Straight White American Jesus

Latest Episodes:

It's In the Code Ep. 92: "A Biblical House of Cards" Mar 27, 2024

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Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/

In this final episode exploring the idea that the Bible is without error, that it is “inerrant,” Dan looks at what happens if this doctrine is abandoned. The doctrine of inerrancy appears as a key foundation supporting high-control religion’s house of cards. When that foundation is removed, that house collapses, paving the way for communities where disagreement and dissent are affirmed as valuable faith dimensions. Inerrancy is bad theology, and like all bad theology, it has the potential to hurt people. Check out this week’s episode to learn more.

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John Birch Society x Today's GOP Mar 25, 2024

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At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Matthew Dallek reveals, the Birch Society’s extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life. Conservative leaders recognized that these affluent voters were needed to win elections, and for decades the GOP courted Birchers and their extremist successors. The far right steadily gained power, finally toppling the Republican establishment and electing Donald Trump.

Buy Birchers here: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-books-for-2024

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Weekly Roundup: "Some Migrants Aren't Human" Says GOP Frontrunner Mar 22, 2024

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Brad and Dan begin by discussing a terrifying law in Texas that would allow law enforcement to detain people based on any suspicion of them being undocumented. This is frightening in itself, but even more so that the presumptive GOP nominee for president recently said some migrants aren't "human."

In the second segment the hosts break down new research from Dr. Paul Djupe on how those who refute the Christian nationalist label identify Christian nationalism as the phenomenon that will save the country. In other words, they refuse to be labeled Christian nationalists while expressing the idea that Christian nationalism is the greatest hope for the country.

Read it here: https://religioninpublic.blog/2024/03/18/christian-nationalism-is-both-smear-and-savior-to-many-christians/

In the final segment, Brad responds to criticisms of his Politico article where he points out that the idea of human life beginning at conception is not a settled matter in the history of Christian doctrine.

Read it here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/21/life-conception-christian-theology-00147804

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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It's In the Code Ep. 91: "So Much for the Holy Spirit" Mar 20, 2024

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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/

High control Christian communities often claim that the Bible is without error, that its teachings are absolute, and that if we read our Bibles we can learn about God for ourselves. But is that how it really works? What if, instead, claims that the Bible speaks with “inerrant” authority are actually mechanisms of religious control and coercion? What if those claims really boil down to the insistence that the teaching of pastors and other church leaders are absolute or beyond question? Dan dives into these themes in this week’s episode, and shows why claims that the Bible is inerrant are a powerful mechanism to control and coerce members of religious communities.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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The Wannabe Warlord Leading the US Into Christendom + Bonus Content Mar 18, 2024

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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/

Brad goes into a deep dive into Charles Haywood, the self-proclaimed "warlord" who is using his fortune to lead the United States into a medieval Christian oligarchy. Haywood started the Society for American Civic Renewal, which Brad and Dan talked about last Friday. SACR, as it is known, is a secretive male-only group of White Christian men who want to renew American society by returning it to a medieval form of virtue and governance. These are men of influence - with millions to spend and a raging resentment about having their country taken from them by those "who don't deserve it."

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Weekly Roundup: The Secretive Christian Nationalist Fraternal Order Planning American Domination Mar 16, 2024

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Brad and Dan break down the revelations surrounding the Society for American Renewal, which according to the Guardian is "an exclusive, men-only fraternal order which aims to replace the US government with an authoritarian “aligned regime”, and which experts say is rooted in extreme Christian nationalism and religious autocracy. It includes Harvard grads, millionaire industrialists, the president of the Claremont Institute, financiers, and other upper-crust right-wing men (and they are all men).

In the second segment, they turn to more toxic masculine Christianity in the form of a call for violence and spiritual warfare from Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers - an abortion abolitionist who is trying to outlaw pornography.

To finish the episode, the hosts discuss the tragic news about Nex Benedict's death - the non-binary teenager who died by suicide after bullying at school.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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It's in the Code Ep. 90: "Direct Relationship with God" Mar 13, 2024

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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/

One of the effects and purposes of the doctrine that the Bible is “without error” is to provide assurance that when we read it, we have unmediated access to divine teachings. But do we? Can the Bible provide the kind of “immediate” access to God this doctrine promises? In this week’s episode, Dan talks about why this isn’t possible, highlights some of the intermediaries that intervene between readers and their Bibles, and discusses what’s at risk if we don’t recognize this.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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The Age of Insurrection w/ David Neiwert Mar 11, 2024

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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/

From a smattering of ominous right-wing compounds in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s, to the shocking January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, America has seen the culmination of a long-building war on democracy being waged by a fundamentally violent and antidemocratic far-right movement that unironically calls itself the “Patriot” movement.

So how did we get here? Award-winning journalist David Neiwert — who been following the rise of these extremist groups since the late 1970s, when he was a young reporter in Idaho — explores how the movement was built over decades, how it was set aflame by Donald Trump and his cohorts, and how it will continue to attack American democracy for the foreseeable future.

Buy the Age of Insurrection on the SWAJ Bookshop List: https://bookshop.org/lists/swaj-books-for-2024/edit

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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Weekly Roundup: State of Disunion - Contraceptive Nationalism and the Innocent White Christian Woman Mar 09, 2024

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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/

Brad and Dan begin by discussing the State of the Union speech by Pres. Joe Biden and the GOP response by Sen. Katie Britt (AL). They analyze the theatrics of the civic ritual - and how the chamber has turned into something more like the comments section on a YouTube video than a stately affair where all three of our branches of government gather. Brad draws on the work of Sara Moslener and Megan Goodwin to explain how Britt's response was a manifestation of the innocent White women myth and a form of contraceptive nationalism.

In the second segment, Dan breaks down new data from PRRI on Christian nationalism. The two hosts explain how and why White Christian nationalists differ from their Black and Hispanic counterparts.

Subscribe to Pure White by Sara Moslener: www.axismundi.us

Buy Abusing Religion by Megan Goodwin: https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/abusing-religion/9781978807785/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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It's In the Code Ep. 89: "Believe It Or Not" Mar 07, 2024

Show notes

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/

When someone says they “believe” that the Bible is “inerrant” (without error), what do they mean? What does it mean to “believe” something in this way? Is believing the Bible is without error the same thing as “believing” that there are 24 hours in the day or that we perceive the sun to rise in the east? Are there different ways of “believing”? In this episode, Dan argues that there ARE different ways of believing, and that understanding this is vital for understanding claims about the authority of the Bible and, even more importantly, for understanding why such claims are powerful tools for coercion and social control.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163

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