When people think about Religion in American Politics they often think, or hear, the term Christina Nationalism. Christian nationalism is a belief system that combines Christianity with American patriotism. It holds that the United States is a Christian nation and that its laws and policies should be based on Christian values. Christian nationalists often see themselves as defenders of traditional American values, such as family, community, and morality. There are both pros and cons to Christian nationalism. On the one hand, it can provide a sense of community and belonging for people who feel marginalized or alienated from mainstream society. It can also promote strong moral values and a commitment to helping others. On the other hand, Christian nationalism can be exclusionary and intolerant of other religions and cultures. It can also lead to political extremism and violence. Ultimately, whether or not Christian nationalism is a positive force in society depends on the specific beliefs and actions of its adherents. If Christian nationalists are able to promote their values in a way that is respectful of others, then it can be a positive force for good. However, if they become intolerant and exclusive, then it can be a destructive force. These interviews hopefully provide you with a good basis of understanding so that you can decide for yourself.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Ph.D.
Professor of History with a focus on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics
Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a New York Times bestselling author and Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today, and has been interviewed on NPR, CBS, and the BBC, among other outlets. Her most recent book is Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.
Gene Zubovich, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Department of History
Dr. Zubovich is the author of Before the Religious Right: Liberal Protestants, Human Rights, and the Polarization of the United States. He is Assistant Professor of history at the University at Buffalo, SUNY and a 2021-22 Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a historian of the modern United States and writes about the history of US and the World, religion and politics, and human rights. His writings have appeared in leading academic journals and in public-facing newspapers and magazines. He is now writing a global history of the US culture wars.
Greg Boyd, Ph.D
Theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author
Greg Boyd is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author.
He has been featured on the front page of The New York Times, The Charlie Rose Show, CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC and numerous other television and radio venues. Greg received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary (summa cum laude 1988), his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School (cum laude 1982), and his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota (1979). He was a professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) where he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.
Kate Carté, Ph.D.
Professor of History at Southern Methodist University
Kate Carté (Ph.D., history, University of Wisconsin; B.A., Haverford College) is an Associate Professor of History at Southern Methodist University, specializing in early American and Atlantic history. She is the author of Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History and Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America which was awarded the 2010 Dale W. Brown Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Her articles have appeared in the William and Mary Quarterly, Church History, and Early American Studies, as well as a variety of edited collections.
Brian T. Kaylor, Ph.D.
President of Word & Way
Brian T. Kaylor is an award-winning author and journalist. He serves as Editor & President of Word&Way (a Baptist magazine in the Midwest) and as Associate Director of Churchnet (a Baptist network in Missouri). Brian is the author of four books on religion and politics: Vote Your Principles: Party Must Not Trump Principles (Union Mound Publishing, 2016), Sacramental Politics: Religious Worship as Political Action (Peter Lang, 2015), Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in an Age of Confessional Politics(Lexington Books, 2011) and For God’s Sake, Shut Up! (Smyth & Helwys, 2007).
Stephen Wolfe, Ph.D.
Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social ThoughtChair of Religious Studies
Stephen Wolfe (PhD, Louisiana State University) is a country scholar at Wolfeshire in central North Carolina where he lives with his wife and four children. He recently finished a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Wolfe is co-host of the Ars Politica podcast and has written for Mere Orthodoxy, First Things, Chronicles Magazine, and History of Political Thought. The Case for Christian Nationalism is his first book.
André Gagné
Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia
André Gagné is Full Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia. He has a conjoint PhD from l'Université catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) and l'Université de Montréal, His teaching and scholarship focus on political theology, religious and political violence, the Christian Right, Neocharismatic-Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism, and the interpretation and reception of the Bible. Dr. Gagné's work and interviews have been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, Al-Jazeera, GQ, Salon, Mother Jones, Religion News Services, Religion Dispatches, Daily Kos.
Anthea Butler, Ph.D.
Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social ThoughtChair of Religious Studies
Anthea Butler is Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought, and chair of the department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. A historian of African American and American religion, Professor Butler’s research and writing spans African American religion and history, race, politics, Evangelicalism, gender and sexuality, media, and popular culture. Professor Butler courses include Religion from Civil Rights to Black lives Matter, Religion in the African Diaspora, God and Money, Religion and American Politics, and Ritual and Practice in Religious Studies. She is a member of the graduate group in the History department at Penn.
Katherine Stewart
Author and Investigative Reporter
Katherine Stewart is an investigative reporter and author who has covered religious liberty, politics, policy, and education for over a decade. Her latest book, THE POWER WORSHIPPERS: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, is a rare look inside the machinery of the movement that brought Donald Trump to power. Stewart’s journalism appears in the New York Times op ed, NBC, the New Republic, and the New York Review of Books. Follow her work on her website: https://katherinestewart.me
Amanda Tyler
Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), leading the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government. She is the lead organizer of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign and co-host of BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast. Tyler’s constitutional law analysis and advocacy for faith freedom for all have been featured by major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC. Religion News Service named Tyler one of “2022’s rising stars in religion,” and she regularly preaches in Baptist churches, speaks at denominational gatherings, and leads sessions on college campuses and with community groups of all sizes.
Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama and Project Director of Uncivil Religion.
Consulting Scholar at the National Museum of American History’s Center for the Understanding of Religion in American History and Project Director of Uncivil Religion.
The Uncivil Religion project traces the thread of religion that wound throughout that day through pieces of digital media. It does this in two ways. First, there is a collection of essays that analyze individual pieces of media from January 6 in order to explain the role religion played that day. Second, there is a series of galleries that contain pieces of media that represent the variety of ways religion "showed up" on January 6.