Straight White American Jesus

Brad and Dan begin by discussing the case of Aaron Rodgers, who was recently found out not to have been vaccinated. They discuss the various components at play in the case--from becoming an anti-vaxxer wiithout realizing it, to blaming the "woke mob" for cancel culture, and the politics of scientific authority. This leads to a discussion of Ted Cruz's criticism of Big Bird's immunization. Yes, Big Bird.

Staying with Ted Cruz, Brad and Dan then analyze how and why our nation's freeways and other structures were built via segregationist and racist ideals. Given that the infrastructure package will mean money for investing in roads, bridges, and other projects, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said that rectifying these wrongs is part of his agenda. While Cruz criticized him, history shows he has no case.

Brad and Dan finish with comments on vigilantism, law and order, and the ways White men take it upon themselves to instill order when they feel the law isn't doing what they want.

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Brad uses recent comments by Josh Hawley to talk about what people mean when they say that the country (and the church) needs to return to masculinity. Brad argues that this is a common trope in Christian nationalism and the theme opens the door for seeing how Christian nationalism is the original purity culture.

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Brad's spirited and at times contentious interview with Daniel Silliman, the news editor for Christianity Today and the author of Reading Evangelicals:: How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and Faith. Their discussion of Silliman's book includes rumination on the themes of race, class, politics, and the contours of evangelical culture. Where Silliman sees diversity, Brad sees a narrow focus on suburban White evangelicals whose homogenous,, Trumpian politics are reflected in the fiction Silliman examines.

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Brad and Dan begin by debating the fallout of the gubernatorial election in Virginia. Dan points out that historically the party in power doesn't perform well in midterm and off-year elections. This is especially true in Virginia. Brad takes a different approach by discussing the ways that the GOP has made extremism mainstream in the past and how Glenn Youngkin, who ran on a Trumpian platform without Trump as the mascot of his campaign, may be the next iteration of making racism and prejudice "respectable" in GOP spaces.

They then discuss the new data from PRRI that shows the two competing visions of the United States. According to the report, "More than two-thirds of Republicans (68%), compared to 26% of independents and 6% of Democrats, continue to believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. And Republicans (30%) are approximately three times as likely as Democrats (11%) to agree with the statement, “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” Agreement with this statement rises to 40% among Republicans who most trust far-right news sources and is 32% among those who most trust Fox News. One in four white evangelicals (26%) also agree that political violence may be necessary to save the country."

Finally, they go over new details from the Washington Post about the extensive alarm bells that domestic security officials triggered before J6, only to be ignored by federal agencies and the White House. It shows how far we are to knowing that Trump incited a coup while allowing him and his cohorts to go unpunished.

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Brad takes a break from Mild at Heart to talk to writer, podcaster, and organizer Cindy Wang Brandt, the person behind Parenting Forward. Cindy discusses her journey from Evangelical convert to the go-to person helping folks navigate parenthood after deconstruction and in the wake of purity culture. Her new children's book, You Are Revolutionary, provides an inspiring child-affirming message that is poignant and timely.

You are Revolutionary: https://www.beamingbooks.com/store/product/9781506478302/You-Are-Revolutionary

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Dr. Brett Krutsch is the editor of the Revealer and the Director of the Center for Religion and Media at NYU, He speaks to Brad about his book, "Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics." In Dying to Be Normal, Krutzsch argues that gay activists have in the past enacted a political strategy to present gays as similar to the country's dominant class of white, straight Christians. Through an examination of publicly mourned gay deaths, Krutzsch counters the common perception that LGBT politics and religion have been oppositional and reveals how gay activists used religion to bolster the argument that gays are essentially the same as straights, and therefore deserving of equal rights. In his view, this is a limiting strategy that stifles the movement for queer liberation.

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Brad and Dan begin by discussing three trials happening right now: the Charlottesville Unite the Right Trial, the Kenosha Shooter Trial, and the Murder of Amaud Arbery. They analyze the racial, legal, and historical dynamics of each, pointing to the failure of our legal system to reckon with the baked-in White supremacy of our system.

They then dissect the revelations about January 6th planning meetings and Trump's War Room. This leads to a discussion of myth making in real time and how everyone from Marjorie Taylor Green to Tucker Carlson is spinning dangerous narratives about the Insurrection.

The episode finishes with reflection on a recent piece in the NYT on how Republican and Evangelical are becoming synonyms, and what this means for our political landscape.

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Why does love feel like death? Brad continues to reflect on the soulmate myth and purity culture's vision of love. He analyzes how the model of love in these stories sees it as the end of life--the completion of one's journey, and thus something like death. With help from Plato and the Odyssey he explains why it is such a toxic, and potentially abusive, vision of love within the purity culture context.

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Calvary Chapel started in Southern California in the 1960s. From the beginning, the aesthetic was laid-back, casual, and welcoming--the type of place barefoot hippies and wet-haired surfers could find a church home. But below the surface a militant conservative theology and politics took shape. Fast forward half a century and Calvary Chapel is now a nation-wide network that is at the forefront of shaping the contemporary culture wars. By offering a ready-made circuit for Christian nationalist speakers like Charlie Kirk and Tony Perkins, it has become the vanguard of Christian nationalism at the denominational level.

Carly Fox, who grew up in Calvary Chapel churches and now runs "Calvary Chapel Watch," stops by to discuss it all with Brad.

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Brad and Dan begin discussing the MAGA freakout over Mayor Pete's paternity leave. They use this to ask what kind of families and what kind of fathers conservatives envision when they talk endlessly about family values. Using the work of George Lakoff, this leads to examining the metaphor of the nation as a family and the political leader as the nation's father. Brad and Dan connect the outrage over paternity leave to the way conservatives value authoritarian styles of leadership based on punishment, force, and discipline, rather than empathy, nurturing, or happiness.

In the second segment they connect this vision of fatherhood and the nation to Joe Manchin's sabotage of the Democrats policies on climate change, child tax credits, and voting rights.

In the final segment, Brad and Dan examine the details of the new "MAGA incubator" property in Tennessee--a 130 acre compound started by the "AR 15 church" in Pennsylvania.

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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