Veterans of Culture Wars

Religion News Service national reporter Jack Jenkins joins the VCW to talk about his most recent book "American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country". We contrast the religious right and the religious left and discuss progressive political movements of the last 20 years and how they surprisingly were inspired by religious faith in many cases. Buy a copy of Jack Jenkins' book right here: https://www.jackjenkins.me/american-prophets.html Check in with Jack's journalism work right here: https://www.jackjenkins.me/ Read Jack's Religion News Service articles right here: https://religionnews.com/author/jackjenkins/ Follow Jack on twitter: @jackmjenkins Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vcwpod Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

DL "DisneyLand" Mayfield (at least for the purposes of this episode) and Krispin "Krispin" Mayfield join the show to talk about Disneyland, which Zach recently visited and is very excited to discuss and use as a jumping off point for talking about embodiment, being present, time and growth, our evangelical childhoods, neurodivergent experiences, fear, high control religion, and more, but also just a lot of specific talk about Disneyland. Follow their Disneyland account on Instagram: @highly_sensitive_disney DL's Substack "Healing is My Special Interest": https://dlmayfield.substack.com/ Check out Krispin's book Attached to God: A Practical Guide to Deeper Spiritual Experience: https://www.amazon.com/Attached-God-Practical-Spiritual-Experience/dp/0310363799 Check out DL's latest book Unruly Saint: Dorothy Day's Radical Vision and its Challenge for Our Times: https://www.amazon.com/Unruly-Saint-Dorothy-Radical-Challenge/dp/1506473598/ Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vcwpod Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Author and film lover, Elijah Davidson, joins the VCW hall to share his Evangelical story and also talk about his new book "Come & See: A Christian Guide to the Greatest Films of All Time". We discuss some of these historic films and also chat about the Christian movie industry. Pick up the book right here: https://elijahdavidson.com/books/come-see/ Get portions of the book for free in your email: https://elijahdavidson.com/come-and-see/ Follow Elijah on Twitter: @elijahdavidson Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vcwpod Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Dr. Marcia Pally (author of White Evangelicals and Right-Wing Populism: How Did We Get Here?) returns to the VCW hall with her friend, Dr. Pamela Cooper- White. We discuss Dr. Cooper-White's new book, "The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In And How to Talk Across the Divide". Buy Dr. Pamela Cooper-White's book right here: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506482118/The-Psychology-of-Christian-Nationalism Follow Dr. Marcia Pally on Twitter: @marcia_pally Buy Dr. Pally's book right here: https://www.routledge.com/White-Evangelicals-and-Right-Wing-Populism-How-Did-We-Get-Here/Pally/p/book/9781032134826 Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vcwpod Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Writer, advocate and teacher Billie Hoard joins the VCW to share her story within Evangelicalism, her exit from those spaces and finding herself in a Mennonite church as an anarcho-pacifist. She also discusses coming out as trans to her family and school where she teaches. We also talk about how trans people have become targets in the ferocity of the Right's culture war. Follow Billie on Twitter: @Billieiswriting Check out Billie's blog and her writing about Preston Sprinkle's book "Embodied": http://heavenandearthquestions.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-sweetest-poisons-preston-sprinkle.html Listen to The New Evangelicals Podcast interview of Billie Hoard and Dr. Paul Hoard on disgust theology: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/133-wtf-is-disgust-theology-with-billie-and-paul-hoard/id1557794865?i=1000604934217 Mentioned on the podcast, "How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives": https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/us/politics/transgender-conservative-campaign.html Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vcwpod Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Writer and podcaster R. Scott Okamoto returns to the VCW hall to talk about his new memoir Asian-American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University (out on April 18th, 2023). He discusses the process of getting it published, responds to some of the early reviews, and we of course talk about the book itself, which chronicles his experiences and observations from a good portion of his life spent teaching English at an evangelical university. Buy the book: https://www.lakedrivebooks.com/books/asian-american-apostate/ Listen to Scott on the Chapel Probation podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chapel-probation/id1604103239 Go to Scott's website: https://www.rscottokamoto.com/ Follow Scott on Twitter: @RSokamoto Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vcwpod Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Former pastor for 15 years and former employee at Seattle's Union Gospel Mission (UGM), Kyle Reynolds comes by the VCW hall to share his Evangelical story and faith journey. We discuss how he became LGBTQ affirming as a straight pastor then talk about his work at UGM as well as the work that UGM does in Seattle. Within that work at UGM, we discuss Seattle's homelessness crisis. Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Jeff Bettger (AKA Jeff Suffering) stops by to talk about his recently reformed 1990s Tooth and Nail band Ninety Pound Wuss, as well as his time playing music and being a pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. We talk about his musical history, including Raft of Dead Monkeys, Suffering and the Hideous Thieves, and Team Strike Force, an early and very important band in the story of Mars Hill. He talks about discovering punk rock as a teenager, seeing Jesus as an anarchist, and his uncomfortable creative life as someone "too punk for the Christians and too Christian for the punks". He also talks about religious trauma and times he's experienced panic attacks as a result of his experience with Mars Hill.  Find out more about what's happening with Ninety Pound Wuss here: https://linktr.ee/ninetypoundwuss Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

Religion reporter and book author Jonathan Merritt joins the VCW to share his Evangelical story that includes the trauma of being outed in 2012. We also discuss the ethics of publicly outing people (who are harmful to the LGBTQ community), death anxiety from certain religious backgrounds, and his fascinating *newest* book "Learning to Speak God from Scratch". Buy the book here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/learning-to-speak-god-from-scratch-jonathan-merritt/1126434908#/ Connect with Jonathan Merritt: Website: https://www.jonathanmerritt.com/ Twitter: @jonathanmerritt Instagram: @jonathan_merritt Linktree: https://linktr.ee/JonathanMerritt Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm

The VCW hall was honored to host author and journalist Katherine Stewart to talk about her religious background and how she fell down the rabbit hole of covering Christian Nationalism specifically through the religious right's attempts to radically alter or eliminate public education. She also talks about being trained in journalism craft by Wayne Barrett who covered Donald Trump for years but sadly died right before his inauguration. Connect with Katherine Stewart on Twitter: @kathsstewart Get a copy of Katherine Stewart's book right here:  https://katherinestewart.me/books/the-power-worshippers/ Check out Zach's music by going to:  https://muzach.bandcamp.com Twitter: Twitter: @vcwpod Zach- @muzach Dave- @Davejlester Podcast music by Zach Malm Logo by Zach Malm