Where is the Religious Left? Dissecting the American Theocracy.

Since the Civil War, white Christians in this country have swung wildly between advancing a social doctrine of equality and promoting outright racism, nationalism and hatred of the poor. Since the Eisenhower years, however, Christians of all stripes have decidedly split along similar fault lines to our politics. While secularists and the so-called religious left represent the majority of Americans, the fervent white Christian nationalist wing of the country seems to be fully in control of the national agenda. We invited Brad Onishi from the Straight White American Jesus podcast to help us unpack the divide between the religious right and left in the United States. 

Chapters

A note about our episode collaborator: 00:00:08

Intro: 00:01:04

Chapter One. Framing the Inquiry: Capitalism as Religion: 00:06:16

Brad One: 00:15:34

Chapter Two: Thou Shalt Not Feed the Poor: 00:20:56

Chapter Three: White, Right and Organized as Fuck: 00:30:12

Brad Two: 00:37:17

Chapter Four: Splintering Alliances: 00:39:21

Brad Three: 00:41:25

Chapter Five: Bring it home, Brad and Max. But mostly Brad: 00:46:19

Brad Four: 00:46:44

Brad Five: 00:49:50

Post Show Musings: 00:57:33

Outro: 01:09:13

Resources

PBS: God in the White House

PRRI: The American Religious Landscape in 2020

Pew Research Center: Republicans account for a small but steady share of U.S. Muslims

Pew Research Center: U.S. Jews’ political views

Pew Research Center: Party affiliation among Hindus

Pew Research Center: Party affiliation among Buddhists

Pew Research Center: Party affiliation among atheists

The New Republic: Whither the Religious Left?

UNFTR Episode Resources

Capitalism.

The Prosperity Doctrine. 

F*ck Milton Friedman.

Book Love

Terrence L. Johnson + Jacques Berlinerblau: Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue

Jeff Sharlet: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power to Collections

Benjamin M. Friedman: Religion and Capitalism

Kevin Kruse: One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States

Pod Love

Straight White American Jesus

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