Our nation's Founders knew something that we have since forgotten: that such a republic as ours was designed to work only for a "moral" and religious people. While maintaining the necessity of the separation of church and state, they still expected the church to do its job to teach civility, toleration, cooperation and compromise, qualities that are indispensable in a liberal democracy but sadly lacking in today's political landscape. Award-winning author and journalist Jonathan Rauch, who is a secular Jew and atheist, joins us to talk about why the church must return to the teachings of Jesus if we want to save our republic.

Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute, as well as a contributing editor at The Atlantic. He is the author of many books, including The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better after 50 (2018), Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working (2000), Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (2013), and most recently Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (2025). In addition to writing on public policy, he has authored research on a wide variety of topics, from gay marriage to agriculture, and economics to animal rights. Check out his webpage at https://www.brookings.edu/people/jonathan-rauch/

Like everything else in our culture these days, history, too, has become politicized. There is a movement among the far right to rewrite the history of slavery in America or else to silence the historical witnesses. Anyone doing genealogical research into enslaved ancestors also knows that U.S. census records before the Civil War never gave names to slaves, thus dehumanizing enslaved people in an effort to justify a brutal system. One public library in North Carolina is trying to shine light on that history, giving access to records never before made public and helping Americans connect with their enslaved ancestors--by name. It's called the "Named and Known Project," and its director, Marcia Phillips is with us. She is an historian, author, and director of the History Room in the Davie County Public Library, Davie County, NC. Her books include Davie County Mavericks and Historic Shallow Ford in Yadkin Valley.

October 8, 2025 Show

Speaking Truth to Power

Many people today mistrust the church because so often in its history it has allied itself with secular power. But there is another, more heroic story of Christian individuals who have from time to time stood up and spoken truth to power. Tonight we're going to talk about speaking truth to power, both the courage and the cost, and what it means to follow a God of truth. We have with us Sister Vassa Larin, a Russian Orthodox nun, who was recently stripped of her monastic vows because she dared to speak out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She has since been welcomed into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Sister Vassa Larin is an Orthodox Christian ryassofor nun, as well as a liturgiologist and Professor of Practical Theology of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy. She is the author of many scholarly articles, as well as a monograph on Byzantine Hierarchical Liturgy, and other books such as Reflections with Morning Coffee, Lent with Sister Vassa, A Healthy Fast Lenten Guidebook, and, most recently, Praying in Time. The Hours & Days in Step with Orthodox Christian Tradition. Her online-mission includes weekly audio-podcasts called "Monday Morning Coffee" (https://www.coffeewithsistervassa.com/), a video-course on Divine Liturgy (available on YouTube), and other YouTube videos on Orthodox Theology, Tradition, and contemporary church-canonical issues.

August 2025-08-13 Show

July 9, 2025 Show

Mr. Narcissist Goes to Washington: Narcissism in the Home and in the Public Arena

Narcissism and narcissistic personalities are words that have been much in the forefront of public discussion in recent years, especially as they relate to authoritarian government and one political figure in particular, you guessed it, Donald Trump. Here to discuss narcissism, as it manifests in both families and in the political arena, is psychologist Dr. Jocelyn Sze.

Jocelyn Sze, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at University of California, Berkeley. She specializes in CBT and EMDR for trauma and anxiety and is passionate about providing clinical training in culturally responsive evidence-based psychotherapy. Her work has been published in academic journals such as Emotion and Psychophysiology, as well as publications such as Newsweek and The Huffington Post. She is currently working on a book on emotional control in families and governments. She serves on the board of Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinical Services, a nonprofit advancing trauma-focused training, research, and treatment, as well as the McCune Foundation, which supports grassroots organizations that mobilize historically excluded populations. Website: www.cbtsanfrancisco.com 

Read her recent article in the Huffington Post:

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/psychologist-how-to-stop-trump-narcissist_n_682df1cae4b09b7e5013a586

June 11, 2025 Show

When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

The word megafire is a recently coined term for massive wildfires that behave in ways that would have seemed impossible only 20 yrs ago. Within that time 18 of the largest wildfires in California history have occurred, burning thru winter, exploding at night, destroying vast tracts of land and ancient trees, like the sequoia, which for thousands of years has been thought to be resistant to fire. While the role of climate change in this crisis is undeniable, there are also other cultural and historical factors, such as capitalism, colonialism, and racism, that have brought us to this point.

Our guest Jordan Thomas shares how when Europeans first came to the New World, they described it as an "untouched landscape," as if "newly created." In reality, all the lush vegetation, abundant, fruited plains, and forests filled with game were the result of tens of thousands of years of careful management, and fire had been the means of shaping that landscape. As one anthropologist states, the people of the Central California coast "used fire as effectively as Europeans used plows." Listen to learn more.

Jordan Thomas is an anthropologist and former Los Padres Hotshot wildland firefighter. His work has appeared in publications including The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and The Drift. He is the author of the recently released book When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World. Checkout his website at https://whenitallburns.com/

May 14, 2025 Show

How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism

Fascism and the far right have been much in the news of late, as the US grapples with perhaps the greatest threat to our democracy ever encountered in our history. Fascism is a word much misunderstood and misused. What is it and what is it not? And how do we keep young men from being recruited?

Dr. Craig A. Johnson, PhD is an independent journalist and academic and host of the popular podcast 15 Minutes of Fascism, covering the global rise of the radical right. He received his PhD in History from the University of California, Berkley and he is the author of the new book How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism (Routledge, 2025), a guide for parents and educators on keeping young men out of the extreme right wing.

April 9, 2025 Show

A Long Repentance: Exploring Christian Mistakes about Race, Politics, and Justice in the United States.

The issue of race has had a long and destructive path in American history, It was there from the beginning and it continues to bear its ugly fruit today. But most of us are unaware that the idea of race began not only as an outgrowth of European capitalism, but as a Christian heresy, a distortion of Christianity. On this month's show I talk to Mako Nagasawa about Part One of his course, "A Long Repentance," offered this Spring. This and other great courses are available free to the public on the website www.anastasiscenter.org.

Mako Nagasawa is the founder and director of the Anastasis Center in Boston, MA, which offers online courses and guides for group and self study on Jesus' restorative justice and healing atonement. He is also the author of Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States (2021). and Christmas with Ireneus: How Jesus's Incarnation Honors Creation, the Human Body and Human Story (2023).

February 12, 2025 Show

Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy

Last month an administration was inaugurated that now threatens the very fabric of our democracy and rule of law. How did this happen? How did we get here? And what's more, what can we do to push back against the forces of greed and authoritarianism that threaten to undo us? Investigative journalist Katherine Stewart is the author of the best-selling The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, which formed the basis of the Rob Reiner documentary God and Country released last year. Her work has appeared in the NY Times, Washington Post, the New Republic, and the Guardian, and she has appeared on news programs such as MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. Her most recent book is MONEY, LIES, AND GOD: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. We'll get a sneak peak in this interview. You can also check out her website at https://bsky.app/profile/katherinestewart.bsky.social

January 8, 2025 Show

The Presidents and the People: 5 Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.

The recent election of an unabashed fascist and white supremacist to the Presidency has constitutional scholars wringing their hands. Have we ever before faced such a threat to our democracy and the rule of law? Actually, yes, we have. Here to talk about that question is Dr. Corey Brettschneider, who teaches political science and constitutional law at Brown University. He is the author of the recent best-selling book The Presidents and the People: 5 Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It. (Click title for link.) In this book, Dr. Brettschneider injects hope into our current dire situation by describing 5 U.S. Presidents who created a constitutional crisis and the sometimes ordinary American citizens who fought them and eventually won by standing up for the Constitution.

May 10, 2023 Show

Parenting and Climate Change: Being a Good Parent in a Changing World

Dr. Elizabeth Cripps, PhD.

Many climate deniers consider global warming or climate change to be merely an issue that affects polar bears and penguins. However, with alarming extinction rates, catastrophic fires, floods and hurricanes, it is already clear that our children and grandchildren will be living in a world substantially different from what we are used to, a world that will challenge or even threaten the very existence of our species. Will our children be able to survive in such a world? What does it mean to be a "good parent," especially as we face so many threats, such as global warming, institutionalized injustice, and war? What kind of future are we building for our children?

Dr. Elizabeth Cripps, PhD, is a writer, philosopher, mother and activist, and senior lecturer in political theory at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She is the author of popular philosophy books such as What Climate Justice Means & Why We Should Care, and her most recent book Parenting on Earth: A Philosopher's Guide to Doing Right by Your Kids and Everyone Else.

Kristen A. Jenson

How to Keep Our Kids Safe from Internet Porn

As with so many areas of digital media, new technology continues to develop faster than our society’s ability to cope with it. This is certainly true with the area of internet pornography. It is estimated that the average person is bombarded with at least ten thousand digital images every day, many of them inappropriate, making our children extremely vulnerable-- and often purposely targeted by the porn industry.

Kristen A. Jenson is the author of the #1 bestselling Good Pictures Bad Pictures series of read-aloud books for parents and children, which has been translated into ten languages. She is executive producer of the Brain Defense: Digital Safety® curriculum, CEO of Glen Cove Press LLC, and founder of the website www.DefendYoungMinds.com . Check out her websites:

Website/Books: www.defendyoungminds.com/books
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DefendYM/
Instagram: @defendyoungminds
Twitter: @defendYM

Dr. Chawkat Moucarry

Islam on Trial

With increasing globalization Islam has become a "religion in crisis," confronting the extremes of Islamism and secularization. Faced with an often forced encounter with the West, economically, culturally, and religiously, Islam now faces fundamental questions about its very nature as a religion and its future relationship with the West.

Dr. Chawkat Moucarry was born in Aleppo, Syria to a Roman Catholic home, and later moved to France, where he received his MA in Christian Theology and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Sorbonne University in Paris. He has written several books about Islam and the interface between Islam and Christianity. His most recent book is Islam on Trial: Globalization, Islamism, and Christianity.

Jonny Rashid

September 14, 2022 Show

Bev Sellars

They Called Me Number One: The Horrors of Native American Residential Schools

In recent years stories have arisen in the US and Canadian media describing generations of horrendous physical, verbal and sexual abuse suffered by First Nations or Native American children in church-run government-sanctioned residential schools. Often white Americans or Canadians get the impression that these are old stories just come to light, when actually they are deep traumas endured by generations of Native Americans. Although it was news to us, it was never news to them. But it has left us wondering how this could have happened and how did the church come to have such a prominent role in such a historical nightmare. Stories have created such a public outcry that Pope Francis earlier this year visited Canada to issue an apology of sorts for the church's failure to protect these children. Bev Sellars is a former Chief of the Xatsu'll (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, British Columbia. She holds a degree in history from the University of Victoria and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She has been an outspoken activist on behalf of her own and other First Nations and has served as an advisor to the British Columbia Treaty Commission. She is also the celebrated author of the best-selling book /They Called Me Number One /(2013)/, /a memoir of her childhood years spent at a Canadian Indian residential school.

August 10, 2022 Show

Rev. Dr. John Dickson

Wrestling with Good and Evil: an Honest History of the Church
It's no secret that the Christian Church has had a checkered past: from the Crusades to the Inquisition, its complicity with Colonialism and even slavery, racism and sexual abuse, Christianity often gets a bad rap-- and rightly so. But have there been brighter moments when the Church has seemed to grasp what it was established to do? John Dickson, author of Bullies and Saints (2021), helps us take an honest and balanced look at Church history, all in an effort to understand what Christianity has been and what it was meant to be.

The Rev. Dr. John Dickson is a well-known Australian author, scholar, and speaker, whose work focuses on the intersection of ancient and medieval history, religion, ministry, and media. He has published more than 20 books and three television documentaries and was Senior Minister of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Roseville, from 2010–2019 and founding director of the Centre for Public Christianity from 2007–2018. His academic appointments include Distinguished Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Public Christianity at Ridley College (Melbourne), Lecturer and Research Associate in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University (Sydney), and Visiting Academic in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford. He is also the founder and continuing director of Undeceptions, an organization that seeks to promote truth and deep Christian thought in skeptical times. The Undeceptions podcast is Australia’s most-downloaded religion podcast and enjoys a growing international audience.

July 13, 2022 Show

Mako Nagasawa

Abortion Policy and Christian Ethics:

The topic of abortion has been tearing our country apart for decades. Recently, the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade has brought the abortion debate to the level of crisis. But does conservative Christianity honestly represent what the Bible says (or doesn't say) about the issue? What did the Early Church Fathers say about abortion? Are there other socio-economic factors we are overlooking? What does is really mean to be pro-life?

Mako Nagasawa is Director of the Anastasis Center for Christian Education and Ministry in Boston, MA. His team authors curriculum and teaches how early Christian restorative justice and healing atonement are relevant for today's racial and political issues. His book Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States (2021) is an honest and compassionate look at the abortion debate through the lens of Scripture, science, politics, law, and both Christian and secular history.

The Flag and the Cross

It’s been well over a year since the Jan 6 uprising at the US Capitol, and our nation is still struggling to understand how this could have happened and who was responsible. It is a national wound that has not been healed. Here to talk about White Christian Nationalism, which was at the center of the insurrection, is Philip S. Gorski, Phd, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, a comparative and historical sociologist who writes on religion and politics in early modern and modern Europe and North America. His work has been featured and discussed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR and other national media outlets. He is the author of American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump (2020), American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present (2017), and, most recently, he is coauthor with Samuel Perry of The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy (2022).

February 9, 2022 Show

Dr. Thomas Gabor

Gun Violence in America: Is There a Solution?

Here in the U.S. there are over 40,000 gun-related deaths each year and one mass shooting every day. The number of children killed by firearms exceeds the annual deaths of both military personnel and police officers. No one needs to tell us that we have a gun problem in America. It's something that is now always in the back of our minds; tragically, it has become life as usual. But how did we get here and how do we find a way out? Are there any solutions?  Dr. Thomas Gabor was Professor of Criminology for 30 years at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of over 200 books and articles, including Confronting Gun Violence in America (2016), Enough!: Solving America's Gun-Violence Crisis (2019), and Carnage: Preventing Mass Shootings in America (2021). He has served as a consultant on gun violence and policy with such governmental bodies as the United Nations and Canada's Parliament and Department of Justice.

January 12, 2022 Show

Dr. Stephen Marche

Just Plain Decent Folk: How the Church Turns a Blind Eye to Racism and Poverty

As Christians American Evangelicals give a lot to the poor but often neglect to speak on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised. We may spend time and energy giving gifts to the needy, establishing ministries that help the less fortunate, but then we go into the voting booth and help to elect leaders who advance policies that perpetuate poverty and injustice around the world. Why in church do we teach our children to sing, "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight...," yet we support politicians who are avowedly racist and do the dirty work to keep us "plain decent folk" in power? In this broadcast Pastor S J Munson addresses the need for white Christians to learn to share power and wealth and to help build a society in which each member is valued and cared for.

November 10, 2021 Show

Special Guest: Dr. Randall Balmer

August 11, 2021 Show

Alison Weir

If Americans Knew: Fact-checking US Media Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Journalist Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew – a nonpartisan think-tank that focuses on the US connection to Israel-Palestine – and President of the National Interest – founded by former US Congress members and diplomats to advocate for US Middle East policies that serve the US national interest. https://ifamericansknew.org/

Ms. Weir has spoken on over a hundred campuses throughout the US, including Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, Yale, Northwestern, Purdue, Vassar, and numerous others. She has also given presentations internationally, including lectures in England, Wales, Iran, China, Qatar, Palestine, and Iraq.

She has written numerous articles; her book on the early years of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States (Against Our Better Judgment, 2014) has sold over 50,000 copies.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammed

Building a More Just Economy: Systemic Racism and Economic Inequality

Since the COVID pandemic, issues of economic inequality in the U.S. have received increasing attention in the media, along with our current national debates on race and systemic racism. Here to talk about those issues and how we can build a more just economy for all is Mr. Dedrick Asante-Muhammed of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammed joined the National Reinvestment Coalition in January 2019 as the Chief of Race, Wealth, and Community. Currently, he serves as Chief of Membership, Policy, and Equity. During his tenure he has overseen such areas as Fair Housing, Fair Lending, the Women's Business Center of DC, the National Training Academy, the Housing Council Network, and has started the Department of Racial Equity.

Mr. Asante-Muhammed comes to the NCRC from Prosperity Now, where he was Senior Fellow and Founder of the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative. Before Prosperity Now he worked for the NAACP, where he was Senior Director of the Economic Department and Executive Director of the Financial Freedom Center. He has also worked for the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network and the Institute for Policy Studies.

To read more about Mr. Asante-Muhammed, check out his blog at
https://bridgingtheracialwealthdivide.wordpress.com/

May 12, 2021 Show

April 14, 2021 Show

March 10, 2021 Show

How to Become Anti-Racist

The terms anti-racism and anti-racist have recently entered out national discussion, with many books on the subject on the national best-seller lists. What does it mean to be anti-racist and what are some practical steps white people can take to start disentangling themselves from the web of a racist system that does so much harm to people of color?

Kate Slater, Ph.D. is the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Brandeis University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, as well as the co-creator of the 2021Anti-Racist Roadmap. Previously, she worked at the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, a nonprofit that promotes social justice and diversity in the American educational system. Dr. Slater received her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of New Hampshire, and her research focuses on the experiences of underrepresented minoritized students at predominantly white institutions. Dr. Slater is a frequent contributor for NBC Today, where she writes about racial and social justice issues. Additionally, she conducts anti-racism seminars and training for both K-12 and higher education institutions, as well as private organizations. To download the Anti-Racist Roadmap (and learn more about Dr. Slater's work), check out her website: https://kateaslater.com/