<p>Sam Kestenbaum is an award-winning freelance journalist who regularly contributes to the New York Times. He recently wrote a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/02/26/godspeak-calvary-covid-rob-mccoy/">feature</a> on Godspeak, a Calvary Chapel church in Ventura County, CA. At Godspeak, Sam writes, defiance to COVID mandates takes on a holy aura. It is the reason business is booming--attendance has tripled during the pandemic and the head pastor, Rob McCoy, is a rising star in the Right-Wing influencer world. Sam shares his experiences reporting on Godspeak and how it is a nexus for understanding what's happening in conservative churches all over the country.&nbsp;</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

<p>Brad compares the current moment to other times in American history when crisis and conflict led to a new normal. What will be our new normal after COVID? Will myth or policy drive us forward? On one hand, the Dems are tepidly putting forward legislation on COVID relief, voting rights, and protections for the LGBTQIA+ community. On the other, the GOP is driving the Big Lie forward, along with culture war items like Dr. Seuss and Potato Head. Which story--and which future--will prevail?&nbsp;</p><p>Brad and Dan also discuss how 1/6 was an inside job and an Evangelical adoption agency deciding to work with LGB families.&nbsp;</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

<p>Brad talk to Dr. Ruth Braunstein, Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, about the nostalgic myths that drive MAGA Nation. Their conversation centers on how recognizing the structure of these myths enables us to better see how Christian nationalism pervades right-wing movements that don't have any explicit religious identity markers or symbols. Think: the Proud Boys and the NRA. These groups structure their identities around a certain Christian nationalist interpretation of American history, even when they don't claim an explicitly Christian mantle.&nbsp;</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

<p><strong>Brad and Dan's interview with Reilly, Associate Pastor at Presbyterian New England Church in Saratoga Springs NY. Reilly shares how she grew up evangelical, realized she was gay right about the time she received the call to ministry, and her role as a possibility model to young people.</strong></p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

<p>Is talking about Christian nationalism akin to demonizing White Christians? Some right-wing theologians and leaders would like you to think it is. But they are wrong. We provide strategies for talking about Christian nationalism without reducing all Christian political involvement as Christian nationalism. We then continue to outline why it is essential to recognize the threat of White Christian nationalism, especially as it relates to rhetoric of war, violence, and political enemies.&nbsp;</p><p>Our second major segment investigates how the Supreme Courts' recent decision regarding church openings during COVID sets a dangerous precedent for what counts as religious liberty and religious discrimination. Dan links this to broad themes concerning healthcare and inequalities in American society.&nbsp;</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

<p><strong>Dan's 2018 interview with ethicist and former AAR president David Gushee, who left evangelicalism after changing his views of LGBTQ relationships.</strong></p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

On an episode from fall of 2018 Brad and Dan share stories from their experiences with purity culture and provide a primer on gender and sexuality in Evangelicalism. They then interview Reverend Sarah Buteux about her journey from Evangelicalism (where she was told women couldn't be pastors) to ministering at an LGBT+ affirming church. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>

<p>Monica Rodden is a novelist and ex-evangelical. She wrote this recent piece in the <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/14/opinion/would-i-have-stormed-capitol/">Boston Globe</a> about how she would have been the type of Christian to be part of the Capitol Insurrection. In her interview with Brad, she discusses the binary thinking that plagues Evangelical culture, how certainty can act as a shield from the harsh realities of the world--and why that's a bad thing--and how the Capitol Insurrection brought back all the memories of feeling hate and disrespect towards those who disagreed with her.&nbsp;</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/messageSupport this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/straightwhiteamericanjesu/support</a>