in the way of new voting rights legislation. They then transition to new scholarship that shows White Christian nationalists are on the whole in favor of making it harder to vote and are unwilling to admit that voter suppression is a factor in American politics. The show ends with reflections on the sedition charges against a number of Oath Keepers–and the Christian nationalist logic they use to defend their traitorous actions. In a bonus segment, Brad and Dan discuss the NFL MVP race as a referendum on White identity politics.

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

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

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Episode produced by Brad Onishi and Daniel Miller.

Episode edited by Shannon Sassone.

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What do politicians like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders have in common? They’re critical of “identity politics.” In this episode, we’ll take a closer look at how people on both the political left and the political right are critical of identity politics and the unexpected similarities of their perspectives. We’ll also talk about some of the obvious problems with these perspectives and suggest some of the issues we’ll tackle in future episodes.

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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Episode produced by Daniel Miller and Brad Onishi.

Royalty Free Music; "Documentary" by Coma-Media

Episode edited by Shannon Sassone.

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