We want to hear from you! If you have a question you'd like us to discuss on the pod, please email us at [email protected].

There is a lot of talk about fascism in politics today, but what is fascism, and how, if at all, does it impact our faith? In this episode, Everest, Westley, and Rev. Dr. Carter discuss what fascism is, the role conservative Christianity is playing in supporting it in America, and how a progressive Christian vision of community can help us resist the lure of fascist thinking.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

1. https://newtranscendentalist.medium.com/christofascism-by-dorothee-s%C3%B6lle-633273379b68
2. https://x.com/FrankLuntz/status/1911463710029488317
3. https://hazlitt.net/longreads/death-village

We have a new email address and we want to hear from you!

If you have a question you'd love for us to discuss on the pod, please email us at [email protected].

How do you hold onto hope when everything feels like, or actually is, falling apart? Given the state of US politics and the global lurch to the political right, how, if at all, are you holding onto hope? In this episode, we begin with a conversation about the Roman Catholic conclave and share our thoughts about what we hope for in a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Then we discuss how neo-apocalyptic conservative theology reinforces a social and economic selfishness that is antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus. We end this episode discussing a progressive theology of hope and the practices we employ to cultivate hope.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

We have a new email address and we want to hear from you! If you have a question you'd love for us to discuss on the pod please email us at [email protected]. In addition to our weekly episodes, we hope to publish 1-2 short episodes per month that will be dedicated to answering listener questions about theology, politics, church, parenting, pop culture, or anything else that you'd like our opinion on.

What is a progressive Christian response to meeting the needs of intellectually disabled children? It's pretty much the opposite of what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been doing since he became the US Secretary of Heath and Human Services. In this episode we discuss what RFK Jr. has been saying about autism and vaccines and how it is contributing to a measles outbreak in Texas. We end our show responding to an email from a listener about how to talk to their parent about theology when you have very different perspectives.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

Articles referenced on the podcast

1. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/900-measles-cases-us/story?id=121156969
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0z9nmzvdlo
3. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/20/texas-measles-family-gaines-county-death/
4. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-statements-on-autism

We are entangled in systems full of wicked problems that we cannot solve on our own. For Dr. Copeland, sin is the most appropriate theological language for naming what has gone wrong in the world and for beginning to repair those wrongs, despite modern resistance to the use of sin-talk. In this episode, we discuss sin, suffering, and the problem of evil with Dr. Copeland, whose new book, Entangled Being: Unoriginal Sin and Wicked Problems offers a vision of how we might imagine and build a future where we continue to re-solve our society's most wicked problems.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

You can follow Dr. Copeland on Blue Sky @beckycopeland.bsky.social and purchase her book here: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481321426/entangled-being/

"Authoritarian parenting—especially the evangelical variety—isn't just abuse. It's training. It teaches kids that love = fear. That power = safety. That obedience is the highest virtue, and questioning authority gets you a backhand and a one-way ticket to Hell," writes journalist Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. In this episode we discuss the psychological consequences of authoritarian parenting and how it can help us understand why some can view Trumps immigration policies, lies, and his abuse of power as a type of "love."

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

Articles mentioned in this episode:

1. https://alisav.substack.com/p/are-americans-just-stupid
2. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/16/can-trump-legally-deport-us-citizens-to-el-salvador-prisons
3. Joe Rogan and Anne Coulter concerned about deportation https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/joe-rogan-ann-coulter-break-with-trump-immigration-rcna199344
4. https://theintercept.com/2020/01/09/factory-farms-california-animal-rights-criminalization/

How do progressive Christians interpret Christ's life, death, and resurection as reconciling human beings to God? What are the theological implications of conservative Christians viewing Trump as a "messiah" figure? In this episode, we discuss the historical approaches that Christians have used to interpret Jesus' role in mediating salvation for human beings. We also discuss the dangers of conflating specific political outcomes (i.e., Trump was saved from assassination due to God's providence) with theologies of salvation.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

In our polarized culture, it has become increasingly difficult to talk across political or religious differences. Yet we know that in order to get people to see the merits of—or even begin to practice—progressive Christianity, we must speak to them and invite them to do so. In this episode, we are joined by Malynda Hale to discuss her approach to talking to religious and political conservatives.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

In this pop culture minisode, Rev. Blair, Juila, and Westley discuss aspects of arts and culture rattling in their brains this week. We offer our recommendations for what to watch and listen to and close with some more serious reflection on the challenges and opportunities of being in a relationship with emerging generations.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

Links from this episode:

1. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/03/26/netflixs-adolescence-emojis-teens-parents/82650175007/
2. Doechii- Alligator Bites Never Heal https://open.spotify.com/album/60UzB8mOCMpc7xkuJE6Bwc?autoplay=true
3. https://www.newsweek.com/sesame-street-doge-funding-future-2050772

Why was Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident of the US arrested, and why has his arrest led to hundres of protests across the country? What does it have to do with Project Esther, a policy created by the Heritage Foundation (the same foundation that created Project 2025) to curb speech that critiques Isreal and the US policy on Palestinian civil rights? In today's episode, we discuss the weaponization of deportations as a tool to police speech and its relationship to Christian Nationalism.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

Links that we mention in today's episode:

1. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/11/us/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-ice-green-card-hnk/index.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
2. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/g-s1-45468/trump-antisemitism-executive-order-protests-deport-hamas
3. https://www.umnews.org/en/news/united-methodists-join-suit-against-trump-policy
4. https://zeteo.com/p/scoop-emails-show-mahmoud-khalil-ask-columbia-protection-ice?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
5. https://zeteo.com/p/marco-rubio-personally-signed-off?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
6. https://theintercept.com/2025/02/15/columbia-alumni-israel-whatsapp-deport-gaza-protesters/
7. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/11/15/project-esther-a-trumpian-blueprint-to-crush-anticolonial-resistance
8. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2ppJvVK/
9. https://bsky.app/profile/yasharali.bsky.social/post/3lkjhbpckxc2l

A significant percentage of Trump supporters are conservative Christians, and in this episode we ask - how can they support him despite all of his lies? Using Trump's joint address to Congress as a starting point, we examine the current conservative movement's moral flexibility around what is "technically true" and what "feels true." We end our conversation on a high note by discussing some good news from each podcast co-host.

The Progressive Christians Podcast is a ministry of The Loft, a worship community of Westwood United Methodist Church. If you have an idea for the show or want to connect with us, please email us at [email protected].

Books referenced: White Too Long- Robert P. Jones, Pamela Cooper-White- The Psychology of White Christian Nationalism

1. https://www.prri.org/white-too-long-the-legacy-of-white-supremacy-in-american-christianity/
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/11/trump-lying-politics-polarization/
3. Cooper-White, Pamela. "'God, Guns, and Guts': Christian Nationalism from a Psychoanalytic Perspective." Religions (Basel, Switzerland ) 14, no. 3 (2023): 292-. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030292.
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js15xgK4LIE
5. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/trump-voters-like-lying-deception-feature/
6. https://www.vox.com/2017/7/10/15928438/fact-checks-political-psychology
7. https://sites.nd.edu/truth-and-politics/donald-trump-voters-we-like-the-presidents-lies/
8. https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/03/04/facts-ignored-truth-flexible-when-falsehoods-support-political-beliefs