The Progressive Christians Podcast

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

Failing to bother to love is the scriptural concept of sin Jesus teaches in the gospels. In this episode, we build on this concept of sin and discuss why moral injury can make it difficult for progressive Christians to talk about sin constructively. We then discuss our theology of sin in light of President Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the defunding of USAID.

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 to articles and books we discussed on this episode:

1. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/03/politics/usaid-reinstates-contracts-for-georgia-company/index.html

2. https://apnews.com/article/usaid-cuts-hunger-sickness-288b1d3f80d85ad749a6d758a778a5b2

3. https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481321426/entangled-being/

4. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675683/poverty-by-america-by-matthew-desmond/

Christians should not believe in the bible, they should believe in the living God attested by the bible.

This statement used to be reflect an orthodox (i.e., traditional) approach to the bible, but now belief in the bible is often a litmus text for how serious a Christians faith is. In this episode, we describe some of the problematic approaches to the bible, notably the biblicist approach and the belief that the bible is inerrant. We then describe a progressive Christian's approach to the bible and the importance of reclaiming the bible from those who use it as a bludgeon to harm others.

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].

Can you be queer and Christian? Does gender and sexuality even matter with respect to your theological beliefs? In today's episode we address the surprisingly recent disagreement about whether Christianity can accept the full participation of persons in same-sex relationships and persons whose gender identity does not match the one assigned at birth by medical authorities. We were grateful to be joined by special guest Everest Harvey. If you'd like to connect with Everest about starting a Queer Group at your place of worship, please email them at [email protected].

Links we mentioned in this episode

1. https://www.umc.org/en/content/the-malevolent-seven
2. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thegodarticle/2011/10/clobbering-biblical-gay-bashing/
3. https://www.1946themovie.com/

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 today's episode we discuss the dangerous and inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants under the Trump administration. We were grateful to be joined by the Rev. Dr. Britta Meiers Carlson, whose research focuses on the church's engagement with the US immigration system.

Rev. Dr. Meiers Carlson is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Practical Theology at the University of the South and an ordained pastor within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Links mentioned in this episode:

1. https://afsc.org/tag/sanctuary-everywhere?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8Lu9BhA8EiwAag16by4gqSzBGfGBL57eN8VK3eSC_NtdZH4X0F34E6kcQgCAyEbcU50fZhoC_nMQAvD_BwE

2. https://www.dukeupress.edu/sanctuary-everywhere

3. https://uncpress.org/book/9781469621814/the-civil-war-as-a-theological-crisis/

At the National Prayer Breakfast President Trump announced that he was creating a task force to "eradicate anti-Christian bias" in the government and in institutions that receive federal funding. In this episode we discuss Trump's remarks during the prayer breakfast and the eradicating anti-Christian bias executive order.

Surprise bonus episode! There is a lot going on right now that deserves our attention, and we can't get through it all in a one-hour podcast. For the next few weeks, we will be dropping a few bonus episodes to keep up with the news!

Links mentioned in the podcast:

1. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/g-s1-48184/27-religious-groups-sue-administration-over-immigration-enforcement-policy

2. https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/02/remarks-by-president-trump-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast/

3. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/

4. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-eradicates-anti-christian-bias/

5. https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/trumps-task-force-to-eradicate-anti