WORT 89.9FM Madison · “The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover”

A February, 2023 survey by Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution showed that nearly a third of all Americans, and more than half of Republicans, believe that the federal government should declare America a “Christian Nation,” and that God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.  The results drew shocked headlines from major media outlets.  NPR said White Christian Nationalism was “long seen as a fringe viewpoint.”  CNN called these beliefs “an impostor Christianity.”  But White Christian Nationalism did not suddenly erupt on the U.S. political scene in recent years.  It has a long history as part of the mainstream of American politics.  Perhaps no one in modern history did more to promote the notion of the U.S. as a Christian nation than the U.S. Government’s longest-serving civil servant, founder of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover.  Lerone A. Martin is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.  His new book, “The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover” is out now from Princeton University Press.

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