Depolarize! Podcast

Latest Episodes:

*Simply Listening* to Christians of Color Apr 30, 2018

Show notes

We're back to our voters this week, introducing five new voices. But this episode is also different: no reaction commentary from Dan & Ellen, and only minimal narration from Dan for context. Rather, we are going to practice the discipline of *simply listening* to the stories of these Christians, who happen to have been born to parents who are not both of Caucasian descent.
Timeline:
4:01- Meet our voters
4:58- "...Like a shirt that is ill-fitting": Their stories
21:03- "The ROOT and the FRUIT": The history of the Municipal Police Departments
31:23- How does Jesus speak into all of this?
36:32- "How many African Americans listen to Hillsong?": The overlap of racial tension and church life
46:02- Do you consider yourself Evangelical?
53:55- "Dumb white-boy question"
Justin Giboney's Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-church-politics-podcast/id1289898626?mt=2
The & Campaign: http://theandcampaign.com/
Jemar's Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pass-the-mic/id766830494?mt=2
The Witness: https://thewitnessbcc.com/
Depolarize! is produced by Dan Koch & mixed by Chris Keene
Support the show financially & receive bonus content: patreon.com/depolarize
depolarizepodcast.com
depolarizepodcast (at) gmail

Get Off Social Media? Apr 23, 2018

Show notes

Zombies? The Rapture? A country song *about* the Rapture? Check, check, and check. This week, Dan & Ellen take a break from voter-based episodes to discuss some more personal matters: anxiety and social media use, both of which are related to various forms of polarization in our current cultural landscape. Along with some of Dan's story/struggle with both of these, they hear from Dr. Donna Freitas and Jason Brooks about 1) what is going on our brains as we use social media, and 2) how college students use and think about social media.
Timeline:
2:25- "It's your podcast; I'm just here for the wine": Dan's anxiety-timeline
5:00- "A contentious relationship with thunder"
6:30- Zombies?
10:00- "96 problems, but the end times ain't one": Existential dread in Dan's 6th-grade mind
17:56- "The Mark of the Beach": How Florida and the Antichrist became Dan's anziety triggers
22:42- "The worst version of me. The best of everyone else." Anxiety and social media
35:37- "Basically: Drugs": Dopamine, isolation, social media, and the loss of a "third space"
52:58- Getting back to the real world
1:02:10- Recap/ We'll see you next time "...in the rapture"
Anxiety and social media:
http://www.health.com/depression/multiple-social-media-sites-depression-anxiety
http://www.health.com/depression/could-lots-of-time-spent-on-social-media-be-tied-to-depression
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-we-worry/201612/social-media-loneliness-and-anxiety-in-young-people
Andrew Sullivan:
http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/09/andrew-sullivan-my-distraction-sickness-and-yours.html
Dr. Freitas:
https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Effect-Driving-Generation-Perfect/dp/0190239859
Support the show financially & receive bonus content: patreon.com/depolarize
depolarizepodcast.com
depolarizepodcast (at) gmail

White Evangelical Trump Supporters, Pt 2 Apr 16, 2018

Show notes

Dan & Ellen continue their interviews of White Evangelical Trump voters. This episode is best listened to after Part 1. Timeline: 3:16- How political is your church environment? 5:05- “Information super MYway”: News sources and accepted bias 12:10- Is Donald Trump a Christian? 19:05- “Grab ’em by the statute of limitations”: The Access Hollywood tapes … Continue reading White Evangelical Trump Supporters, Pt 2 →

White Evangelical Trump Supporters, Pt 1 Apr 09, 2018

Show notes

The first of two episodes centered on interviews with 10 White Evangelical Trump voters. Timeline: 0:00- Intro/”Family Therapist Soapbox Time” 10:00- Why did you vote for Donald Trump? 13:40- How central was abortion to your vote for Trump? 15:00- “Ellen Mauro: Abortion Maniac”: Polling data and the importance of abortion in the 2016 election. 24:07- … Continue reading White Evangelical Trump Supporters, Pt 1 →

Is That “81%” Statistic Reliable? A Closer Look at Evangelicals Apr 02, 2018

Show notes

Ellen and Dan speak with journalists & polling experts — Roxanne Stone of BARNA Group, Jon Ward of Yahoo! News and Robert P. Jones of Public Religion Research Institute — to wrap their heads around that infamous statistic (81% of white Evangelicals voting for Trump), understand what it means, and to dig deeper both into … Continue reading Is That “81%” Statistic Reliable? A Closer Look at Evangelicals →

White Evangelicals Who Don’t Support Trump, Pt 2 Mar 26, 2018

Show notes

Dan & Ellen continue their interviews of White Evangelicals who did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. This episode is best listened to after Part 1. Timeline: 0:00- Intro/Recap 2:42- Why did you NOT vote for Trump? 8:02- Did you ever consider voting for Trump? 8:40- Did you even give him a … Continue reading White Evangelicals Who Don’t Support Trump, Pt 2 →

White Evangelicals Who Don’t Support Trump, Pt 1 Mar 18, 2018

Show notes

In the Season 2 premiere, Dan Koch and Ellen Mauro interview 6 White Evangelical Christians, none of whom voted for nor actively support Donald Trump. These voters are a partial sample of the other side of White Evangelicals, who infamously voted for Trump at an 81% rate in 2016; these, you might say, are the other 19%. Episode timeline:
0:00 - Intro & Season 2 Preview
05:42 - Meet our Voters
08:40 - Pro Life? Whole Life?
16:15 - Are they really Christians?
18:45 - Are their churches overtly political?
22:30 - Do they understand Jesus and politics differently?
31:15 - Dan feels "convicted"
34:30 - What do they love about America?
43:15 - How it feels to be in the minority
48:00 - What they wish Trump-supporting Christians understood about them.
depolarizepodcast.com
patreon.com/depolarize
dankochwords.com

Introducing Ellen Mauro (My New Co-Host!) Mar 11, 2018

Show notes

Ellen will be joining Depolarize for Season 2, which begins next week. We hear about her background, political and psychological areas of interest, and we laugh a lot, because Ellen is very funny.

42: LIVE! White Evangelicalism Today with Jonathan Merritt Feb 18, 2018

Show notes

The final episode before Depolarize enters Season 2! Dan chats live at the BadChristian Conference in Nashville, TN, with author and journalist Jonathan Merritt (The Atlantic, WaPo, Religion News Service, The Week) about the state of White Evangelicalism in America today.

Dan on “Break It Down” — Charlottesville, Why People Leave the Church Aug 17, 2017

Show notes

Dan stopped by the studio for "Break It Down with Matt Carter" to talk about taking a break from social media/Depolarize, recent events in Virginia, and what he has been thinking about and working on this past summer.

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