The Progressive Christians Podcast

We read (a lot) of it so you wouldn't have to. In this episode, we discuss the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, the 900-page document that Trump "had nothing to do with" but accurately describes almost everything that his administration has been doing during his first few weeks in office. We examine the four pillars that inform their political ideology, how these pillars are rooted in half-truths and outright lies, and how Trump is using the executive branch to subvert congressional power to implement his agenda.

We planned on covering more than we were able to get to in this episode. Rev. Dr. Carter read nearly 300 pages of the document, and we didn't have time to get to all the policy points because it was difficult to contain our frustration. If you want more information on Project 2025 and don't want to read it, we've included a link to John Oliver's show from June 20th, 2024, where he gives an excellent overview. Lastly, if you are interested in reading it yourself, you can find it on the Heritage Foundation website. We would recommend only reading the Forward because it gives you a good overview of the entire project.

Articles referenced in this episode

1. 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/opinion/charles-blow-black-dads-are-doing-the-best-of-all.html

   2. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr071.pdf

   3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwqpx6lp_s

"Without women we don't have Jesus. We don't have Christianity. We don't have any of it," writes Claire McKeever-Burgett, theologian and author of "Blessed Are The Women: Naming and Reclaiming Women's Stories from the Gospels." In this episode we speak with Claire about her amazing book, what inspired her to write it, and the importance of women's stories in the story of Christianity. Claire's newest book, "In The Beginning Were The Women: Matriarchs, Mystics, Wise Women, and Warriors in the Hebrew Bible", will be available on October 21, 2025.

You can learn more about Claire's work on her website, https://www.clairemckeeverburgett.com, or her substack https://clairemckeeverburgett.substack.com.

It is not worse than we thought—it is exactly what we thought it would be! During our conversation, which felt a bit like our post-election analysis, we examined the first few days of the Trump presidency and discussed how progressive Christians might respond and resist. We also discussed former president Joe Biden's legacy and what's going on with TikTok and Meta.

In this episode, Rev. Dr. Carter mentions creating a Discord server as a way to cultivate community for Progressive Christians to meet, learn, and grow together. Is that something you all might be interested in? Please let us know in your iTunes review, Spotify comments or by sending us an email: [email protected]

There was some audio issue with Julia's microphone and we apologize for the brief sound distortion.

Articles referenced:

1. https://www.axios.com/2025/01/21/president-donald-trump-executive-orders-list

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwwaEuDeqM8

In today's episode we discuss the impact of the LA fires on our community and dissect the conservative conspiracy theories about the origin of the fires and how they have been handled. We then discuss the legacy of President Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist and the first Evangelical president of the United States. We compare and contrast his progressive evangelicalism with what we see in the MAGA movement today. A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was announced while we were recording, and we touched on it briefly and plan to cover it in more detail in the coming weeks.

Articles mentioned on the episode: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/jimmy-carter-evangelical-christianity/ https://www.calpacumc.org/uncategorized/ways-to-help-la-fire-victims/ https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/president-jimmy-carter-has-died

Los Angeles is suffering from a historical fire. Thankfully, Julia, Westley, Rev. Blair, and Dr. Carter are safe, but we are thinking about and actively working on ways to support our local community. If you are interested in supporting, please check out the links below.

In this episode, Rev. Dr. Carter is solo, recording from San Diego, where he and his family have evacuated from the Pallisades and Sunset fires. He discusses the difficulties that lie ahead for their community and what the root causes of the fire really are, and what they are not (hint: it has nothing to do with DEI). We end this episode with a prayer and we hope that you join us in keeping our community uplifted in prayer and support during this difficult time.

Links to organizations that are supporting Angelinos:

https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/how-to-help-la-fire-victims

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-08/how-to-help-victims-of-pacific-palisades-eaton-and-hurst-fires

Evangelism is a word you rarely hear in progressive Christian spaces. In this episode, we discuss why that is the case (hint: trauma) and what a progressive Christian vision of evangelism could look like.

This episode is part of our Progressive Christianity 101 "What Is" series. At least one episode per month will examine topics from within the Christian tradition from a progressive Christian perspective.

Authors and books we referenced in the episode

• Alice Walker's definition of womanism
• Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective - Letty Russel
• Sexism and God-Talk- Rosemary Radford Ruether
• Evangelism After Christendom - Bryan Stone
• The Divine Dance - Richard Rhor

Merry Christmas! In this "minisode," the Progressive Christians podcast crew discusses our favorite Christmas traditions. We close the show discussing how grateful we are for each other and for y'all, our amazing listeners. Our goal is to create a platform for Progressive Christians to discuss topics that are important to us in a way that reflects the radical love that we see in our tradition. It is exciting to see this come to fruition!

And while we celebrate the growth of our community we know that there is much work to be done. The next few years will be especially challenging. Given this, we want you to reach out to us and let us know how we can help. What resources do you need? What topics would you like us to discuss?

Feel free to email or DM us on our social media platforms.

[email protected]

linktr.ee/theprogressivechristians

In this episode, we discuss what we each have learned about Christmas as a progressive Christian that opened up the Christmas story in new and meaningful ways. We end with a discussion about the Netflix film, Mary, and how paying closer attention to the social and political circumstances that Jesus' mother faced should move Christians towards a feminist (i.e., anti-sexist) analysis of the story of the birth of Christ.

In this episode, we discuss the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the public reaction to it. While we believe that violence is not the solution to the healthcare crisis in America, we discuss how certain forms of violence, i.e., the violence of denying people the health coverage they have paid for, are the root cause of so much suffering in our country. We conclude by discussing what a progressive Christian vision of healthcare looks like for each of us.

Articles referenced:

1. https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/slain-healthcare-ceos-life-airbrushed?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true

2. https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/luigi-mangione-murder-charge-unitedhealthcare-ceo-rcna183572

Books Referenced:

1. Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink

2. The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee

Everyone is talking about Wicked, and there is so much to discuss! Throughout our conversation, we discuss the themes related to politics and religion that appear throughout the film and tie them to our contemporary moment. For this episode, we were delighted to be joined by singer, actress, and activist Malynda Hale. Malynda and Julia give us an insider's perspective on the film, which you don't want to miss.