The Convocation Unscripted

On this episode of The Convocation Unscripted, we discuss the big question of how history can help us in the present. The task of historians is to identify patterns in the past in order to fashion a coherent narrative, which tells a story about how we got to the present. Unavoidably, this narrative is constructed in the context of problems in the present and concerns about the future. This week, Diana told us what she had learned about managing violence and conflict from her recent time with activists who were involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland and what might be helpful for our own contemporary troubles. We also discussed the dangers of focusing on “depolarization” as the primary problem, which can float free of any moral commitments, rather than substantive values like protecting democracy.

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On this episode, the Convocation Unscripted team talks about the importance of truth and reality amid the whirlwind of debates about political violence in the aftermath of the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk and the subsequent attacks on free speech, such as the suspension of Jimmie Kimmel by ABC. While acknowledging that all political violence is abhorrent, we also look at the facts about the actual shape of political violence in the US; the government’s own official reports—recently purged from the Department of Justice website—found that “since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.” We also discuss the kind of response to Kirk’s assassination that we wish we would have heard from the president and other Republican leaders—one that focused on condemning all political violence and calling us to our better selves rather than fanning the flames and using it as an opportunity to infringe on the Constitutional right to free speech. As Christians, there has never been a time when we need a theology that refuses to separate people into good and evil categories, one that foregrounds grace and love for enemies. We close with an urgent message for all to stand up against political violence and in defense of free speech, while we still have the freedom to do so.

We love your comments. In fact, we led off our discussion by sharing our reflections on one particular comment.

Robby shared,

[This person was] finding themselves feeling a little jaded by the constant, “You won't believe what just happened now.”

And same thing, day after day, after day—kind of a Groundhog Day experience, and worried about getting caught up in the negativity, not being able to think about: What do we do?

How can we manage the chaos?

How can we manage our own responses to it, and try to get to do something productive in the meantime?

So we each shared how we approach our obligation to tell the truth—which necessarily involves a lot of “doom and gloom”—with the equally urgent call to hope and resilience.

We do these live episodes once a month, and the best part for us as hosts is interacting with you in real time.

So we devote about half the episode to answering your questions.

We’re curious: How do you resist feeling jaded when there’s so much bad news? How are you cultivating hope and resilience? Let us know in the comments.

A Live Q & A Session with The Convocation Unscripted

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We start this discussion this week with the tragic news of yet another mass school shooting, this time at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, which killed two children and injured 18 others. In this case, the violence broke out while students were gathered for mass. We discuss the trauma that such events create for children and families, when safe spaces like schools and sacred places like churches are targeted. And we lament the way this shooting is already being exploited by those on the political right, given that the shooter was a transgender woman, even though most mass shootings and acts of domestic terrorism have been perpetrated by straight white men. We also discussed the continued march toward authoritarianism with the firing of the CDC director, Susan Monarez, over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s insistence on restricting COVID-19 vaccines. Finally, we talk about President Trump’s recent preoccupation with “getting into heaven.” As with everything Trump, his musings betray a transactional view of heaven, a far cry from the doctrines of repentance and grace in the Protestant Christian faith he claims to have. We note the significance of a lack of concern by any evangelical leaders over Trump’s crass, heretical comments about salvation.

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In this episode, we discuss the influence of James Dobson, who died this week, on evangelical Christianity and the Christian Right political movement. Dobson's writings, particularly his parenting guide Dare to Discipline, promoted harsh punishment of children and patriarchal norms. Dobson’s vision of strict discipline and hierarchical authority, popularized through is massive Focus on the Family media empire, laid the groundwork for the current white evangelical movement and the MAGA worldview. Diana shared her personal experience of being targeted by Dobson in a FOF newsletter, which led to death threats. We also discussed the unprecedented deployment of military troops in Washington, D.C., where both Diana and Robby live, which Trump falsely claimed was necessary due to high crime rates, despite actual crime being at a 30-year low. This occupation of our nation’s capital—and its justification with the invocation of a fake emergency based on lies—are straight out of the dictator's playbook. We close with the need to keep resisting and speaking out.

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In this episode, The Convocation Unscripted team talked about Trump’s attacks on universities and the tragedy of the capitulation of Columbia University, who has agreed to pay the government $200 million and to submit to the oversight of a “Resolution Monitor,” specified in the agreement to be Bart Schwartz of Guidepost Solutions (yes, the same firm hired by the SBC Executive Committee in the wake of the denominations sexual abuse scandals), who also happens to be—wait for it—the sitting CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul. That seems a perfect example of the absurdity of these times. We also took a step back to highlight the underlying MAGA worldview of authoritarian hierarchy and contrast that with the biblical vision of Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit's gift was given specifically to oppressed, colonized people in the Roman Empire. The conversation concluded with a discussion of the importance of being morally responsive to current events, even when it feels overwhelming, emphasizing the value of community and truth in times of despair. We only have jokingly suggested a tagline for the podcast could be, “Come for the despair, stay for the community.”

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This week, Robby, Diana, and Jemar talk about the ongoing revelations about President Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and the ways Trump’s previous encouragement of QAnon conspiracy theories is now coming back to bite him. Nearly half of Republicans who most trust far-right news are QAnon believers, according to PRRI data, and this group isn’t letting the story go. We also discuss the blatantly white supremacist memes that are being posted by the Department of Homeland Security on its official social media channels—featuring white settler colonists with messages like “Remember your homeland’s heritage.” The conversation concluded with discussions about the dire food shortage in Gaza and the children we are seeing starve before our eyes. Jemar emphasizing the importance of Christian engagement and action, and pointed to an upcoming conference, Church at the Crossroads, scheduled for September 11-13, which aims to engage American Christians in addressing the crisis and promoting justice. 

Links:

https://prri.org/spotlight/the-rise-and-impact-of-q-the-2024-election-from-the-view-of-qanon-believers/

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jul/23/dhs-art-post-propaganda

https://churchatthecrossroads.com/

In this deeply honest episode of The Convocation Unscripted, historians Dr. Jemar Tisby, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, and Diana Butler Bass gather to reflect on the emotional toll of studying and speaking out on faith, politics, and power in America. As cultural crises mount, they explore the personal and professional exhaustion that comes from repeatedly warning of societal dangers—only to watch them unfold.

Together, they ask: What does it mean to persist as public voices of conscience? How do we process the discouragement that comes with being right too soon? And where might we find resilience in the face of recurring injustice?

Religion is always part of the story--even when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. Trump's decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran, an action taken after Israel's military actions in the nation, are not simply geopolitical in their dimensions. Many Christians uncritically support the modern state of Israel because of a theological belief system called premillennial dispensationalism. Diana, Kristin, and Jemar dig into the history, the culture and the implications of this ideology. They also discuss ongoing ICE human rights abuses and the surprising projected victory of Zohran Mamdani as the Democratic Party nominee for mayor of New York City.

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The hosts of Convocation Unscripted discussed the tragic political assassination of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Horton, and the shootings of Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. It is now clear that these murders were carried out by Vance Boelter, a devout white evangelical Christian who held a degree in practical theology from the unaccredited Christ for the Nations Institute, which is associated with the New Apostolic Reformation movement. This worldview is steeped in spiritual warfare language that casts politics as a battle between God and Satan and in the US portrays Democrats and liberals as possessed by demons and instruments of evil. We talk about our dismay at the lack of outrage, particularly among Republicans and white evangelicals and the depraved used of this awful violence to score political points as Sen. Mike Lee has done. We concluded our conversation with reflections on the importance of Juneteenth, our newest federal holiday, and the importance of white Americans and white Christians particularly to incorporate a celebration of the holiday, and the history it commemorates, as part of our story.

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