The Jim Wallis Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Jim Wallis, Maya Wiley, Mary McCord & Vanita Gupta on Democracy in Peril Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

In this special live episode of The Soul of the Nation with Jim Wallis, recorded September 22, 2026, at Georgetown University, Jim Wallis convenes civil-rights and democracy leaders Maya Wiley, Mary McCord, and Vanita Gupta for an urgent conversation about protecting the vote—and protecting the democracy that makes civil rights possible.

The panel confronts the legal, structural, and civic threats facing the 2026 elections: voter intimidation, disinformation, threats to election workers, attacks on voting-rights organizations, the weaponization of federal power, and fears that immigration enforcement or armed federal agents could suppress turnout. They also offer a grounded response: know your rights, vote early, support election workers, resist intimidation nonviolently, and refuse to be a bystander.

Wallis explores the essential role that faith communities can play—not as partisan actors, but as trusted, peaceful, moral presences. Through Faith United to Save Democracy, clergy and community leaders are being trained as “poll chaplains” and peacekeepers to help voters feel informed, safe, and welcome at the polls.

As Maya Wiley says, “You have power. Use it.” This is a conversation about the work of democracy, the duty to protect one another’s right to vote, and the deeper calling to build not merely a restored past, but a more just future.

Recorded live at Georgetown University’s Center on Faith + Justice

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Backslide: Robert P. Jones on White Christianity, Democracy, and Love of Neighbor Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of the The Soul of the Nation with Jim Wallis podcast, Rev. Jim Wallis talks with Robert P. Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of Backslide: Reclaiming Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy. Jones explains why the theological language of backsliding offers a powerful way to understand America’s democratic decline and the support of many white Christians for authoritarian politics, Christian nationalism, and Donald Trump.

Jones traces the history behind white Christian nationalism through his own family Bible, inherited from ancestors who took Cherokee land and enslaved Black people. He examines how white Christian identity became entangled with racial hierarchy, political power, and resistance to multiracial democracy.

Jim and Robby also discuss the difference between the older Religious Right and the New Apostolic Reformation, the role of demographic fear, the danger of government retaliation against critics, the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller, and the need for a faithful remnant committed to truth, equal dignity, pluralistic democracy, and love of neighbor.

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Unshackle Springfield: Haitian Families, Faith, and the Fight Against ICE Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Jim Wallis returns to Springfield, Ohio, to speak with Pastor Carl Ruby of Central Christian Church and Viles Dorsainvil, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center. Since the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, Haitian families in Springfield have faced fear, detention, ankle monitors, lost work authorization, and the threat of deportation to a country many fled because of violence and instability.

Pastor Carl and Viles describe a community living under intense pressure: families afraid to leave home, Haitian church members unable to worship, students unable to continue their education, and pastors detained while serving their congregations. They also share why faith, interfaith solidarity, mutual aid, and the Unshackle Springfield campaign remain sources of courage and hope.

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Ian Bassin on Defending Democracy, Truth, and Free Elections Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of the Jim Wallis Podcast, Jim Wallis talks with Ian Bassin, co-founder and executive director of Protect Democracy, about the authoritarian tactics threatening American elections and what citizens, clergy, and faith communities can do to respond. Bassin explains how the current president's strategy follows a recognizable pattern of deceive, disrupt, and deny, and why courts, local election officials, and ordinary voters remain the strongest safeguards against election interference.

Bassin also reflects on his recent speech at Washington National Cathedral, where an interfaith coalition gathered to defend democracy. He argues that faith communities have always helped societies resist the temptation to turn to strongman leaders in moments of fear and rapid change, and that pastors and clergy can preach the truth about secure elections without becoming partisan.

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Matthew Taylor Exposes the Fallacies of Christian Dominionism in the War on Iran Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

On August 26, 2026, Al-Jazeera reported Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi asserts the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen to U.S. vessels at this time, in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding executed in June by Iran and the United States.

In this replay of The Jim Wallis Podcast, visiting scholar at the Center on Faith and Justice in Georgetown University, Matthew D. Taylor joins Jim Wallis to unpack the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)—self‑styled apostles/prophets whose “spiritual warfare” and Seven Mountains Dominionism sacralize Trump and fuel war enthusiasm.

Taylor reveals how NAR sees Iran as ruled by demonic "territorial spirits" like the biblical "Prince of Persia." NAR also teaches that Christians must seize control of society's seven key areas:

1) Education,

2) Religion,

3) Family,

4) Business,

5) Government/Military,

6) Arts/Entertainment, and

7) Media.

In response, Taylor urges Jesus‑shaped resistance: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ… is not a gospel of empire."

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Rediscovering Justice: Jim Wallis at Chautauqua – Faith, Action, and the Moral Compass for Our Times Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

In the most recent Jim Wallis newsletter, God's Politics, Annie Selak, visiting scholar at the Center on Faith and Justice and author of The Wounded Church: Tending to the Harm within the Church, examines The Ethical Authority of the Church by casting sexism, racism, and clericalism as self-inflicted wounds of the church.

In tandem with the special edition of God's Politics, we are re-releasing a sermon Rev. Wallis preached in at the Chautauqua Institution. This episode, recorded during his week as Chaplain and Preacher at the historic Chautauqua Institution, explores how the teachings of Jesus offer a moral compass in times of national crisis. Drawing on powerful stories from the Senate steps and personal moments with his family, Jim unpacks foundational biblical texts—like Matthew 25 and the Good Samaritan—to challenge us to love our neighbors, defend the vulnerable, and reclaim justice as central to faith.

Don’t miss the full experience! Watch Jim’s Sunday Sermon and all his weekday sermons (Monday through Friday) on the Chautauqua Institution’s YouTube channel. Discover more about Chautauqua’s interfaith community and its commitment to dialogue, faith, and justice at chq.org.

Chautauqua Institution’s YouTube channel has a wealth of resources for lifelong learning, faith and community. Available at www.youtube.com/chautauquainstitution/join (to join the monthly membership to watch programs for as little as $2.99/month) or watch their complimentary programs by browsing their channel at www.youtube.com/chautauquainstitution

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A Just, Equitable, and Democratic Future Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

Jim Simpson, writing in the Jim Wallis newsletter God's Politics, draws clear parallels from the genesis of Jim’s activism chronicled in the 1971 essay Post-American Christianity to the threat we face today under the Trump regime:

Jim names some of the major challenges facing the contemporary society moment: racism, materialism and consumerism, economic inequality, mistrust in corrupt institutions and systems, unjust and destructive war, a culture devoid of connection and focused on hollow success, and an anemic, captured Christianity.

It reads eerily similar to what we are still experiencing now our current moment. Though I would contend that the version of these threats we face today are, in many ways, even greater than those in the early 1970s.

In this timely replay recorded immediately after the re-election of Donald Trump in November of 2024, Jim calls for hope, which he considers a choice that we have the power and authority to make. Wallis counsels that it is appropriate and healing to feel grief and to lament where we find ourselves as a nation. But he warns against falling into despair.

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Faithful Peacemaking in Turbulent Times: Jim Wallis with Jennifer Walker Thomas Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

While Rev. Jim Wallis is on sabbatical, his colleague Dr. Kathleen Bonnette has authored a Substack column in his stead entitled, Beyond Patriarchy as part of the Post-Christianity America series. <LINK> To complement that essay, we are offering a replay of the podcast interview Jim conducted with Jennifer Walker Thomas, the co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, a faith-based community of women committed to peaceful civic engagement and the pursuit of just ethical leadership.

Jennifer Walker Thomas, who is also the co-host of the Proclaim Peace podcast, explores how faith communities can actively resist political violence and promote ethical leadership amid division.

Following a tragic mass shooting at a Michigan Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jennifer shares powerful stories of empathy, outreach, and nonpartisan moral advocacy among Mormon women and discusses the urgent need for faith-driven action that transcends party lines.

Join Jim and Jennifer for an honest, hopeful conversation on peacemaking, spiritual resilience, and the essential role of faith in advancing justice and healing in today’s polarized America.

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Faithful Economic Organizing Cuts Off Funding of ICE Detention Center Construction Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Reverend John Edgerton of Old South Church in Boston explains the campaign to divest from Citizens Bank and resist the presence of ICE in local communities. Edgerton shares how the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization used pledged deposits, disciplined strategy, and public actions to challenge Citizens Bank’s financing of CoreCivic and GEO Group, two private prison companies that operate immigration detention centers.

The conversation explores how congregations, municipalities, and coalitions can cut a problem down to size, organize people and money, and act in line with biblical teachings about caring for the vulnerable. Edgerton draws on Numbers 27 and the daughters of Zelophehad, street protests, and labor organizing to show how faith communities can structure public life to protect immigrant neighbors rather than profit from their detention.

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Sen. Tim Kaine on Faith-Forward Politics, Democracy, and Standing Up to Authoritarianism Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

Senator Tim Kaine discusses what it means to be a faith-forward Democrat in a political moment when more Democrats are openly reclaiming religion as part of their public witness. Kaine reflects on Jesuit formation, Catholic faith, and his Honduras experience that shaped his vocation. He explains how those commitments influence his work on immigration, civil rights, war powers, tariffs, and the defense of democracy.

The conversation also explores why public faith matters now, how Democrats can speak about motivation without imposing belief, and why standing up to authoritarianism requires courage, character, and active citizenship. Jim and Kaine discuss specific examples of faith in action, including Kaine’s Senate speech in Spanish on immigration reform, his War Powers Resolution on Iran, and his argument that defending democracy takes more than just voting.

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