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Faithful Politics — Christianity
Faithful Politics

Dive into the profound world of Faithful Politics, a compelling podcast where the spheres of faith and politics converge in meaningful dialogues. Guided by Pastor Josh Burtram (Faithful Host) and Will Wright (Political Host), this unique platform invites listeners to delve into the complex impact of political choices on both the faithful and faithless.

Join our hosts, Josh and Will, as they engage with world-renowned experts, scholars, theologians, politicians, journalists, and ordinary folks. Their objective? To deepen our collective understanding of the intersection between faith and politics.

Faithful Politics sets itself apart by refusing to subscribe to any single political ideology or religious conviction. This approach is mirrored in the diverse backgrounds of our hosts. Will Wright, a disabled Veteran and African-Asian American, is a former atheist and a liberal progressive with a lifelong intrigue in politics. On the other hand, Josh Burtram, a Conservative Republican and devoted Pastor, brings a passion for theology that resonates throughout the discourse.

Yet, in the face of their contrasting outlooks, Josh and Will display a remarkable ability to facilitate respectful and civil dialogue on challenging topics. This opens up a space where listeners of various political and religious leanings can find value and deepen their understanding.

So, regardless if you’re a Democrat or Republican, a believer or an atheist, we assure you that Faithful Politics has insightful conversations that will appeal to you and stimulate your intellectual curiosity. Come join us in this enthralling exploration of the intricate nexus of faith and politics. Add us to your regular podcast stream and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Let’s navigate this fascinating realm together!

Not Right. Not Left. UP.

Copyright: © 2022 Faithful Politics

Latest Episodes:

Can Christians Confront Racism Without Choosing Sides? | Jonathan Tremaine Thomas Oct 13, 2026

Show notes

Can America confront its history of racism and political division without forcing everyone to choose a side?

Pastor, author, and Civil Righteousness founder Jonathan Tremaine Thomas joins Faithful Politics to discuss his book Make Straight the Path and his vision for what he calls "holy activism."

Jonathan shares how the 2014 Ferguson protests following Michael Brown's death transformed his understanding of the church's responsibility in moments of racial conflict. He explains the "radical middle," a commitment to pursuing justice and reconciliation even when it means challenging your own political community.

The conversation explores the similarities between the devotion surrounding Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Martin Luther King Jr.'s spiritual approach to nonviolent resistance, and the warning of Isaiah 58 about religious devotion without justice.

Jonathan also makes the case for an American truth and reconciliation process, drawing lessons from Rwanda, South Africa, and Canada. He explains why acknowledging historical injustice, building relationships across political divisions, and taking responsibility for repairing communities are essential to meaningful reconciliation.

BOOK

Book: Make Straight the Path
Author: Jonathan Tremaine Thomas
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781400256754

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Jonathan Tremaine Thomas is a pastor, activist, author, and executive director of Civil Righteousness, an organization focused on racial reconciliation, community renewal, and faith based engagement. His work was shaped by his experience during the 2014 Ferguson protests following the death of Michael Brown. He advocates for what he calls "holy activism," bringing spiritual conviction into efforts to address injustice and political division. His book Make Straight the Pathexplores reconciliation, the radical middle, and the responsibility of Christians to help repair divided communities.

Why Young Men and Women Are Drifting Apart | Daniel Cox Oct 10, 2026

Show notes

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Young men and women are growing apart - politically, socially, and romantically. Daniel Cox joins Faithful Politics to explain why that divide is widening and what it could mean for relationships, community, and American politics.

Cox is the director of the Survey Center on American Life and a senior fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute. His new book, Generation Uncoupled, draws on decades of polling data and more than 100 hours of interviews and focus groups.

We discuss why young women have moved left while young men have remained more politically unsettled, how abortion and Donald Trump are shaping Gen Z politics, and why young men could become a consequential voting bloc in the 2026 midterms. We also look at dating apps, online harassment, the decline of churches and other social institutions, the "friendship recession," and how social media algorithms can give men and women radically different pictures of each other.

The larger question is what happens to a society when people have fewer opportunities to actually know one another.

BOOK

Book: Generation Uncoupled: America's New Gender Divide and the Crisis of Human Connection
Author: Daniel Cox
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9780593603437

GUEST BIO

Daniel Cox is the founder and director of the Survey Center on American Life and a senior fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute. He holds a PhD from Georgetown University and has spent two decades researching American public opinion. His new book, Generation Uncoupled, examines the growing divide between young men and women through polling, interviews, and focus groups, with particular attention to politics, dating, social media, friendship, and declining social connection.

How Demons Became Political Weapons in America | Dr. Michael E. Heyes Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

For our October POV live show, Dr. Michael E. Heyes, religion professor at Lycoming College and author of Devils of Democracy, joins Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram to explore the history of demons and how beliefs about them have shaped Christianity, culture, and political movements.

We trace the evolution of demonic imagery from the Bible and early Christianity through medieval monasteries, witch trials, and the spiritualist movements of the 19th century. Heyes explains how Abraham Lincoln was accused of being influenced by demonic forces and why some Americans once associated abolitionism and women's equality with the devil.

The conversation also examines modern spiritual warfare, the New Apostolic Reformation, Bethel Church, the Seven Mountain Mandate, and the religious activity surrounding January 6.

Along the way, we explore a consequential question: What happens to democracy and civil discourse when political disagreements become battles against supernatural evil?

BOOK

Book: Devils of Democracy: America's Love Affair with Political Demons from the Revolution to Today

Author: Michael E. Heyes

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9798341900936

GUEST BIO

Dr. Michael E. Heyes is an associate professor of religion and department chair at Lycoming College. His research examines the history of demons, religious imagination, and the ways supernatural beliefs influence social and political life. He is the author of Devils of Democracy: America's Love Affair with Political Demons from the Revolution to Today, which explores how Americans have used demonic language and imagery to understand political conflict. His work connects early Christian and medieval demonology with modern American religious movements and political rhetoric.

Are Religious Voters Turning on Trump? Melissa Deckman on the 2026 Midterms Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

The religious vote is often treated as shorthand for white evangelical Christians. PRRI CEO and political scientist Melissa Deckman says that misses much of what is happening ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Deckman joins Faithful Politics to examine which religious voters may actually be moving, including white Catholics, white mainline Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, and Hispanic Protestants. She explains why immigration and the economy are affecting Hispanic religious voters, how gender is reshaping politics among Christian women, and why younger Americans are increasingly disconnected from both political parties and organized religion. melissa-josh-will

The conversation also explores Christian nationalism, Gen Z, abortion, James Talarico and the emerging visibility of progressive Christianity in Democratic politics. Deckman also explains how to read political polling without being misled by small samples, margins of error, or surveys that confirm what we already want to believe.

Book: The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy
Author: Melissa Deckman
Bookshop.org: The Politics of Gen Z on Bookshop.org

GUEST BIO

Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., is CEO of PRRI and a political scientist specializing in religion, gender, age, public opinion, and American political behavior. She previously served as the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs at Washington College and chaired its political science department. She is the author of several books, including The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy.

As Religion Declines, Why Does Politics Feel More Religious? | Hamid & Kaemingk Oct 03, 2026

Show notes

What if America’s political polarization is connected to the decline of traditional religion?
Christian theologian Matthew Kaemingk and Muslim political scientist Shadi Hamid make a provocative argument in their new book, Can Religion Save Democracy?: as religious participation has declined, Americans have increasingly looked to politics for identity, meaning, community, and even a struggle between good and evil.
We discuss Christian nationalism, secularism, political tribalism, religious certainty, pluralism, and why democracy requires people who can lose elections, live alongside deep disagreement, and resist treating political opponents as enemies who must be destroyed. The conversation also explores epistemic humility - including the Islamic tradition of saying “God only knows” - and how Christianity and Islam might provide resources for disagreement without domination.
Kaemingk and Hamid also explain why local religious communities may help develop the patience, humility, relationships, and “democratic table manners” that social media and national politics often fail to provide.
Book: Can Religion Save Democracy? How More Faith - Not Less - Can Heal Our Public Life
Authors: Matthew Kaemingk and Shadi Hamid
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781587436895
GUEST BIOS
Matthew Kaemingk is a Christian ethicist and public theologian, professor of public theology at Theological University Utrecht, and senior research fellow at Georgetown University. His work focuses on Christianity, Islam, pluralism, and public life. He co-hosts Zealots at the Gate with Shadi Hamid and co-authored Can Religion Save Democracy? Hendricks Chapel
Shadi Hamid is a political scientist, Washington Post columnist, and senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where he co-directs the Faith and Future of Democracy Initiative. His work focuses on Islam, democracy, political pluralism, and American politics. He co-hosts Zealots at the Gate and co-authored Can Religion Save Democracy?

Albert Mohler Wants a More Christian Constitution | Warren Throckmorton Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

Albert Mohler has spent decades as one of the most influential voices in conservative evangelical Christianity. Now he is arguing that America’s Constitution should explicitly acknowledge Christianity - a position Warren Throckmorton says represents a major departure from the Baptist tradition of religious liberty.
Throckmorton joins Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram to examine Mohler’s evolving views on Christian nationalism, the Constitution, religious tests, and blasphemy laws. They discuss Mohler’s proposal that the constitutional order acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ and authority of Scripture, why Throckmorton believes that conflicts with the founding-era approach to religious liberty, and how Mohler’s position differs from Christian nationalist figures such as Doug Wilson. Warren Throckmorton
The conversation also examines an important development: after criticism of his position on criminalizing blasphemy, Mohler said he had “blew it” and that theological judgments should be left to the church rather than government. He has continued, however, to defend constitutional acknowledgment of Christianity.
BOOK
Book: The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History
Author: Warren Throckmorton
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9798889835820
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Warren Throckmorton is an author and retired professor of psychology who taught at Grove City College. His recent work focuses on religion, politics, American history, and Christian nationalism. He is the author of The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History and co-author of Getting Jefferson Right. His current writing through The Throckmorton Initiative examines Christian nationalism, religious liberty, and competing claims about America's founding.

Latino Faith, Trump & Israel | Cristal Silva-McCormick & Daniel Montañez Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

Latino Christians are often discussed as a voting bloc. Rev. Dr. Cristal Silva-McCormick and Dr. Daniel Montañez explain why that misses much of what is actually happening.

Silva-McCormick, a professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary who researches Latino Christianity and Christian Zionism, and Montañez, founder and executive director of the Center for Public Theology and Migration, examine how theology, migration history, church authority, national identity, and the search for belonging shape Latino political life.

The conversation explores why some Latino Christians have supported Donald Trump, how Pentecostal and evangelical theology can influence political identity, the role churches play in attitudes toward immigration, and how Christian Zionism has spread within Latino Christian communities. They also discuss biblical interpretation, undocumented immigrants who understand their own migration through the language of sin, the difference between what is legal and what is just, and why the idea of a single "Latino vote" obscures a much more complicated reality.

GUEST BIOS

Rev. Dr. Cristal Silva-McCormick is Assistant Professor of Missions and Evangelism and Director of Latinx Studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her work examines Latino and Latin American Christianity, migration, Christian Zionism, missions, and the relationship between theology and political life. Her forthcoming book with Orbis Books develops research from interviews with Latino Christians about Israel, Palestine, faith, and solidarity.

Dr. Daniel Montañez is founder and executive director of the Center for Public Theology and Migration. His scholarship focuses on theology, ethics, migration, Latino Pentecostalism, and the experiences of undocumented pastors. He holds a PhD from Boston University School of Theology and co-edited The Church and Migration: A Theological Vision for the People of God.

How Hobby Lobby Uses Its Fortune to Shape Politics | Michael Blanding Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

Most Americans know Hobby Lobby as a craft store. Investigative journalist Michael Blanding says the bigger story is how the Green family has used the fortune behind the company to advance its understanding of the Bible in American law, culture, education, and politics.

Blanding joins Faithful Politics to discuss his new book, The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby. We trace the family’s rise from an Oklahoma craft business to the 2014 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case, which held that closely held corporations could receive protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

We also examine the Museum of the Bible, the Green family’s controversial acquisition of antiquities, relationships with conservative Christian organizations, Dominionism, Christian nationalism, and Blanding’s reporting on the museum as a gathering place for religious and political networks in Washington.

The conversation asks a larger question running through Blanding’s book: what happens when sincerely held religious convictions are backed by billions of dollars and an effort to shape a pluralistic democracy?

BOOK

Book: The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family’s Quest to Craft a Christian Nation
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781541703940

GUEST BIO

Michael Blanding is an investigative journalist and author whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Smithsonian, Slate, The Nation, and other publications. He is the author of The Map Thief, In Shakespeare’s Shadow, and The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby, which examines the Green family’s religious, cultural, and political influence. Blanding is a former senior writing fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights and a former senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism.

How America Turns Political Opponents Into Demons | Michael E. Heyes Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

What happens when your political opponent becomes more than wrong and starts to look like an agent of evil?

Religion scholar Michael E. Heyes joins Faithful Politics to trace America's long history of mixing demons with politics. From spiritualists, abolition and Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War era to Billy Graham, the Satanic Panic, modern spiritual warfare, C. Peter Wagner and the New Apostolic Reformation, Heyes shows how demonic language has repeatedly been used to explain political conflict and social change.

We also explore why conspiracy theories thrive when complicated problems are reduced to cosmic battles, how suffering can make people more susceptible to othering, and what happens when Christians begin seeing themselves as soldiers fighting human opponents on God's behalf.

The conversation ultimately raises a larger question: How do we recognize genuine evil without turning our neighbors, political opponents and fellow citizens into monsters?

BOOK

Book: Devils of Democracy: America's Love Affair with Political Demons from the Revolution to Today
https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9798341900936

The book was published September 15, 2026, by Broadleaf Books.

GUEST BIO

Michael E. Heyes is associate professor of religion and chair of the Department of Religion at Lycoming College. His research focuses on Christianity, demonology, monsters, religion and culture, including the ways ideas about demons have shaped American religious and political life. He is the author of Demons in the USA, Margaret's Monsters, and Devils of Democracy: America's Love Affair with Political Demons from the Revolution to Today. He earned his PhD in religious studies from Rice University.

Mike ter Maat’s Plan for an Independent Vice President Sep 19, 2026

Show notes

Who should choose a party’s vice presidential nominee - the presidential candidate or the delegates?
Mike ter Maat, the Libertarian Party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee, joins Faithful Politics to explain why he wants to change how the Republican Party chooses its VP candidate. ter Maat is now seeking the GOP’s 2028 vice-presidential nomination while arguing that Republican convention delegates should independently select the nominee rather than simply accepting the presidential candidate’s choice. His campaign publicly describes delegate selection of the VP nominee as its central proposal.
Josh and Mike discuss Republican convention rules, the modern vice presidency, and whether a VP with an independent political base could provide another check on concentrated presidential power. They also examine ter Maat’s move from the Libertarian Party into the Republican liberty movement, his critique of both major parties, and his broader argument that political institutions need stronger internal checks and more room for disagreement.
GUEST BIO
Mike ter Maat is an economist, former police officer, and the Libertarian Party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee. Libertarian delegates selected ter Maat as their vice-presidential nominee at the party’s May 2024 national convention, where he received a majority on the second ballot.
After the 2024 election, ter Maat moved into Republican politics and is now seeking the Republican Party’s 2028 vice-presidential nomination. His campaign is built around giving Republican convention delegates an independent role in choosing the party’s VP nominee. Earlier in his career, he worked as an economist, including at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and later spent more than 11 years in law enforcement in Broward County, Florida.

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