Straight White American Jesus

Brad and Dan continue to discuss what the post-Roe landscape looks like. They begin by going through a new article by Katherine Stewart and the New Republic. Stewart shows how Alito uses the argument from history to take women's rights away in the future. She compares it to the Dred Scott decision and argues that Alito smuggles in a White Christian nationalist framework into his legal opinion.Katherine Stewart's article: https://newrepublic.com/article/166404/christian-right-roe-alito-abortionThis leads to analysis of the various calls for civility when protesting the overturning of Roe. Since protesters began going to the houses of SCOTUS justices, there have been calls for civility. Brad reminds us that when those in power call for civility, they are not asking you to be good citizens, but obedient ones.Tim Alberta at the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/06/evangelical-church-pastors-political-radicalization/629631/Dan then leads the discuss through a long new article by Tim Alberta at the Atlantic on the radicalization of evangelical politics and what it looks like on the ground.The episode finishes with both hosts offering a scathing critique of a new anti-abortion oped at Newsweek.For access to the full series, click here: https://irreverent.supportingcast.fm/products/the-orange-wave-a-history-of-the-religious-right-since-1960Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/To Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/BradleyOnishi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s Part of God’s Plan”“God has a plan for your life.” “It’s all part of God’s plan.” How do we decode common religious sentiments like these? Are they sources of hope? Affirmations of a loving and caring God? Sources of solace in difficult times? They can be all of these things. But they can also have a darker side, legitimating authoritarian religious institutions and individuals. They can shut down dissent, questioning, and calls for social justice in name of existing structures of power. In this episode, Dan decodes the complex and often damaging dynamics at work in such sentiments.Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJCOrder Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the 1964 Goldwater campaign, three young men decided to start the Council for National Policy in order to take back the country for God--and themselves. They joined forces with an army of clergy, big donors, and media moguls in order to take back America. This "shadow network," as the journalist Anne Nelson calls it is the secretive, but pervasive force that has overtaken the GOP and infiltrated every level and every corner of this country's politics. Interview: Anne Nelson, author of Shadow Network, and faculty at Columbia University.Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the mid-twentieth century, evangelicals and others on the Religious Right have looked to Hollywood, rather than the Bible, to construct their visions of "cowboy masculinity." It started with John Wayne and Ronald Reagan, then moved to Mel Gibson and others. On the political side, tough guys like Barry Goldwater and Donald Trump were favored over more reflective leaders like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Conservative women, such as Phyllis Schlafly and Maribel Morgan, provided the tools to construct a corresponding submissive femininity. The militant masculinity of the Religious Right is a key component to their love for strongmen leaders, willingness to engage authoritarianism over democracy, and desire to return the country to a white Christian patriarchy. This episode features an interview with Dr. Kristin Kobes du Mez, the author of the new book: Jesus and John Wayne: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation."Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this installment of the Orange Wave: A History of the Religious Right Since 1960, Brad traces two intertwined histories. First, the Sun Belt Migration, which led to a massive westward population shift in the 1950s and 1960s. The Sunbelt Migration turned Orange County into the nation's hub of defense production. This led in turn into an evangelical wave in Southern California. He interviews Professor Gerardo Marti of Davidson College about this story. Second, Brad examines the decline of the Mainline Protestant denominations during the same time period. The breaking of their cultural and political authority opened a space for the Religious Right to rise. Brad discusses this with Dr. John Compton of Chapman University.Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some just want to watch the world burn. But for others, the end of the world is an opportunity to rebuild it in their image. On this penultimate episode, Brad explores how global kleptocrats, Donald Trump, and Christian Reconstructionists all view the end of the world as a chance for power and control. It is the simplest and scariest explanation of why the Religious Right continues to support the 45th president--they both want to destroy the world. This episode contains an interview with Prof. Julie Ingersoll, author of Building God's Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction.Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Religious Right has not always existed. White evangelicals have not always been the guardians of far-right immigration policies and patriarchal models of the family. In the 19th century, they were often progressive activists fighting for labor rights, abolition, and women's suffrage. How did they transform into the scions of Christian nationalism? Brad digs in to the history with Professor Randall Balmer of Dartmouth College on the initial episode of The Orange Wave: A History of the Religious Right Since 1960.Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you want to take the country back for God, if you want to have dominion over every level of society, if you want to ensure a white Christian patriarchy rules over the land--you have to start with the children. Christian school movements are part of the fabric of the Religious Right. On this episode, Brad examines why the Christian schooling movement--including homeschooling--took off in the 60s, how it has shed government oversight, and what effects its having on our public education system and our public square. This episode features interviews with Dr. Chrissy Stroop and Scott Okamoto.Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You might be surprised to learn that the history of sex ed in the USA is a religious history. Christians were not always the enemies of science-based sex education programs. But during the 1960s, the Religious Right began a war against comprehensive sex education. Since then, it has been able to implement abstinence-only sex ed programs through tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. Where did this war start? Who are its major players? And why are evangelicals so afraid of condoms? This episode include an interview with Dr. Kristy Slominski, Assistant Professor of Religion, Health, and Science at the University of Arizona, and the author of the forthcoming book Teaching Moral Sex: A History of Religion and Sex Education in the United States. Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early 1960s, Orange County became the hub for both white evangelical Christianity and libertarian politics. It was the epicenter of the John Birch Society and the Goldwater campaign. This history is crucial for understanding the rise of the Religious Right throughout the 80s and beyond. It was from this soil that Reagan and his evangelical coalition took over the GOP. The racism, conspiracies, and extremism of 1960s libertarian evangelicals in Southern California has remained part of the GOP and the Religious Right from Goldwater to Reagan to the Tea Party and the presidency of Donald Trump. -Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices