Ronald Reagan was an odd choice for evangelicals. For one, he and his wife regularly consulted a medium. He was a Hollywood actor, which should have put him at odds with fundamentalists. Also, Christians have a long history of charity and compassion, while Reagan's policies cut aid to poor people. But in 1980, a lot of evangelicals turned to the Republican Party to vote for him over the evangelical Jimmy Carter. What happened?

Jimmy Carter gave audience to evangelical audiences, though not in the same way as Reagan. Carter told people to conserve, while Reagan's optimistic consumerism played to the rising prosperity gospel. Reagan delivered his famous endorsement of evangelicals at the Religious Roundtable, while Carter was suspiciously absent. Also, evangelicals have built up a strong craving for leaders. They love a strongman leader. So when Reagan showed up and promised to be tough, they went for him.

Today, we're examining some of the reasons that Reagan became a favorite of evangelicals. And why... maybe that doesn't make sense.

Sources:

• Article on shibboleths
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• A Prophet With Honor by William Martin
• James Robison's speech at the Religious Roundtable
• 1980 GOP Platform
• Reagan's GOP acceptance speech in 1980
• Reagan's inauguration speech

Discussion Questions:

• What is a shibboleth?
• How do you test if someone is really a Christian? What if they're a politician? Does it matter?
• Why did Reagan seem like an unlikely match for evangelicals?
• How did Reagan impress evangelicals?
• What did this make you think about James Robison?

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Before he became president, Reagan was the head of the Screen Actors' Guild. When it came down to backing his followers or helping big business, he chose business. The same was true when he fought air traffic controllers. In this way, you can see the influence of Ayn Rand.

Reagan grew up as a poor kid, but he later became a famous radio star and movie icon. When his star faded, he became a political guest speaker and found a new path forward.

In this episode, we're going to better understand the groundwork for the Reagan presidency. Our special guest is historian and author Rick Perlstein.

Sources:

• Reagan: An American Journey by Bob Spitz
• US v. Paramount Pictures from Justia
• article from the Reagan library
• Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot
• The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• CNN article on Paul Manafort
• Reagan's speech at the Neshoba County Fair
• NPR article on the infamous "welfare queen"

Discussion Questions:

• Why is it valuable to understand Reagan's role in messing with his union?
• How did his treatment of his union parallel that of his actions against air traffic controllers?
• What do you think of Reagan and his legacy?
• Why have some Republicans lifted him up as the ultimate conservative?

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Boy, the Religious Right did not like Carter, at least by 1980. Some of them, like Pat Robertson, had high hopes for him at the start. But they quickly grew to distrust the man from Georgia.

Why? In this episode, Chris goes through some of the top issues that evangelicals had with Jimmy Carter. They include his article in Playboy Magazine that mentions his struggles with sex (but also featured a strong gospel message), his support of the ERA, and his lackluster responses to their questions about abortion.

But... It's not as if Ronald Reagan was significantly better. Reagan was not a regular churchgoer like Carter. He consulted a medium for his decisions. He was a divorced former actor in a time when evangelicals didn't like Hollywood. So... how bad was this Carter guy that they didn't vote for him?

Our special guest for this episode is historian and author Rick Perlstein.

Sources:

• Today story on Carter's church
• Tampa Bay Times story on Carter's church
• Associated Press story on Carter's church
• Christianity Today article on Carter's 100th birthday
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• Document the interview the Religious Right guys did
• Criswell ad
• Strom Thurmond ad
• Playboy Magazine, November 1976
• Reagan: An American Journey by Bob Spitz
• White House Conference on Families: Listening to America's Families. Pamphlet
• God's Own Party by Daniel K Williams
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• The Surprising Work of God by Garth Rosell
• Jimmy Carter Library interview with Robert Maddox
• Carter's speech to NAE (courtesy of Jimmy Carter Presidential Library)

Discussion Questions:

• Why did some evangelicals so strongly oppose the ERA?
• What did you see in the Playboy article that might be construed as unappealing to Christians?
• If Reagan engaged in fortunetelling, why did some evangelicals follow him and not Carter?
• Why have evangelicals become enamored of leaders? What has that done to our witness?

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President Jimmy Carter's presidency (1977–1981) faced several major challenges, both domestically and internationally. One of the biggest domestic issues was the struggling U.S. economy. Carter inherited high inflation and unemployment, problems that worsened during his term. The country experienced "stagflation" — a combination of stagnant economic growth and high inflation. The energy crisis, marked by oil shortages and skyrocketing gas prices, further fueled economic instability. Though Carter promoted energy conservation and alternative energy development, many Americans viewed his efforts as inadequate or overly pessimistic.

Internationally, Carter faced major challenges in foreign policy. One of the most significant was the Iran Hostage Crisis, which began in November 1979 when 52 American diplomats and citizens were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The crisis lasted 444 days and was a major blow to Carter’s administration, especially after a failed rescue attempt. It deeply affected U.S. relations with Iran and damaged public confidence in Carter’s leadership. Though Carter did achieve a major diplomatic success with the Camp David Accords — a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel — the Iran Hostage Crisis ultimately overshadowed much of his foreign policy work.

Another major issue during Carter’s presidency was a perceived lack of effective leadership. Carter, known for his integrity and moral outlook, struggled to build strong relationships with Congress and the media. He often took a technocratic, detail-oriented approach to governing, which alienated many political allies. Critics saw his administration as indecisive and overly focused on long-term goals rather than immediate results. These perceptions contributed to a loss of public confidence and were a key factor in his defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.

The special guest for this episode is historian and author Rick Perlstein.

Sources:

• Phyllis Schlafly's debate with Buckley
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• Slate story on Chisholm
• Video showing Carter's opposition to integrated busing
• Reagan by Bob Spitz
• The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein
• These Truths by Jill Lepore
• Crash Course by Paul Ingrassia
• C-SPAN clip of Carter's malaise speech
• Who is Government? by Michael Lewis

Discussion Questions:

• What do you find appealing about Carter?
• How do voters sometimes use issues that are beyond a politician's control to judge them?
• Why would Carter and his predecessors choose to give the Panama Canal to Panama?
• How would an event like the hostage crisis impact an election?

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Dark money is a problem in American politics and religion. What is it? Untraceable money that often comes from big donors, which is channelled through non-profits to hide the identity of the donor. This money is then able to back causes that may or may not be positive.

The Council for National Policy is an organization in the pipeline for Christian dark money. It finances groups like the Heritage Foundation, Focus on the Family, pro-life groups, Turning Point USA, and more. They also coordinate language around denial of climate change, COVID, and election results. Their first president was Tim LaHaye, but he is just the tip of the iceberg.

Our guide through this story is Anne Nelson, author of Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right. It is an excellent resource that is critical for anyone interested in how some evangelicals tied themselves to the Republican Party.

Sources:

• Biographical video from Turning Point USA about Foster Friess
• Shadow Network by Anne Nelson
• Christian Reconstruction: RJ Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism by Michael McVicar
• 100 Things to See in the Night Sky Expanded Edition. By Dean Regas
• Christianity and Oil in US History
• Article on Nelson Bunker Hunt
• Birchers by Matthew Dallek
• The Road to Serfdom (comic version) adapted from Hayek
• Reaganland and Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
• "Information Sheet, Council for National Policy," May 1984
• Dark Money by Jane Mayer
• article on Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education
• Ponzinomics by Robert Fitzpatrick
• Justice Department article about Blackwater/ Prince
• Adams, D. C., Robles, F., & Mazzetti, M. (2025). A Desperate Haiti Turns to Erik Prince, Trump Ally, In Fight Against Gangs. New York: New York Times Company.
• Census data on Wyoming
• Pat Robertson: A Life and Legacy by David Edwin Harrell Jr.
• Leadership Institute website (accessed 8/8/25)
• Email blast from National Religious Broadcasters titled: “NRB President & CEO to Advocate on Capitol Hill for AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act” released July 14, 2025
• Salem Media website
• NRB Article about Bott Radio
• PRwatch.org article and video about CNP
• Jackson Hole News and Guide article about Donald Trump Jr.'s visit to Jackson in 2016
• New York Times article on Foster Friess
• Tax documents from Turning Point USA, courtesy of Pro Publica
• 2017 Jane Mayer profile of Turning Point USA
• ProPublica article on the Kochs
• Time article on the Koch's and i360
• Article on how many people didn't vote in 2024
• New York Times article about Trump's call to the Georgia election rep
• The Guardian article about Kirk's busing of people to the January 6, 2021, riot
• EPA article about its origins

Discussion Questions:

• What is dark money? Should Christians participate in it?
• What are the functions of groups like the Council for National Policy?
• Who was Foster Friess?
• Why is it important to include a discussion of dark money when talking about things like Turning Point USA?
• What is the connection between evangelicalism and oil?

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Tim LaHaye wrote different kinds of books. Books on marriage, sexuality, the end times, and those involved in social and political movements. In his young years, Tim LaHaye taught for the John Birch Society. His conspiratorial view of the world carried over into his theology, evidenced by the Left Behind series, as well as the topic of the show today, The Battle for the Mind. Published in 1980, this little book takes a negative view of humanism. He defines humanism as, essentially, everything that has gone with society in the last 2,000 years. It's a very broad, almost useless definition.

Humanism is actually a movement that started in Northern Italy around the 1200s, which tries to lift up the value of the human person. That takes a lot of different shapes, from secular or atheistic humanism to Christian humanism. In fact, as we argue in the episode, LaHaye's view misses the positive ways that humanism has shaped the United States and evangelicalism.

My guest today is Dr. Darrell Bock. He is the author or editor of over 45 books, including commentaries on Luke and Acts. He is the Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He's also a host of DTS' podcast The Table.

Sources:

• The Battle for the Mind by Tim LaHaye (1980)
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell
• The Oxford English Dictionary
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America by Barry Hankins
• Fact-checking Chris on the Prohibition thing? Start here.

Discussion Questions:

• Have you read anything by Tim LaHaye? What was it?
• Are Christian books like this useful? Not useful? Why?
• What is "humanism"? (it may be helpful to look it up outside the book)
• Why is it important that LaHaye mischaracterized humanism?
• What were LaHaye's ideas about education?

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Tim and Beverly LaHaye were a prominent American evangelical Christian couple known for their influential work in ministry, literature, and conservative activism. Tim LaHaye, born in 1926 in Detroit, Michigan, was a pastor, author, and speaker who gained national recognition through his work in Christian fiction and prophecy interpretation. He served as a pastor for over 25 years before turning to full-time writing and speaking, often focusing on end-times theology and family values. Beverly LaHaye, born in 1929, was a vocal advocate for conservative Christian values and women’s roles in society, founding the organization Concerned Women for America in 1979.

Tim LaHaye is perhaps best known as the co-author of the Left Behind series, a best-selling collection of apocalyptic novels written with Jerry B. Jenkins. The series dramatizes a fictionalized version of the Rapture and subsequent tribulation, based on Tim’s interpretation of Biblical prophecy. These books sold over 80 million copies worldwide and sparked renewed interest in eschatology within evangelical circles. In addition to fiction, he wrote numerous nonfiction books addressing topics such as marriage, politics, and spirituality, always with a conservative Christian perspective.

Together, Tim and Beverly LaHaye were a formidable force in American evangelicalism, combining their talents in writing, activism, and public speaking to influence both Christian thought and conservative politics. Married for over 60 years until Tim's death in 2016, they left behind a legacy of fervent advocacy for their faith and values. While supporters praised their dedication to scripture and family, critics often challenged their political and theological positions. Regardless, their impact on late 20th and early 21st-century evangelicalism remains significant.

Sources:

• Dreyfuss, R. (2004, Feb). "Reverend Doomsday". Rolling Stone, pp. 46-49.
• White, G. (2001, Jul 07). "Evangelical power couple authors Tim and Beverly LaHaye, with scores of books between them, rank as four-star generals to many conservative Christians." [home edition]. The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution
• God's Own Party by Daniel K Williams
• PBS article on Comstock Laws
• "The men from CLEAN". (1966, Sep 05). Newsweek, 68, 23-24.
• Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
• How to Be Happy Though Married by Tim LaHaye
• Divided We Stand by Marjorie Spruill
• The Unhappy Gays by Tim LaHaye
• For a Christian America by Ruth Murray Brown
• Carlin v. Board of Education
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell
• With God on Our Side by William C Martin
• Christianity Today article about Carter's presence at NRB
• “Tim LaHaye--Waging War Against Humanism” Skelton, Nancy Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Feb 22, 1981
• BATTIATA, M. (1987, Oct 03). "Beverly LaHaye leads a powerful force from the right": [CITY edition]. St.Petersburg Times
• Hacker, K. (1988, Mar 06). "A WOMAN OF ACTION: FUNDAMENTALIST BEVERLY LAHAYE IS BUSY RALLYING HER 'KITCHEN-TABLE LOBBYISTS' TO ALL SORTS OF POLITICAL CAUSES". Philadelphia Inquirer
• NPR article about Moonies
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• McMahon, M. (1999, Dec). Come, all ye faithful. The Spectator, 283, 18-19
• The United States of Paranoia by Jesse Walker

Discussion Questions:

• How have the LaHaye's impacted you?
• Does it matter that Tim had so many fears?
• He went on to help found the Council for National Policy, the far-right Christian dark money organization. Why does that feel ironic?
• How was Tim tied to the battle over segregated academies?
• How did LaHaye's background with the John Birch Society fit with his other beliefs?

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Christians were involved with many forms of media from their inception. They were there at the dawn of radio, with the first commercial broadcast of music being played around Christmas in 1906, and the gospel of Luke was read.

A similar story is true for television. Evangelists loved the new medium, with preachers like Oral Roberts using it to spread their brand of Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism was made for television. Where many denominations featured calm worship services, it seemed like anything could happen with Oral Roberts' brand of Pentecostalism. He healed, he made big claims, and he made a lot of money. Roberts' format was followed by people like Jim Bakker and Pat Robertson.

Pat Robertson created the Christian Broadcasting Network, which later functioned as his platform for launching the political careers of politicians and, eventually, himself. Robertson's influence is all over evangelicalism, from the ubiquity of consumerism and prosperity ideology to our involvement in political movements. He formed the Christian Coalition and was a leader in the Council for National Policy. Robertson attended many of the seminal meetings of the Religious Right. And his message was amplified by his powerful television platform.

Sources:

• Pat Robertson: A Life and Legacy by David Edwin Harrell Jr.
• PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire by John Wigger
• Oral Roberts and the Rise of the Prosperity Gospel by Jonathan Root
• The US Census
• Farnsworth TV and Pioneer Museum in Rigby, ID
• The Surprising Work of God: Harold Ockenga, Billy Graham, and the Rebirth of Evangelicals by Garth Rosell
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Prime Time Preachers by Jeffrey K Hadden and Charles E Swann
• "Oral Roberts Dead at 91" from CBS News
• Report on Strom Thurmond's role in the Southern Manifesto
• The Miracle of Seed Faith by Oral Roberts. I used the revised August 2012 version
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• “Remarks in Support of Senate Joint Resolution 199” Aug 18, 1982. (for Robertson's testimony)
• Christian Reconstruction: RJ Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism by Michael McVicar
• Newsweek article about Joe Rogan stats
• Video of Oral Roberts healing

Discussion Questions:

• What is the prosperity gospel?
• How has it impacted you? Your church? The Church in general?
• Why is it important to note that the Religious Right guys controlled Christian media outlets? How does that kind of thing shape our theology?
• How was Robertson impacted by Roberts?
• What is "seed faith"? Does the Bible provide ground for it?
• How has consumerism shaped American evangelicalism? How does it tie into prosperity theology?

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Given the recent events in Venezuela, I have decided to run a classic episode from season 3. The question of our era is not "why did we do this?" but "why do we keep doing this?" Why does the United States continue to overthrow other countries?

God willing, I'll be back next week with a new episode about Pat Robertson.

Discussion Questions:

• What threat did President Jacobo Arbenz pose to United Fruit?
• United Fruit owned many utilities in Guatemala from the trains to telephone lines. How would you feel if our utilities were owned by foreign entities? If they controlled our natural resources?
• Do you think the land reform deal was a good one for their country?
• Were people like John Foster Dulles right to overthrow Arbenz?
• How might it have benefited them to do so?
• In what way could the actions of the US in the 1950s reflect poorly on Christianity domestically and abroad?
• It has been argued that American consumers benefit when Latin American and African countries are thrown in disarray. It means cheaper diamonds, gold, rubber, and more while also stranding the people in those countries in poverty.
• Does it bother you that you may be benefiting from unbalanced countries?
• Do you find the assumption that we are benefiting to be offensive? Why?
• Is there anything we can do about it?

Sources:

• “Bad Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala” by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer
• CIA Document profiling Arbenz
• YouTube clips of a documentary on the Guatemalan coup
• Then-Vice President Nixon talking with Armas after the overthrow
• Statistics on Fruit
• Financial Times article about United Fruit
• Book “One Nation Under God” by Kevin Kruse (for the bio info on the Dulles brothers)
• Peurifoy’s cable to Washington
• President Arbenz’s farewell speech
• List of governments that the US has overthrown

New intro sources:

• CSPAN's coverage of the January 3, 2026, speech given by President Trump
• The New York Times' coverage of the capture of Maduro
• The New York Times' coverage of the oil angle

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William R. “Bill” Bright was born in 1921 in Coweta, Oklahoma. Though raised in a religious environment, he initially pursued business success and personal ambition. While attending the University of Southern California, Bright experienced a dramatic spiritual transformation through the influence of Christian leaders like Henrietta Mears. This encounter led him to surrender his life to Jesus Christ and ultimately shaped his calling toward full-time evangelism.

In 1951, Bill and his wife, Vonette, founded Campus Crusade for Christ at UCLA with a vision to reach college students with the Gospel. He later developed The Four Spiritual Laws, a simple evangelistic tract that became one of the most widely distributed Christian tools in history. Under his leadership, Campus Crusade grew into a global movement with ministries focused on students, athletes, families, the military, and professionals. Bright also launched the Jesus Film Project in 1979, which became one of the most-translated and widely viewed films in the world.

What's missing from most short bios of Bright is the depth of his involvement in the Religious Right. He organized or was present at some of their key gatherings, founded a publishing house to print their words, and raised funds among them.

Bill Bright remained dedicated to fulfilling the Great Commission, often engaging in long periods of fasting and prayer for spiritual guidance. He received the prestigious Templeton Prize in 1996 for his contributions to religion and reinvested the award into Christian ministry. When he died in 2003, Campus Crusade for Christ had expanded into nearly every nation, with thousands of staff and volunteers sharing the Gospel worldwide. Bright’s life stands as a testament to the global impact one person can have through faith, vision, and relentless obedience to God’s call.

My guest for this episode is historian John G. Turner, author of Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America.

Sources:

• Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America by John G. Turner
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• God as Capitalist: Seminar Promotes Religion and Riches by Russell Chandler. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Jun 1, 1981; starts on page B3. Accessed via ProQuest (thanks to the Teton County Library for access!)
• Tract: The Four Spiritual Laws
• The Politics of Rage by Dan T. Carter
• The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein
• Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
• God's Own Party by Daniel K. Williams
• One Nation Under God by Rus Walton (page numbers mentioned in the episode correspond to the 1993 paperback edition). I also used the 1987 version from archive.org
• Birchers by Matthew Dallek
• In the Spirit of '76, published by Third Century Publishers Inc.
• Jimmy Carter, the Politics of Family, and the Rise of the Religious Right by J. Brooks Flippen
• The 700 Club's coverage of the "Washington for Jesus Rally"

Also, my guest, Dave Hopping, used to be in the comedy duo "Dave and Brian". They were pretty big! Here is one of their videos.

Discussion Questions:

• Have you read The Four Spiritual Laws?
• How has Campus Crusade/ Cru impacted your life? The life of your loved ones?
• What threats did Bright perceive to American Christians? Where was he right? Where was he wrong?
• What did you think of Rus Walton's book One Nation Under God?
• Was Bright part of the Religious Right? To what degree?

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The New Right had a plan--to bring evangelical Christians together as a voting bloc. But how to do that? They chose a few targets, people with big followings, and courted them. Jerry Falwell was an obvious choice. He was a fundamentalist preacher, televangelist, and the founder of Liberty University. He also had a propensity for the dramatic, seeing the end of days around every corner.

The New Right did not like President Jimmy Carter and did their best to turn evangelicals against him. A big job considering that Carter was an evangelical and often talked about his faith. Still, they wanted Ronald Reagan (a divorced actor with a reputation with the ladies) to be their man.

In this episode, Chris is joined by author and historian Rick Perlstein.

Sources

• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• article about Reinhold Niebuhr
• God's Own Party by Daniel K. Williams
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell

Discussion Questions

• What was the role of the New Right in recruiting religious people?
• Why was Falwell an ideal candidate for the New Right?
• A higher percentage of evangelicals voted for Nixon than for Reagan. So why do we talk so much about Reagan as a turning point?
• What was the Moral Majority? How do we see groups like them operating today?

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Jerry Falwell was a prominent American pastor, televangelist, and conservative political activist whose life and ministry had a significant impact on American evangelicalism and politics. Born on August 11, 1933, in Lynchburg, Virginia, Falwell grew up in a family that was not particularly religious. However, after becoming a Christian during his college years, he dedicated his life to ministry. He attended Baptist Bible College in Missouri, where he developed the theological convictions that would shape his future work. In 1956, at the age of 22, he returned to his hometown to found the Thomas Road Baptist Church, beginning his long journey as a spiritual and cultural leader.

Falwell’s ministry expanded rapidly through the use of media. He launched the “Old-Time Gospel Hour” television program, which gained national attention and allowed him to reach millions of viewers. His style combined traditional evangelical preaching with a strong emphasis on conservative values. The success of his broadcast ministry helped him establish a broad base of support and financial backing, enabling the growth of both his church and other initiatives. By the 1970s, Falwell had become one of the most recognizable faces of American evangelicalism.

In 1971, Falwell founded Liberty University in Lynchburg.

Perhaps Falwell’s most politically influential move came in 1979 with the founding of the Moral Majority, an organization that mobilized conservative Christians to become involved in American politics. Through the Moral Majority, Falwell encouraged evangelicals to support Republican candidates who aligned with their views on issues like abortion, school prayer, and family values. The group played a crucial role in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, signaling a new era of religious involvement in American political life. Falwell's efforts helped to solidify the alliance between evangelical Christians and the Republican Party that persists to this day.

Falwell’s outspoken views often sparked controversy. He was a staunch opponent of abortion, LGBTQ rights, and the feminist movement, and he frequently spoke out against what he saw as the moral decline of American society. Critics accused him of promoting intolerance and mixing religion with politics in divisive ways. Nevertheless, his supporters praised him for standing up for biblical principles and being unafraid to speak his mind in a secularizing culture. Falwell saw himself as a defender of traditional American and Christian values, even as the country grew increasingly polarized.

Jerry Falwell died on May 15, 2007.

My guest for this episode is Daniel K Williams, author of God's Own Party.

Sources:

• God's Own Party by Daniel K Williams
• American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King Jr. (for the Danforth sermon)
• I first heard the Danforth sermon mentioned on the Now and Then podcast
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Falwell: An Autobiography by Jerry Falwell
• Falwell's "Ministers and Marchers" sermon

Discussion Questions

• What do you think of Danforth's sermon? Why is it important to understand that preachers have been concerned about the US since before it became a country?
• Why is it valuable to understand Falwell's early opposition to integration?
• We know that much of the season is related to education. Why is it significant that Falwell was an educator?
• How should we as a society adapt when a leader repents of their racism?
• What role did Frances Schaeffer play in shaping Falwell?

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A lot of evangelicals are now single-issue voters, and that issue is abortion. But that was not always the case. In fact, for a great deal of American history, abortion was largely seen as a Catholic issue. There are, of course, exceptions. But most evangelicals and Protestants were divided on the subject, even favoring abortion when it came to preserving the health of the mother, or in cases of rape and incest.

On this episode, Chris interviews historian and author Daniel K. Williams about the history of the abortion debate in the United States. A major turning point was the availability of elective or "on-demand" abortions in places like New York. As evangelicals grew more upset with the moral decline of the country, they lumped abortion together with gay and lesbian rights fights, the proliferation of pornography, and decided that it needed to stop. Plus, big money through New Right PACs entered the field, and politicians were soon chosen on their allegiance to pro-life legislation.

Sources:

• Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade by Daniel K Williams
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Romper Room on YouTube
• CBS Sunday Morning excellent story on Sherri Chessen
• Article on thalidomide
• Oyez.org for the Supreme Court cases
• Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley
• American Experience article on Comstock Laws
• New York Times video on the Population Bomb (good stuff!)
• The US Constitution
• Frances Shaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America by Barry Hankins

Discussion Questions:

• Why was abortion considered a Catholic issue in the mid-1900s?
• How did the Griswold case impact the Roe case?
• How did changing sexual mores contribute to the pro-life movement?
• How did the 1970 opening of New York to elective abortions impact public opinion? What is "abortion on demand"?
• How did Reagan's endorsement of the HLA shift Republican politics?
• Was Reagan successful in helping the pro-life movement, or was he merely throwing them a bone to get votes?

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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States went years without using the death penalty. Not a single person was killed by injection, firing squad, hanging, or electric chair. But by the late 90s, we were killing around 100 convicted criminals per year. What happened?

In 1972, the Supreme Court handed down its decision Furman v. Georgia, which negated state capital punishment laws across the country. This meant that some of the worst criminals in the country were suddenly given new sentences. And Americans... lost their minds. Within just a few years, new laws were written, and the Court decided to approve many of them.

The death penalty long had a prejudiced bent, disproportionately killing people of color. The NAACP worked hard to end the practice, but those efforts were soon undone as American opinions toward the death penalty abruptly changed.

My special guest for this episode is Maurice Chammah, author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty

Sources:

• Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty by Maurice Chammah
• The Death Penalty: An American History by Stuart Banner (an excellent source!)
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Hijacking of American Flight 119: How D.B. Cooper Inspired a Hijacking Craze and the FBI's Battle to Stop It. by John Wigger
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell
• Romans 13 (and 1 for a fact check)
• The US Constitution

September 26, 1973 (page 94 of 98). (1973, Sep 26). The Ottawa Citizen (1954-1973) Retrieved from https://wsl.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-26-1973-page-94-98/docview/2338669544/se-2

• Oyez.org coverage of Furman v. Georgia
• Oyez.org coverage of Gregg v. Georgia
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4G_O_Z55fQ
• Pew Research data on crime

Discussion Questions:

• What are your thoughts on the death penalty?
• Why was the Furman case so important? What did it decide?
• Should juries have guidelines when considering a death penalty case?
• Why is the death penalty so popular among evangelicals?

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Bob Jones University v. United States (1983) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could deny tax-exempt status to private religious schools that practiced racially discriminatory policies. Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian institution, prohibited interracial dating and marriage among its students based on its religious beliefs. In 1970, the IRS revised its policy to deny tax-exempt status to private schools with racially discriminatory admissions policies, prompting Bob Jones University to file suit after losing its exemption.

The university argued that the IRS's actions violated its First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion. The central question for the Court was whether the government's interest in eradicating racial discrimination in education outweighed the burden on religious freedom imposed by the denial of tax-exempt status. The case thus pitted two core constitutional principles against each other: religious liberty and the government's interest in promoting equality.

In an 8–1 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the IRS’s position. Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority, stated that tax-exempt status is a form of government subsidy and that organizations seeking this benefit must serve a public interest. The Court held that eliminating racial discrimination in education was a "fundamental, overriding interest" that justified the burden on the university’s religious practices. It emphasized that the government is not required to subsidize discriminatory behavior, even when it is religiously motivated.

The ruling had significant implications. It clarified that tax-exempt status is conditional upon compliance with fundamental public policy, including civil rights laws. The decision reinforced the principle that religious freedom, while protected, does not allow institutions to violate core public values when receiving government benefits. This case remains a key precedent in balancing religious liberty with broader societal interests in equality and nondiscrimination.

Sources:

• The Story of Bob Jones University v. United States: Race, Religion, and Congress's Extraordinary Acquiescence by Olati Johnson. Paper Number 10-229.
• God's Own Party by Daniel K Williams
• https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/461/574/#tab-opinion-1955051
• 1980s Republican Party Platform
• In Search of Another Country by Joseph Crespino
• McNamar's testimony, pp.225, Hearing Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Ninety-Seventh Congress, Second Session, February 1, 1982. (Thanks to the Senate Historian's Office)
• “The Bob Jones Decision: A Dangerous Precedent” by Kenneth S. Kantzer. September 2, 1983, issue of Christianity Today.
• Randall Balmer article for Politico that narrows the blame for the bonding of evangelicals to the GOP to race
• Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
• Majority opinion in the Bob Jones case
• New York Times article in which Bob Jones assails the Supreme Court (page A23), May 25, 1983 “Bob Jones, in Sermon, Assails Supreme Court”

Discussion Questions:

• Why is the tax exemption so important to this story?
• Why is it important to churches and religious institutions?
• How would revoking the tax exemption change giving to those institutions?
• Some evangelicals (like CT) denounced the racism of BJU, but still thought the IRS overstepped its bounds. What do you think?
• Which institutions in the US should be tax-exempt? Which shouldn't?

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George Wallace was, as historian Dan Carter put it, "the most influential loser in American history". He was the governor of Alabama and lost multiple bids for president of the United States. In the process, he spread his racist views throughout the country.

Wallace is a vitally important figure in American history. His success in pulling in votes from racists attracted the attention of establishment politicians. He showed men like Richard Nixon that there was a significant voting bloc out there willing to vote based just on their fears about race.

In this episode, Chris speaks with historian and author Dan T. Carter about his book The Politics of Rage.

Wallace Bio (AI Generated)

George Corley Wallace Jr., born on August 25, 1919, in Clio, Alabama, rose to prominence as a controversial figure in American politics. A graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law in 1942, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war, Wallace embarked on a political career, serving in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and as a circuit court judge until 1959. His early political endeavors were marked by a moderate stance on racial issues. However, his political trajectory shifted dramatically in the early 1960s.

In 1962, Wallace was elected governor of Alabama, campaigning on a platform of staunch segregationism. His infamous declaration, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," during his inaugural address in 1963, epitomized his commitment to maintaining racial segregation. That same year, he attempted to block the enrollment of African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, at the University of Alabama, an event that became known as the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door." This act of defiance against federal desegregation efforts brought national attention to Wallace and solidified his reputation as a symbol of resistance to civil rights advancements.

Wallace's political influence extended beyond state politics. In 1968, he ran for president as the candidate of the American Independent Party, advocating for states' rights and appealing to disaffected white voters. He carried five Southern states and secured 13.5% of the national vote, demonstrating significant support for his segregationist views on a national scale. Despite his presidential aspirations, Wallace's influence remained strongest in Alabama, where he served multiple non-consecutive terms as governor.

A pivotal moment in Wallace's life occurred in 1972 during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. While campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, he was shot by Arthur Bremer, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Despite this setback, Wallace returned to Alabama politics, winning the gubernatorial election in 1974. His later years in office were characterized by a shift in his political ideology, as he sought to distance himself from his earlier segregationist positions.

Sources:

• The Politics of Rage by Dan T. Carter
• National Park Service article about the 16th Street Baptist Church
• Curtis LeMary's announcement speech
• History.com article about George Wallace being shot
• Nixon Library audio tapes collection
• Nixon talking about Wallace on tape
• Rolling Stone magazine, October 24, 1974, “The Ministry of George Wallace” by Joe Klein.

Questions:

• Had you heard of George Wallace before?
• Why was Wallace important?
• How did Wallace's moderate successes change politics in his era?
• One prominent person speaking negatively about another race can significantly impact public opinion. How could his bloviating give permission to white people in the north to be openly racist?

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We talk about racism in the United States like it only happens in the South. But the nasty truth is that the North is also guilty of racist behavior. This is evident in the way that we behaved when schools were integrated by bus.

Brown v. Board of Education called for public schools to integrate. However, it took decades for many public schools to carry out this directive. It wasn't until the 1970s that the Boston schools were forced to integrate. But how?

Schools are frequently attended by children who live in a given school district. But the North had divided itself up by race, forcing black people to live only in certain areas of a city. Black children were not going to white public schools because they simply didn't live in white neighborhoods. This was de facto segregation at work. So when schools were called to integrate, they had to come up with a plan. They would bus students between schools, thus integrating them.

But there were problems. In Boston, they started this program by cross-populating poor schools with poor schools. So the quality of education didn't go up. Violence broke out across the city as parents and children alike struggled to welcome people who looked different than them.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Zebulon Miletsky, Associate Professor, Africana Studies and History at Stony Brook University.

Sources:

• Before Busing: A History of Boston's Long Black Freedom Struggle by Dr. Zebulon Miletsky
• Boston Against Busing by Ronald P Formisano
• Boston Globe (1960-); Sep 26, 1968; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe pg. 1 and 32
• Nixon's radio address about integration
• The Busing Battleground PBS documentary (worth a watch!)
• GBH's coverage of busing
• American Archive video collection on busing

Discussion Questions:

• Integration was going to be difficult. How should it have been handled?
• Would you send your kids to a potentially unsafe school? What if it meant helping to integrate it?
• Was the uproar over integrated busing about more than just race?
• Why is it that black parents sometimes didn't want their kids going to formerly white schools?
• How do people like Ms. Hicks build a political career on a single issue?

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In 2 Samuel 24 David is told that he must buy a certain piece of land in an act of repentance for his sins. The man who owns the land says that he'd like to give David the land and the animals to sacrifice. But David turns him down, insisting that he won't give to God something that cost him nothing.

This story demonstrates something that may be missing from the Christian world today. Sacrifice should cost us something. Sacrifice should be a sacrifice. In the 1970s, school districts in the North and South were told that they had to integrate schools. This move was opposed by people of all sorts, including some Christians who worried that if segregation academies lost their tax-exempt status then Christian schools would too.

This is the sad story of how some evangelicals with large followings came to oppose school integration. Our special guest is Daniel K. Williams, author of the excellent book God's Own Party. I also feature a clip from Angie Maxwell author of The Long Southern Strategy.

Sources

• In Search of Another Country by Joseph Crespino
• Boston Against Busing by Ronald Formisano
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• 2 Samuel 24
• Article on NPR
• God's Own Party by Daniel K. Williams

Discussion Questions

• Sacrifice requires sacrifice. What are your thoughts on that statement?
• Do you believe in school integration? How should it have happened in the 1970s?
• Would you have wanted your kids to be bused to a different town if it meant a more multicultural experience?
• Why did some evangelicals with large followings think they needed to tie themselves to the GOP?
• How do we reconcile with the history of religious segregation academies?

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Update: I would like to apologize for an error I made in the original version of this story. I stated that tuition payments to private schools are tax-exempt on the federal level. They are not. They sometimes are on the state level. The episode has been edited to reflect the correct information.

When Brown v. Board of Education passed the Supreme Court in 1954, segregationists stepped up their efforts to keep black children out of their schools. If they couldn't use public schools, they'd establish their own private academies.

In the 60's the Supreme Court struck down mandatory Bible reading and prayer in schools, causing some Christians to establish private Christian schools. This movement had unfortunate timing in that it lined up with the segregation academy movement. To our shame, many Protestant schools were segregation academies.

But this story isn't so easy. In this episode and the next, we'll explore the strange twists and turns of the private school movements of the 1960s and 70s. They illustrate just how tangled evangelicals are with schools, taxes, and racism.

Sources:

• In Search of Another Country by Joseph Crespino
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Article on Jeffersonian Ideology
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro (especially books 1 and 2)
• Oyez.org article about the McCullum Case
• Interview with Austin Steelman, professor at Clemson University
• Oyez.org article about the Plessy case
• Oyez.org article about Brown v. Board
• Department of Labor article about the 1964 Civil Rights Act
• Oyez.org article about the Green case

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I made these episodes a few years ago, but since it is the 100th anniversary of the Scopes "Monkey" trial, I thought we should revisit them!

Tennessee was the first state in the United States to crack down hard on the teaching of evolution in public schools. Others had dabbled, but Tennessee went all the way. The ACLU wanted to challenge the validity of the case in the courts. In order to do that they needed an educator to teach it, get busted, and be brought to trial.

At the same time, the town of Dayton, TN, needed a boost. After the biggest employer closed down, it faced serious economic trouble. What if the men of Dayon could manufacture a court case to draw the attention of the nation? They found a young teacher named John Scopes and convinced him to participate in their scheme. They booked Scopes, even though he probably never taught evolution. The ACLU had its case.

Soon, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow hopped on board, and it went from a publicity stunt to something for the history books. This is the event that some historians (wrongly) point to as the death of Christian fundamentalism in the United States until it was revived by the Moral Majority. One man fighting for the biblical idea of creation and another for godless atheism. But the real history is far more complex.

Edward Larson, professor at Pepperdine University, joins us to discuss the trial and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Summer for the Gods”.

Helpful Sources:

• “Summer for the Gods” by Edward Larson
• Rhea County Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum Worth a visit!
• Court Transcript of the Scopes Trial (easy to find online)
• “A Godly Hero” by Michael Kazin

Discussion Questions:

• What events led to the Scopes trial?
• Why did the ACLU feel they had to try the Tennessee Law?
• Who should decide what is taught in schools? Teachers? Parents? Lawmakers? Or some combination?
• What were William Jennings Bryan’s motives for joining the prosecution?
• What were Clarence Darrow’s motives for joining the defense?
• Should prayer be allowed before a trial about religion?
• Should Christians get involved in what is taught in schools? To what degree?

Dayton, Tennessee’s plan to boost tourism William Jennings Bryan’s crusade against Darwin

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Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970. It was a HUGE hit, selling over 35 million copies by 1999. It was also produced into a film narrated by Orson Welles. That film was shown in movie theaters and church basements and made a splash.

The movie is a repackaging of premillennial dispensationalism, which I covered last season. It presents a particular vision of end-times theology, which wrongly predicted that the world would end around 1988.

We're going to discuss the book and movie because they have had a real impact on the way that some evangelicals see the world. I'm joined on this episode by Ray McDaniel, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jackson, WY, and Melvin Benson of the Cinematic Doctrine podcast.

Chris on the Cinematic Doctrine Podcast

• Hamilton
• Ernest Scared Stupid
• Ernest Saves Christmas
• Gremlins

Sources:

• National Endowment for the Humanities article
• The Late Great Planet Earth book and movie
• Cortney Basham's Master's Thesis
• The Day of the Dolphin trailer
• Imdb.com

Questions:

• Have you ever seen The Late Great Planet Earth? What did you think of it?
• The book and movie echo the Bible in that a false prophet can be identified when their prophecies don't come true. Hal Lindsey's predictions have been wrong for decades. Does that make him a false prophet?
• What impact do books and movies like this have on the Christian culture?
• If a book or movie like this does some good (like bringing some people to Christ), but also makes false prophesies, is it still valuable?

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In the last episode, Chris and his brother Nick started their journey along the Camino del Norte, part of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. Now, join Chris as he looks at some of the forces on pilgrims hiking the trail. From the Twelve Tribes religious group and their Yellow Deli restaurants to a spiritual guru in Guemes, people are trying to leverage hikers. Despite this being a Catholic pilgrimage, most of the people we've met on three hikes have not been people of faith. Why is that?

In this bonus episode, Chris hopes to restore your faith in humanity and encourage you to listen to those around you. Jesus died for our sins, but if we're not out there telling people, how will they know? Get out there and be the Church!

Sources:

• The Twelve Tribe's document on the Confederate South
• Interesting article about the Yellow Deli
• Guemes albergue's official website about Ernesto

Discussion Questions:

• Why are there so many forces trying to reach pilgrims?
• Are you open to reaching spiritual pilgrims around you?
• If you were on the hike, what would you say to people who think all religions are the same?
• What are some simple graces that you've seen in your life?
• How can you be the Church to your community?

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On this bonus episode, Chris takes you along with him as he hiked 250 miles on an old Catholic pilgrimage route called the Camino de Santiago.

The Camino has a complex history and is actually comprised of more than one trail. The Norte, the oldest (if you take the Primativo), is along the northern coast, the Frances runs east-west through the middle, and the Portuguese routes are north-south from Lisbon to Santiago. You can walk from Turkey following a Camino, or from France. There are webs of them all across Europe. Many lead to the bustling city of Santiago de Compostela in the west of Spain. With lots of tourist traffic, ice cream shops, restaurants, and lodging that caters to pilgrims. The trails converge on a large square and a giant cathedral. This cathedral, started in 1078, as legend has it, is the resting place for the bones of Saint James, one of Jesus' apostles. If you approach the altar, you'll find a door to the right down a set of stairs. Inside, you can see a silver box containing the relics.

Pilgrims have travelled there for over a thousand years. Some for religious purposes, others as criminals who were forced to walk as part of their sentence, a journey that could take years, and claimed the lives of many. Others hiked to absolve their sins, something Pope Calixtus II declared could happen if they did it in a year where St. James' Day fell on a Sunday. In the 12th and 13th centuries, as many as a quarter of a million pilgrims made one of these journeys. Today, these routes are experiencing a renaissance. As hundreds of thousands more walk for their own reasons. To the chagrin of seasoned hikers who think the routes are too crowded.

In this two-part series, you'll hear Chris and his brother Nick as they talk with people about the Camino, as they share Jesus with people, and find their way on this ancient route.

Any packing list is going to be incomplete, because everyone likes their own things! But you REALLY should consider keeping it light. You will have more fun and fewer injuries if your pack stays light.

• Rain poncho
• 2 x hiking shirts
• 1 x hiking pants
• 1 x hiking shorts
• mini toiletries
• shoes (already broken in)
• hiking poles
• a broad-brimmed hat
• app with maps and GPS (we like Camino Ways)
• sun glasses
• journal and pens
• plastic bags for dry stuff
• light jacket
• 2 x hiking socks (I like the dual-layered kind)
• a small bottle of sunscreen
• cash (at least 3--400 euros) because not all albergues take cards
• medicines
• water bottles
• a tennis ball (to massage your tired feet!)
• and more!

Sources:

• https://caminoways.com/the-history-of-the-camino-de-santiago
• Whaling museum

Discussion Questions:

• What leads people to hike a long trail?
• Would you ever hike a pilgrimage route?
• Why do so many people have difficulty with the Christian Church that they would go on a pilgrimage route without being religious?
• How do you interact with strangers? Are you ever in places where you can meet them?
• Could you share the gospel with a stranger if you had the opportunity?

What to pack for the Camino de Santiago

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In November of 1965, a young lawyer published a book called Unsafe at Any Speed about the dangers of driving a Chevy Corvair. The car could become unstable and possibly flip if driven in poor conditions or without proper training. The lawyer? Ralph Nader.

It took a while for the book to find its audience, but soon it was on bookshelves across the US and made a celebrity our of Nader. Soon he and his "Nader's Raiders" were on a spree, advocating for consumer safety.

This movement was met with skepticism and fear in the industrial community. Who did this guy think he was? Americans didn't need "big government" looking over their shoulders! Well, that's what big corporate leaders thought. They set out to dismantle the consumer safety movement and to convince conservative religious people that safety was actually creeping government interference.

My special guest for this episode is Rick Perlstein, author of The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland.

Sources:

• Chevy Corvair ad
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• Road and Track article about the Corvair
• Washington Post article about the UAW strike
• One Nation Under God by Kevin Kruse
• Article with fun pictures from the Ad Council campaigns
• Christian Reconstruction by Michael McVicar
• Reagan's "I'm From the Government and I'm Here to Help"
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell p73, paperback, Bantam edition, August 1980

Discussion Questions:

• What do you think about the government involvement in the Chevy Corvair?
• How has product safety impacted your life?
• Is the government small, big, or somewhere in between?
• Do you remember Ralph Nader?
• Is it okay for big business to use advertising to change American minds about the government and economics?

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Gerald Ford's administration was in trouble. The country was experiencing stagflation, where prices were going up but employment was going down. What could he do? He announced his desire to lower taxes. This proposal was met with opposition by... Ronald Reagan. Reagan was worried that these cuts would increase the national debt. Then, just a few years later, Reagan changed his mind.

Two major things happened. One was the invention of supply-side economics (also called trickle-down economics) and the other was the tax revolt of the 1970s.

Supply-side economics was invented by an economist named Arthur Laffer. His ideas were based on an old concept but with a new twist. Laffer and his friends published their ideas in The Wall Street Journal and shared them with people like Dick Cheney.

Author and historian Rick Perlstein joins us for this episode. His books are The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland.

Sources:

• The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• NPR story about Laffer's napkin legend
• International Inequalities Institute study of supply-side economics
• Investopedia article comparing inflation rates
• Reagan's "Restore America" speech
• Ford Library's documents about Reagan's inaccuracies in his speech
• Federal Reserve article about inflation. Here's another
• History of COVID stimulus payments
• Investopedia article on Keynes
• Zombie Economics by John Quiggin
• Historical tax bracket rates
• Proposition 13 article

Discussion Questions:

• What is supply-side economics?
• How does it compare to Keynes' ideas?
• Does the Bible specify a tax policy?
• Where did you first hear about trickle-down economics? Who benefits from it the most?
• Rick Perlstein, former President George HW Bush, John Quiggin, and many others say that supply-side economics is bogus. What do you think?
• Why might supply-side economics appeal to some evangelicals? To people of the 1970s?

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A small group of men calling themselves The New Right had a major role to play in bonding some evangelicals to the Republican Party. Yet many Christians don't know who these guys were or how they used money and influence to accomplish their goal.

Let's meet the fellas. One was named Paul Weyrich. Weyrich's contribution to the movement is that he knew how to organize people, a skill he learned from watching liberal protests. He was a former radio newsman from Wisconsin, member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church when he thought the Roman Catholic Church became too liberal. He saw how liberals were organizing in the US and decided to do something similar with conservatives. The goal was to bring together politicians, activists, money, and the press to have a unified front. Organizational skills were his secret weapon.

Howard Phillips was a follower of RJ Rushdoony's Christian Reconstruction plan. He gutted the Office of Economic Opportunity for Richard Nixon and then founded a think tank called The Conservative Caucus. He said "we organize discontent" meaning that the New Right used emotional issues to rile up their base.

Then there was Richard Viguerie. He was the king of bulk mail. The New Right used his services to advocate for their kind of politicians, for Anita Bryant, and to raise money. His company RAVCO was investigated for fraud.

These men and more were vital in bringing some evangelicals into the Republican Party.

Our guest today is Rick Perlstein, author of amazing history books like Reaganland and The Invisible Bridge.

Sources:

• Reaganland and The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein
• Mobilizing the Moral Majority: Paul Weyrich and the Creation of a Conservative Coalition, 1968-1988 by Tyler J. Poff pages 22-23
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Weyrich, Memorandum, April 16, 1973, Paul M. Weyrich Scrapbooks. But accessed through Mobilizing the Moral Majority: Paul Weyrich and the Creation of a Conservative Coalition, 1968-1988 by Tyler J. Poff page 18
• Christian Reconstruction: RJ Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism - by Michael McVicar
• Memo from Gerald Ford Library
• The 1974 Campaign Finance Reform Act
• James Robison at the Religious Roundtable

Discussion Questions:

• What was meant by "we organize discontent"? Is this a statement Jesus would have made?
• Have you ever heard of the New Right guys before?
• Google Paul Weyrich and watch videos of him talking. How does he use language to stir fear in others?
• Are there issues that politicians can use to push your buttons? What are they? Why?
• Why are some evangelicals driven by these push button issues?
• How was the New Right able to use issues of sex to steer some evangelicals?

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The Compelled podcast is hosted by my friend Paul Hastings. It's a testimony show that walks listeners through people's lives so that we can hear how God continues to set people free through faith in Jesus.

This episode is part of an ad-swap that Chris did with Paul to get the word out about Truce, but it also serves as a reminder to us that God is still working in the lives of His people.

You can learn more about the Compelled podcast at https://compelledpodcast.com/

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Milton Friedman is one of the most important economists of the last hundred years. His ideas were quoted by many evangelical writers in the 1970s and 80s, despite his not being a Christian and few of his ideas being in the Bible. Figures like Jerry Falwell loved the guy. Ronald Reagan adopted many of his ideas, though they disagreed on things like the increasing national debt. Friedman played a major role in the popularization of the school voucher concept. Essentially, some people want to allow parents to have a say in which school their children attend. If they want to take the children to a private school, they believe that the government should give them a certain amount of money that would have gone to the public school and give it to the private one. Those who disagree say that this would defund already underfunded schools. Friedman also believed that teachers should not necessarily be certified and that the free market would weed out the bad ones.

Stanford professor Jennifer Burns (author of Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative) returns to help Chris explore this complicated subject.

Sources:

• Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative by Jennifer Burns
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• Free to Choose
• A helpful Britannica article on Friedman
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell. Paperback, August 1980 reprint version Bantam edition
• Divided We Stand by Marjorie Spruill
• Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman

Discussion Questions:

• Had you heard of Friedman before this episode?
• What are school vouchers?
• How could school vouchers be seen by some as a tool of segregation?
• What would it mean if parents had to keep track of every teacher their children learned under?
• How are schools currently funded in the US? Why does that matter? How are some schools wealthy while others are poor?
• What should be the role of wealthy people when it comes to education?

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Milton Friedman may be the most famous American economist. His research and theories have profoundly shaped the modern American economy. But few of us can clearly articulate what he taught and what it means for our times. Friedman's career was defined by the aftermath of the Great Depression. He worked in the government administering the New Deal, but never really agreed with it. He joined the faculty at the University of Chicago and built a department around him that taught a version of free-market economics known as monetarism. Essentially, monetarism is the idea that inflation is a product of how much money is in circulation. Friedman did not like the Federal Reserve or the gold standard, instead, advocating for a standard 4% increase in the money supply every year that would not be shifted. By setting a rule, he hoped to do away with an entire governmental department.

Friedman and his co-authors ventured into areas that other economists thought, perhaps, unwise. They used economics to explain things like marriage and school choice. He was also a proponent of school vouchers.

Stanford professor Jennifer Burns joins Chris today to explore the many facets of Milton Friedman. This is the first of two parts.

Sources:

• Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative by Jennifer Burns
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Part to Power by Robert Caro
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laissez-faire
• “Keynesian Economics Theory: Definition and How It's Used” Investopedia article
• https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2014/article/one-hundred-years-of-price-change-the-consumer-price-index-and-the-american-inflation-experience.htm
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
• Milton Friedman: A Concise Guide to the Ideas and Influence of the Free-Market Economist by Eamonn Butler
• Friedman on the Donahue show in 1979

Discussion Questions:

• Had you heard of Friedman before this episode?
• If so, what did you know about him?
• What does "laissez-faire" mean in economic terms?
• Does it line up with the Bible in any direct way?
• Why do you think so many conservative Christians lean toward laissez-faire?
• How bad was the Great Depression?
• If you had worked for the government during the Depression, what would you have advocated?
• Why are some people against the New Deal?
• What did the New Deal mean to starving people during the Depression?
• How does a fear of communism play into anti-New Deal sentiment?

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William F. Buckley Jr. helped change the face of conservatism in the US because he gave it intellectual backing. But that doesn't mean that his ideas were accepted completely. He had several nemesis within his own movement that tried to derail him.

One opponent was the John Birch Society. Buckley's whole modus operandi was to make conservatism respectable. But Robert Welch and other members of the JBS were using their movement to spread bogus conspiracy theories. They were actively discrediting the movement that Buckley tried to build. So Buckley, National Review, and Barry Goldwater tried to bring it down.

Another enemy was Ayn Rand. Buckley and Rand were libertarians, but they disagreed on something important: religion. Rand was an ardent atheist, while Buckley believed Christianity and conservatism were inseparable. When Buckley started Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) he discovered that his young followers were incorporating many other ideas into their ideology. Rand's writings were impacting the students. So Buckley had to work to expel those ideas from YAF.

Libertarian economist Murray Rothbard was another enemy. Rothbard actively encouraged his followers to split YAF and leave the organization.

Extremism leads to extremism. Extremism lends itself to ideological purity, which means that groups like YAF were destined to split and split and split again. Buckley has his work cut out for him.

Sources

• Buckley: William F Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Carl T. Bogus.
• The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism by David Farber
• Burning Down the House by Andrew Koppelman
• Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
• God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley Jr
• Heather Cox Richardson's YouTube series on the history of the GOP
• Hoover Institution article on the impact of Buckley and Firing Line
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Incomparable Mr. Buckley documentary
• The Sharon Statement

Discussion Questions:

• Extremism leads to extremism. Do you agree?
• The desire to keep a movement ideologically pure is not unique to Buckley. Discuss that desire. When is it important and when does it lead to issues?
• Rand and Buckley disagreed on the role of religion. Why did that put them at odds?
• Why would Murray Rothbard want to split YAF?
• Why are youth movements so important to politics? To religion?

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Senator Robert Taft couldn't get the nomination. He tried to be the GOP's nominee for president three different times but could not get elected. Conservative Republicans' failure to get nominated by their own party was a source of much frustration. What could they do? Concerns of conspiracy spread through people like Phyllis Schlafly whose book A Choice Not an Echo claimed that "elites" were steering the party.

It was into this world that a bright young man with an untraceable accent found his appeal. William F. Buckley Jr. was born into a wealthy family that was deeply Catholic and driven by concern over the New Deal. They were libertarians and wanted a small government. Buckley lived a childhood of privilege, riding horses, playing piano, and mostly private education. His first book, God and Man at Yale, was a sharp critique of his alma mater, stating that they should have done a better job promoting laissez-faire economics and religion. The book was a smash hit, in part, because Yale fought its charges in the press.

Buckley followed it with a rousing defense of Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics in the early 1950s, but the book was published just as the senator was revealed to be the demagogue he was. So Buckley decided to shift his effort to creating a journal of opinion that would appeal to conservatives. National Review became the "it" publication for conservatism in the US, and the most successful journal of opinion in the country. Its greatest impact was giving conservatism an intellectual voice in an era when the "liberal consensus" dominated.

Buckley then went on to start in the PBS television show Firing Line, a funny thing for a libertarian because the show was sponsored, in part, through government funding. Buckley succeeded in giving conservatism an intellectual voice. In the process, he won his greatest victory: convincing Ronald Reagan to become a conservative.

Sources

• Buckley: William F Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Cart T. Bogus.
• The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism by David Farber
• Burning Down the House by Andrew Koppelman
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYgv7ur8ipg&t=3018s Firing Line Episode 113, September 3 1968
• Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
• God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley Jr
• Heather Cox Richardson's YouTube series on the history of the GOP
• National Review. 1st edition, November 19, 1955. Page 6 (gives a helpful breakdown of what the magazine stands for)
• Hoover Institution article on the impact of Buckley and Firing Line
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Incomparable Mr. Buckley documentary

Discussion Questions

• Do you have any personal connection with Buckley? Did you see his shows or read his writings?
• Why did conservatism need an intellectual voice?
• How did conservatism change between Bob Taft and Buckley?
• Buckley believed in a limited government, one that incorporated Christianity. Would you like his version of the American government?
• Buckley claimed that he wasn't racist, but believed that black people were incapable of governing themselves. That they should earn the right to vote in the South. Is this racism?
• National Review welcomed segregationists to write in the journal. Would you read a publication like this?
• Buckley advocated for a smaller government but also stared in a TV show on public television. Does this strike you as hypocrisy?

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In the first part of our series, Chris explored the beginning of Barry Goldwater's career, from his early days as a young man to his rise to the Senate. In the second episode, Goldwater still hasn't agreed to be the nominee, even though groups are raising money in his name.

One of his most valuable supporters was a woman named Phyllis Schlafly. In 1964 she published a small book, A Choice Not an Echo. It claimed that GOP nominations had been rigged going back many years. She felt burned that Robert Taft (a true conservative) had been avoided over Dwight Eisenhower. Her book earned Goldwater the eventual nomination by his party.

At the 1964 GOP convention, Goldwater announced that extremism was a thing he was okay with. While this excited his base, it scared a good many others who were already afraid that he'd use his power to launch nuclear weapons.

Lyndon Johnson won that year in the greatest landslide in US presidential history.

CORRECTION: The original version of this episode said that LBJ's win in 1964 was bolstered by the Civil Rights Act. Historian Rick Perlstein wrote in to say that he won despite the Civil Rights Act.

Sources

• Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein.
• The Heritage Foundation's claims about Black Lives Matter
• JFK's address about the Cuban missile crisis
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
• LBJ ice cream ad
• Rockefeller's speech at the 1964 RNC via C-SPAN
• Birchers by Matthew Dallek
• Goldwater's speech at the 1964 RNC via C-SPAN
• 1964 RNC party platform
• These Truths by Jill LePore
• Goldwater's comments on the Religious Right

Discussion Questions

• How did the 1964 Republican platform show a slide to extremism?
• Is the argument for "states' rights" inherently racist? How has it been used to back racism?
• Why did Goldwater's talk about nuclear weapons make people uneasy?
• How did Goldwater's address to the 1964 RNC act as a call to extremists?
• Why did Lyndon Johnson win by the largest victory in US presidential history?
• Even though he lost dramatically, Goldwater had a big impact. What was it?

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Barry Goldwater may be one of the most interesting figures in Republican history. He grew up the son of a wealthy department store owner. He was a city council member and then a senator from Arizona. He was handsome and took pictures with guns and cacti. Goldwater was also a libertarian who wanted a small government and low taxes.

His platform was laid out in a ghostwritten book Conscience of a Conservative. L. Brent Bozell wrote the book. He was a member of the John Birch Society. The book advocated for state's rights, though Goldwater argued that he was not a racist. The problem is that the South had long been using state's rights complaints to justify their oppression of black people. So, was Goldwater a racist? He sure as heck did what racists wanted.

He also advocated for nuclear weapons in the US, an end to progressive taxation, and strange plans to reduce government spending. He courted extremists, mashing traditional conservatism false conspiracies and bad actors. The Republican Party would eventually bounce back to being an establishment party, but not for long. Many of Goldwater's ideas would be carried out by Reagan just a decade and a half later.

CORRECTION: The original version of this episode said that Goldwater served in WWI. It was WWII. Sorry! The error has been corrected.

Sources

• Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. Especially The Passage of Power
• Bichers by Matthew Dallek
• A Choice Not An Echo by Phyllis Schlafly
• Buckley: William F Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Cart T. Bogus
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05MPUsdFyQY The Memory Palace episode 130 “Independence Hall 2: The Legend of Walter Knott”
• 1964 Republican Party Platform
• Heather Cox Richardson's video series on the history of GOP

Questions

• What does it mean for someone to be a "conservative"?
• How does it impact us when we are tied to organizations like the John Birch Society? How did it impact conservatives?
• Discuss the relationship between the state's rights argument and racism.
• Was Goldwater a racist?
• Many of the people we've covered over the years have been public speakers. Should we take a second pass at vetting our public speakers?

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Robert Welch was a candy magnate who invented the Sugar Daddy and sold favorites like Junior Mints and Milk Duds. He was also very anti-communist. His dubious research led him to found the John Birch Society, a group whose mission was to spread conspiracy theories worldwide. They had major support from wealthy men like Fred Koch, father of the Koch brothers (who financed opposition to Obamacare and climate change legislation).

Some of their most notable campaigns were those against Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren and President Dwight Eisenhower. They claimed that these men were communist sympathizers working behind the scenes to put the communist agenda. Bogus stuff, but they gained thousands of followers across the country. They also fought the income tax, said that black people would not have wanted equality if the communists hadn't taught them to, and argued that the US is a republic and not a democratic republic.

Phyllis Schlafly, RJ Rushdoony, Tim LaHaye, and many others had ties to the birchers. This group had a huge influence on the Religious Right! Not to mention shifting the GOP to accept extremists.

Our special guest for this episode is Dr. Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. His book is Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right.

Sources:

• Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right by Matthew Dallek
• Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
• Divided We Stand by Marjorie Spruill
• Helpful Guardian article about the Koch brothers and Americans for Prosperity
• Christian Reconstruction: RJ Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism by Michael McVicar
• NY Times article about J. Howard Pew's connections to Robert Welch
• Dark Money by Jane Mayer

Discussion Questions

• What is the John Birch Society?
• Was communism a threat to the country in the mid-1900s?
• What would have been the proper way to respond to communism?
• What is the impact of conspiracy theories on American Christianity?
• There are real conspiracies in the US, like those by Donald Trump and his allies to steal the 2020 election. But a lot of Christians don't believe these real conspiracies. How has an abundance of false conspiracies numbed our ability to recognize reality?
• Are you surprised Tim LaHaye, Phyllis Schlafly, and RJ Rushdoony were affiliated with the JBS?
• How can believers maintain their faith even when evangelical culture has been corrupted?

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Modern evangelicalism sometimes incorporates pieces of different ideas. Things that are in the air. Social messages. Political stances. But has evangelicalism been enchanted by libertarianism?

In this episode, we cover a brief history of libertarianism. What is it and who are some of the main thinkers? We discuss Murry Rothbard, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek, and Robert Nozick.

What is a libertarian? Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi define libertarianism by six characteristics. Libertarians are defined by a love of private property, they are skeptical of authority, and they like free markets, spontaneous order, individualism, and negative liberty. We will define each of these throughout the episode.

Our special guest for this episode is Andrew Koppelman, law professor at Northwestern University. He's the author of the book Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed.

Sources

• Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed. by Andrew Koppelman
• The Individualists by Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi
• The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek
• Matthew 25
• The Road to Serfdom cartoon version
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro (for the Dust Bowl section in book 2)
• 99% Invisible episode The Infernal Machine for information on anarchists
• Teddy Roosevelt's first address to Congress
• Dark Money by Jane Mayer
• EPA.gov article about The Clean Air Act
• NPR story about law enforcement throwing protestors in unmarked vans
• Listen America! by Jerry Falwell
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (I could only stomach maybe 1/4 of it. I promised myself if she wrote "Rearden Steel" one more time that I would stop reading. She did. So I did.)

Discussion Questions

• What is libertarianism?
• How have you seen libertarianism crossing over into evangelicalism?
• Does libertarianism counter the story from Matthew 25?
• What is the impact of Ayn Rand? Have you read her books?
• Why did Atlas Shrugged suddenly become the "it" book among Republicans in 2020?
• Is there any place for selfishness in the Christian walk?

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Well, we survived the 2024 US presidential election! But many people still feel anxiety as we head into the Christmas and New Year holidays. How can Christians prepare for a holiday season when politics will likely arise?

Chris Staron is joined by Karl Klemmer, Nick Staron, and Ray McDaniel at First Baptist Church in Jackson, WY to discuss these issues and more. Plus Chris talks about his own anger as a pedestrian as drivers have come close to hitting him. How do Christians respond when they are wronged? We also spend a lot of time talking about Romans 14 which encourages believers to love their brothers and sisters who struggle in their faith or who have convictions different than our own. Can verses about food sacrificed to idols teach us something about dealing with loved ones who are different than us?

Sources:

• Romans 12-15 (mixed translations)

Discussion Questions:

• Why is it important to come to a complete stop at stop signs?
• Has anyone ever wronged you on the road? How did that feel? How did you react?
• Do you get upset about things you can't change? What are some examples?
• How can you adjust to not beat yourself up over things you can't change?
• What are other examples of non-mission critical things we can give grace on (like food sacrificed to idols)?
• Are there political issues that are mission-critical? Which ones are not? What are some that you can let slide in a conversation?
• How do you prepare yourself to enter a stressful environment?

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How do ultra-wealthy people avoid paying taxes? It seems like a strange subject to bring up when discussing why some evangelicals are drawn to the Republican Party. But many of the ties between evangelicals and the GOP have to do with money. So, let's take a little side trip and explore the tax loopholes of today. More importantly, let's try to understand why so many Americans are tax-averse. Could it possibly be because we, deep down, know that someone else is getting a better deal than us?

One tactic used by the ultra-wealthy is "buy, borrow, die". They avoid "income", instead opting for assets like stock and real estate they can borrow against. Borrowed money is not taxed. Then they either pay back those loans with other loans (often with interest rates that are much lower than their tax rates would be) or they fail to pay back the loans. Then... they die.

Jesse Eisinger is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter with Pro Publica. Chris first heard about him from his book (pardon the language) The Chickenshit Club and met him when he appeared at a live event in Jackson, WY hosted by the Teton County Library, the Center for the Arts, and the Jackson Hole News and Guide.

Sources

• Pro-Publica's reporting on taxation
• This lecture at the Center for the Arts in Jackson, WY on November 8, 2023
• Fascinating IRS responses to some of the conspiracy theories about them
• Disney's Donald Duck film "The New Spirit" encourages income tax as a national duty
• Time Magazine article about the history of taxes
• William McKinley vs. William Jennings Bryan by John Pafford (pg 29)
• New York Times archival article listing taxes paid by the wealthy
• The 16th Amendment
• The Macomber case article on Justia.com
• Historic Tax Bracket data
• Time Magazine article on the John Birch Society
• Methodist History from January 1988

Discussion Questions:

• What are your thoughts on the income tax in general?
• How should countries be funded?
• Why might a progressive tax structure (where wealthy people pay more) make sense?
• How could we close some of these tax loopholes?
• What is the difference between income and wealth?
• Should we tax wealth in the USA?

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It all started with a meeting over fancy donuts. Paige Patterson and a friend met together to plot the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. Before that time, the SBC had been more theologically diverse (though, not necessarily racially diverse due to its founding as a group that desired slavery). But if this group of fundamentalists was going to get a whole denomination to turn their way, they'd have to be clever. It would take time.

Their scheme involved getting fundies elected into high office who could then turn committees and sub-committees to their side. It's a story of a minority group gaining control of a large organization, and steering it toward their vision of what it means to be a Christian.

Sources

• The Fundamentalist Takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention – by Rob James, Gary Leazer
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Christianity Today article about Paige Patterson's allegations
• Religion News article about Patterson
• Tennesseean article about Patterson
• Article about early Baptists
• Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley
• Cornell's article about the separation of church and state
• Frances Shaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America by Barry Hankins
• Johnson Archives about SBC
• Johnson Archives SBC Resolutions
• Certified Pastry Aficianatro article about beignets

Discussion Questions

• The episode starts with a discussion of accusations about Paige Patterson. What was your reaction to that story and why?
• Is it possible for a spouse to be a part of the salvation of their husband or wife? Where are the lines?
• When were you baptized? Did you do it as an adult, child, or both? Why?
• What do you think is the "right" way to baptize someone? Why?
• What are your thoughts on inerrancy?

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What are the warning signs that a church leader will become a tyrant? How do we prevent church hurt from becoming our identity? What are ideologies and how do they become the overall focus of some ministries?

Mike Cosper is the co-host of Christianity Today's The Bulletin podcast, the producer and host of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, and now the author of The Church in Dark Times.

Discussion Questions:

• How does Mike define "Ideology"? What does it mean to have a strong ideology? Do you have any? How does this differ from having a simple belief?
• Why do you think so many people today struggle with anxiety? How can ideologies protect us from our anxiety? Why might that be a poor crutch?
• Mike recommends worship as a way to fend off anxiety. Why could that help?
• Is it wrong for churches and organizations to have a missions statement or goals?

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In the Kanawha County Textbook War episode, Chris shared that the people of that county fought against some textbooks and stories being read in classrooms and as homework. Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado is one of the texts that was contested.

So Chris decided to read it here as a bonus episode at the end of October. Enjoy!

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Francis Schaeffer is one of the most important theological thinkers of the 20th century. He urged fundamentalists and evangelicals to think outside of their separatism and consider how they could reach the world and expand their worldview. He began his career as a preacher in the United States, but a foreign missions board asked him to assess the state of fundamentalism in Europe after WWII. While there he saw great works of art and met fascinating people. Eventually, Schaeffer moved to Switzerland to start L'Abri, a chalet community where wanderers could come, live, and discuss the gospel.

That's where the story may have ended. But his lectures were turned into audio cassettes and books. Then, from this small mountain village, Schaeffer became one of the best-known evangelicals in the world. Once he returned to the United States, his books took on a Christian nationalist tone which sticks with us today.

Our guest for this episode is Barry Hankins. He's the author of Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America. He is a professor of history at Baylor University.

Sources:

• Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America by Barry Hankins
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitgerald
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• A helpful article about the Renaissance
• A helpful article about the Enlightenment
• Schaeffer's film How Should We Then Live?
• Gospel Coalition article about secular humanism
• A Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer

Discussion Questions:

• Have you read any of Schaeffer's work?
• What is your "worldview"? How did you get it? How did you become aware of that concept?
• Should all Christians have an idea of their worldview? Should it look a certain way?
• What do you think about the middle part of Schaeffer's ministry when he was preaching in L'Abri? How does it differ from the last third of his ministry?
• How have you seen Christian nationalism? What parts of the Bible do people use to justify it?

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Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique kicked off second-wave feminism in the United States. The book was published in 1963 and addressed what she called "the problem that has no name". As women's roles shifted with the invention of electricity and the number of workers needed to run farms decreased, women's roles shifted. The idea of a "traditional" woman went from a farm laborer or factory worker to someone who kept the home and managed her children's schedules. This left many women feeling unsatisfied and searching for their purpose in life. Friedan's book addressed those issues and inspired more extreme views of women.

Several "Christian" books were published to respond to Friedan and second-wave feminism. One was The Total Woman, the number one bestselling nonfiction book of the year which has sold over 10 million copies. Published in 1973, it was the genesis of the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes where Kathy Bates goes to the door to meet her husband wrapped in Saran Wrap. It encouraged women to use costumes to greet their husbands, to avoid being "shrewish", and to use Norman Vincent Peele's philosophy of positive thinking.

Another book was The Spirit-Controlled Woman by Beverly LaHaye. This was a companion piece to a book written by her husband Tim LaHaye, but it somehow managed to avoid telling women how to live by the Spirit.

Special guests join Chris for this episode. Each took a different book so we can better understand this movement and counter-movement.

Special Guests:

• Amy Fritz of the Untangled Faith podcast
• Anna Tran of the Love Thy Neighborhood podcast
• Jen Pollock Michel author of In Good Time, A Habit Called Faith, and Surprised by Paradox

Sources:

• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
• The Spirit-Controlled Woman by Beverly LaHaye
• The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan

Discussion Questions:

• What is your relationship to the books we discussed in these episodes?
• What is the difference between first-wave feminism and second-wave feminism?
• How have the roles of women changed in society in the last 200 years? What role did electricity, the Industrial Revolution and wars shaped those roles?
• What was the "problem that has no name"? How did/does it impact women's lives?
• How does this vision of feminism compare and contrast to biblical images of women?
• How have we added or subtracted from what the Bible says about women to create our modern image of a "Christian woman"?
• Morgan advised her readers to meet their husbands at the door in costumes. What is your opinion of this idea?
• What did she mean when she said she had been "shrewish"? Is that term insulting to women? Why?
• Is the "Christian ideal" vision of women one that requires women to stay home with children?

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In the 1960s, Tom Tarrants was a young man on a mission - to save America from Communism, Marxism, and desegregation. He was prepared to do anything, including joining the Ku Klux Klan, drive-by shootings, or even dying for his cause. Yet God had a far greater plan for this would-be revolutionary.

Find the Compelled Podcast at https://compelledpodcast.com/

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The National Women's Conference was set to take place. State meetings were overrun by conservative women causing disruptions to the meetings as they paid the entrance fee with pennies or made noises during the discussions. But liberal women were not angels either. Some went so far as to accuse the conservatives of sending in mental patients to do their voting.

It's easy in all of the noise to forget that this was a monumental meeting. Women from all over the country gathered together to discuss issues that impacted them. They ran the show. They set the agenda. Conservative women, by and large, didn't show up for the main meeting. Why? Because of conspiracy theories circulated by groups led by people like Phyllis Schlafly saying that the elections would be rigged. Also, they started their own conference across town.

This pro-life, pro-family rally was only about three hours long. But it packed a big punch. People from all over the country took busses overnight to attend. They couldn't stay the night because hotels were already booked up for the main meeting. So they came and went on the same day, taking the pro-family, pro-life movement with them.

In this episode, Chris winds up a three-part mini-series that takes us from Phyllis Schlafly's turn against the ERA to this momentous weekend in 1977. The fallout of the conference is still with us today as religious people on the right work together to accomplish their goals, often trying to undo what liberals on the far left have already done. Extremes continue to snipe at extremes as the middle tries to get things done.

Our guest for this episode is Marjorie Spruill, author of the book Divided We Stand. It is an excellent resource that is balanced and well-notated.

Sources:

• Divided We Stand by Marjorie Spruill
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• Interviews from the National Women's Conference
• Phyllis Schlafly Report from December 1977
• NBC's coverage of Phyllis Schlafly's funeral with Donald Trump's eulogy

Discussion Questions:

• What were some positive outcomes of the National Women's Year conference?
• What were some challenges they faced?
• Why did conservatives feel shut out of the conference?
• What do you think about the role of conspiracy theories in conservative circles (example: Schlafly's insistence that the meeting votes were rigged)?
• Schlafly was overlooked in the Reagan administration. Why do you think that is?
• Why is it so hard for people of different beliefs to work together, even for the common good?
• What do you think would have happened if the IWY conference had not featured lesbian rights? Should it have avoided that controversial topic, or was it an issue whose moment had come?

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In 1977, the Congress of the United States allotted $5 million for the National Women's Conference. The money was intended to bring together women from around the country so that they could put together recommendations for the Congress and President. It would highlight women of color, and those minorities who were sometimes overlooked like Native American women. But there was conflict from its inception.

Liberal women, some of the same who turned NOW into a liberal group, took control. They did not want the far-right to participate, women like Phyllis Schlafly who had fought so hard to stall the ERA. This only made conservative women more bitter.

There was more fuel for the fire. Gay and lesbian rights were added to the discussion topics of the convention. That was a big deal in 1977 when conservative women rallied around Anita Bryant and her fight against equal rights for homosexuals in Miami, Florida. The Bible says that homosexuality is a sin, so some conservative religious people did not want to give homosexuals rights in the US. So for liberal women to incorporate a gay and lesbian plank into the National Women's Conference was a BIG deal. And a way to pick a fight with conservatives.

The battle ultimately led to conservatives hosting their own conference a few miles away. This gathering ultimately united the Religious Right and kicked off the Pro-Life, Pro-Family movement that we know today. How did women play a role in uniting evangelicals with the Republican Party?

Our guest today is Marjoie Spruill. She is the author of the fantastic book Divided We Stand. She is a distinguished professor emerita of history at the University of South Carolina.

Sources:

• Divided We Stand by Marjorie Spruill
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Anita Bryant's orange juice commercial
• Phyllis Schlafly on PBS video
• Former President Trump's eulogy for Phyllis Schlafly
• Andy Warhol's cover art for Time Magazine of Bella Abzug
• New York Times article about women swinging while their husbands were in Vietnam
• "Revive Us Again" by Joel Carpenter

Discussion Questions:

• What is your impression of Anita Bryant? Do you remember her?
• What rights should homosexuals have in the United States? In the last episode about Phyllis Schlafly, we looked at conflicting opinions of what equal rights look like for women. Should they be treated the same as men or have equality plus protections? Let's transfer that question to homosexuals. Should they have equal rights, fewer rights, or equal rights plus protections?
• Should women on the president's council have opened the National Women's Conference to women on the far right?
• What do you think will happen once the conference is launched?

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Phyllis Schalfly was a remarkable woman. Regardless of your politics, you have to admire the impact that one person, who was never elected to office, could have on national political conversations. Schlafly was already part of the in-crowd in Washington when she took a stance against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). She was an exercise in nuance herself-- a woman who fought for traditional views of women in society, while also earning a law degree and touring the nation on speaking tours. She had a family and held a prominent position in the national zeitgeist, even building on battles fought by Anita Bryant.

But who was Phyllis Schlafly? She was a Catholic woman, which is important because Catholics had long been the victims of prejudice in the United States. She was a mother, a popular speaker, publisher of The Phyllis Schlafly Report newsletter, and author of books like A Choice, Not An Echo, which was a conspiratorial screed about stealing elections. This lady knew how to turn a story. She ran for Congress in 1955 and again in 1970, losing both times.

Then in 1972, she learned about the ERA. The Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed by Alice Paul in 1923. The goal was to have men and women treated equally under the law. That means that women would no longer receive special protections either. So... a double-edged sword, right? Women in the 1960s and 70s still had a ways to go when it came to equality. It brought forth some big questions about how to achieve it.

Schlafly wanted to protect the protections. So she formed STOP ERA (Stop Taking Our Protections, ERA) to rally her followers against the ERA. This was a big twist because state after state had rushed to ratify the amendment. But once Phyllis got going, they applied the brakes and waited.

Schlafly may have single-handedly stopped an Amendment to the Constitution.

In this episode, we're going to learn about this dynamo. A woman who is both loved and hated. An intelligent woman, and someone who traded in falsities.

Our guests for this episode are Marjorie Spruill, author of Divided We Stand and Angie Maxwell, author of The Long Southern Strategy.

Important Sources:

• Divided We Stand by Marjorie Spruill
• The Long Southern Strategy by Angie Maxwell
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• A helpful list of milestones in women's rights
• Video of Esther Peterson
• Video of Phyllis Schlafly talking about A Choice, Not An Echo on C-SPAN
• A copy of Ladies, Have Ya' Heard? as mentioned in the episode
• Illinois State Archives interview with Phyllis
• An article from Time Magazine about the ERA's history
• Britannica article about The Fairness Doctrine
• Smithsonian article about Phyllis Schlafly

Discussion Questions:

• What do you think about legal protections for women? Are you an Esther, an Alice, or a Phyllis?
• The ERA is really short. Do you think it should be more specific to clarify its position?
• How have you seen sexism? How has it impacted your life?
• Have you seen women treated well in the workplace? What made the difference?
• Are stay-at-home mothers respected in our society? If not, what can you and your church do to support them?
• What are your impressions of Phyllis?
• Are you okay with people using conspiracy theories to bolster their followings?
• We've spent a fair bit of time this season talking about parachurch organizations. What are your thoughts on them?

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RJ Rushdoony is not a household name. But he influenced a lot of interesting people, from members of the New Right to the Christian homeschooling movement. His books and lectures inspired people to pull their kids out of public schools and teach them at home. But who was RJ Rushdoony?

He was deeply impacted by his time doing missionary work on a Native American reservation. There he saw how difficult it was to get anything done and to give people proper access to their government. He went on to work with libertarian organizations like Spiritual Mobilization and the Volker Fund. His mentor Cornelius Van Til taught him to see the triad of government, church, and family in a new way. In Rushdoony's mind, those three spheres should not interfere with each other. BUT, he did want Christians to run the government. Instead of doing a top-down change, he wanted change to begin with families, then rise to the church, eventually taking over the political sphere.

Howard Phillips, one of the founders of the New Right, was a disciple of Rushdoony. So was his son, Doug Phillips, who founded the homeschooling movement known as Vision Forum. In this episode, Chris interviews Paul Hastings of the Compelled podcast about how they met at a Vision Forum film festival.

The special guest for today is Michael McVicar, author of "Christian Reconstruction: R.J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism."

Sources:

• Christian Reconstruction: R.J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism by Michael McVicar
• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Helpful article about libertarian philosophy
• One Nation Under God by Kevin Kruse

Discussion Questions:

• How do you think Rushdoony was impacted by his experiences on the reservation?
• What is libertarianism? What do you think about it?
• In what ways have you seen libertarianism presented in evangelical culture?
• What did Rushdoony think about public schools? How was this a departure from progressive-era Christian thinkers?
• How does Christian homeschooling differ from other forms of homeschooling?
• Why did homeschooling take off in the 1980s and 1990s?
• What role, if any, should Christians play in public schools?

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In 1974, Alice Moore was a member of the school board in Kanawha County, West Virginia. The board met to hear the recommendations of the textbook committee and approve them. But Alice protested when she read a portion from the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which thanked Allah for preventing Malcolm X from being a black Christian. From there they uncovered a number of potentially offensive texts, some because of language, others because of discussions of rape. Race was likely a factor as well, though Moore denied it.

Local pastors decried what they saw as secularism and humanism creeping into public schools. Parents blocked school buses, and others kept their children at home. Soon, there were fights, and dynamite was used to blow up school buildings. What started as a disagreement over books erupted into an all-out war. One that echoed in other parts of the country at the same time as families wrestled with changes in education.

Sources:

• "The Great Textbook Wars" - award-winning documentary on the battle
• "The Invisible Bridge" by Rick Perlstein
• "Soul on Ice" by Eldrige Cleaver (archive.org)
• "Androcles and the Lion" by Aesop
• Texas Monthly article about the Gablers
• Video of the Gablers talking to William F Buckley on "Firing Line"
• The New York Times article about schools closed in WV
• The New York Times article about the textbook war
• Radio interview about the John Birch Society

Discussion Questions:

• Had you heard of the textbook war before?
• What did you think of the passage from "Soul on Ice"? Should it be read by senior students headed for college? What about other students?
• Who should decide what gets taught in local school districts? How about nationally?
• How did Alice Moore and others act appropriately? How about inappropriately?
• The KKK and John Birch Society show up a few times this season, often opportunistically. Does their appearance automatically smear all participants as racist?
• What else was going on in 1974 that could have escalated the panic of the era?

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Something had to be done. The Great Depression meant the loss of a vast number of jobs and left families waiting on bread lines. Economists like John Meynard Keynes puzzled over what to do. President Hoover took a laissez-faire approach to the catastrophe, only to have matters get worse. Then Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office and his administration kicked The New Deal into gear. It was a program that offered diverse aid to citizens from protections for money in banks to homeowner assistance.

Many Christian leaders came to hate the New Deal, especially libertarians. Their opposition to the New Deal as creeping socialism sparked the National Prayer Breakfast, some of Billy Graham's speeches, and the bonding of capitalism to Christianity and the US. So we should probably know what the New Deal was!

Our guest on this episode is Justin Rosolino. He's a high school history teacher and the author of the book "Idiot Sojourning Soul".

You can find pictures of Chris' 50-mile New Deal Bike Tour on the website at www.trucepodcast.com.

Helpful Links:

• FDR's Inauguration Speech on C-SPAN
• Interesting YouTube video about the causes of the Great Depression

Topics Discussed:

• What was the Social Gospel?
• Who was Franklin Roosevelt?
• What was the New Deal?
• The Civilian Conservation Corp
• The Works Progress Administration
• Jenny Lake - Grand Teton National Park
• Unemployment

Discussion Questions:

• Why do some people dislike the New Deal?
• Which of the programs most impacts you?
• What do you think of the New Deal? Was it a form of socialism?
• Do you think there will ever be another New Deal in the US?

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In 1955, the Board of Regents for New York issued an optional prayer to be used in public schools. It became known as the "Regent's Prayer". Here it is: "“Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country.” That short prayer was contested not only by non-religious people but also by Protestants who thought that it was too vague. What God is it talking about? Where is the mention of Jesus or the Holy Spirit, salvation, sin, grace, etc.?

With help from the ACLU, parents sued and the case made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. It was known as Engle v. Vitale. It overturned prescribed prayer in schools. In this episode, Chris goes through the arguments the court and Justice Hugo Black made during this landmark decision. A year later, the Court heard Abington School District v. Schempp, which ended prescribed Bible reading in public schools.

This season we're covering how American evangelicals bonded themselves with the Republican Party. There are a lot of reasons that evangelicals started to vote as a block in the late 70s and early 1980s. They range from women's liberation, changes in attitude toward taxation, and battles over gay and lesbian rights, to education. This is part of our coverage of the education section. This episode has been rewritten and recorded, updating an episode from season 3.

Sources:

• "One Nation Under God" by Kevin Kruse
• Transcript of Abington School District v Schempp
• Census data about public and private schools
• Transcript and audio of Engel v Vitale

Discussion Questions:

• Did you ever pray in school? What did you pray?
• Did you ever read the Bible in school?
• Is there an "ideal" prayer that should be read in schools? If so, what is it? What objections might parents have?
• Is it important for school children to learn about religions in school?
• Do you agree or disagree with Justice Hugo Black?

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It seems like so many people define their faith by what they believe about Donald Trump. How can godly Christians return to the gospel to get us back on track?

In this round table discussion episode, Chris is joined by Pastor Ray McDaniel of First Baptist Church in Jackson, WY and Nick Staron to prepare us for the season.

Topics Discussed:

• What is Christianity?
• The importance of forgiveness and going to those who are angry with us
• Why it is important to cover things like the Watergate scandals of the 1970s in a Christian podcast
• The need for humility in our lives
• The gospel in 10 words or less

Do you have a gospel message in 10 words or less? Find Truce on social media and let us know!

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When did Republicans, the party of Abraham Lincoln, start courting the American South? It's a big question! For decades, Republicans were known as the party that helped black people (except, you know, for ending Reconstruction to help gain the White House). Then, with the nomination of Barry Goldwater, the tide turned. Goldwater's team promoted him as a racist when he toured the South. And... he won some ground in the traditionally Democratic region.

So when it came time for Richard Nixon to run in 1968, his team decided to court the South. Not out in public like Goldwater had. Instead, they decided to operate a campaign of "benign neglect" where they would not enforce existing laws meant to protect African-Americans.

Our special guest this week is Angie Maxwell, author of The Long Southern Strategy.

Discussion Questions:

• What caused the rift in the Democratic Party that made Strom Thurmond leave (hint: it has to do with Truman)?
• What was the Democratic Party like before Truman?
• What influence did Strom Thurmond have on Nixon?
• Who was Barry Goldwater? How did he change the Republican Party by courting white Southerners?
• How might the idea of the South being "benighted" impact them as a people?
• Why do so many evangelicals see themselves as "benighted"?

Sources:

• "The Long Southern Strategy" by Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields.
• "Reaganland" by Rick Perlstein
• YouTube clip of Nixon not wanting "Law and Order" to mean "racist"
• Nixon talking about "law and order" in a speech
• Nixon's campaign ad about protests and tear gas
• Article about Nelson Rockefeller
• Nixon's civil rights ad
• Helpful Time Magazine article
• "These Truths" book by Jill Lepore
• Bio on Strom Thurmond
• Article about Reconstruction
• "The Evangelicals" book by Frances Fitzgerald
• Truman's speech to the NAACP

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Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, was good friends with Richard Nixon. The two played golf and gave each other advice. Graham was the person who encouraged Nixon to run for president a second time. He also encouraged Nixon to regularly attend church, so Nixon started the first regular church service in the White House, only to make it another "it" place to be seen. But when Nixon's crimes were made public, Graham continued to support him, commenting only on the strong language used by the president.

What does it mean for Christian leaders to stand behind a corrupt president? In this episode, Chris interviews David Bruce, a historian at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

NOTE: I thought it was especially important to outline the many crimes of the Nixon administration. Today these crimes are downplayed by bad actors wishing to rewrite history. It is important to emphasize that not only were there immoral acts of shenanigans, there were real crimes perpetrated against individuals, organizations, and the American people.

Sources

• "The Surprising Work of God" by Garth M. Rosell
• An article from The Atlantic about the Pope and Mussolini
• "The Popes Against the Protestants" by Kevin Madigan
• NPR interview with Kevin Madigan
• "A Prophet With Honor" book by William Martin
• "The Invisible Bridge" by Rick Perlstein
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald
• "The Failure and the Hope: Essays of Southern Churchmen" book of essays accessed on Google Books
• New York Times article about how the Watergate break-in was financed
• Pat Buchanan hearings during the Watergate investigation
• Frost/Nixon transcript

Discussion Questions:

• Was Billy Graham being a good friend by supporting Nixon after Watergate?
• Should religious leaders maintain a certain amount of distance between themselves and people of power?
• Why do we like to see our governmental leaders as religious people?
• Was Nixon's church service in the Whitehouse wrong to be a gathering place of the rich and famous?
• How bad was the Watergate break-in? How does it change your mind about Nixon to know about the other criminal activity?

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Harold Ockenga was a famous fundamentalist(ish) pastor from Boston. And he had a problem. Liberal Christians had the ear of the government. That meant that military chaplain positions and free radio time were going to liberals, not conservatives. Why shouldn't conservatives have access to the radio waves like theologically liberal Christians? But that would take unity among evangelicals, or, what he called neo-evangelicals.

Neo-evangelicals were evangelicals who didn't separate from the world. In Ockenga's case, this meant maybe going to the movies or an opera. So he, along with other preachers like Billy Graham, founded the National Association of Evangelicals with the hope of uniting neo-evangelicals under one banner.

It didn't work.

The real story, though, sometimes gets lost. The was a big boom in evangelism in the 1940s as WWII wrapped up. Evangelists targeted the youth with organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ springing up left and right. This boom meant that churches swelled in the 1950s, only to begin their long slide a few decades later.

In this episode, Chris speaks with Joel Carpenter, a senior research fellow at Calvin College and author of "Revive Us Again".

Resources Used:

• "Revive Us Again" by Joel Carpenter
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald
• "The Surprising Work of God" by Garth Rosell
• "Reaganland" by Rick Perlstein
• NPS article about the Bonus Army
• “After the Ivory Tower Falls” book by Will Bunch
• Billy Graham audio
• National Association of Evangelicals "The New Treason"
• Interviews from Harold Ockenga at Wheaton College

Discussion Questions:

• What spurred the revivals of the 1940s?
• How has youth evangelism shaped American society?
• Why is it important to understand the role that cheap higher education played in shaping the 1960s?
• Why did neo-evangelicals feel that they needed access to the radio waves?
• Is unity important to the Christian walk?

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Thomas McIntyre stood before the US Congress to deliver a moving speech. The man was being hounded by a fringe movement known as the New Right. The movement came from the work of men like Paul Weyrich, Howard Phillips, and Richard Viguerie. Their goal was to disrupt the Republican Party. They wanted to do away with much of the federal government and program to help the poor while simultaneously cutting taxes and increasing the military. They hoped to accomplish this by controlling direct mail. Direct mail! It sounds silly, but by inundating voters and congressional offices with bulk mail they could control the story.

Men like McIntyre and Senator Mark Hatfield didn't know what to do with this influx of petty politics. Someone had even gone so far as to question Hatfield's Christian salvation just because of how we was going to vote on the Panama Canal treaty. What does giving the Panama Canal back to Panama have to do with salvation? Almost nothing.

Today, we're going to explore this wacky phenomenon where we call something "Christian" or "biblical" if it fits out politics not if it is addressed in the Bible. How are we being manipulated by propaganda like this? And what can we do about it?

Discussion Questions:

• Was the United States responsible in its claiming the Panama Canal as a territory?
• Are there things in your life that you mix with Christianity?
• How have your politics gotten confused with your faith?
• Does the Bible have anything to say on the Panama Canal treaty?

Sources:

• "Reaganland" book by Rick Perlstein
• Handy article on the history of the Panama Canal
• Congressional record including the speeches

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In this special bonus episode, Truce host Chris Staron walks you through a day in the life of a podcast host. He works about 11 hours per day between this show and his full-time job driving a school bus. Imagine what he could do if he were doing this show full-time!!!!

Chris has worked on Truce for 6 1/2 years and is ready to make the show his main focus. We could make that happen if every listener gave $15 per year!

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Season six is almost here! This season we're exploring the backstory of why so many evangelicals turned to the Republican Party in the 1970s and 80s. It's a huge story that involves murder, corruption, greed, taxes, school choice, racism, and a lot of big questions. Special guests include Rick Perlstein, Frances Fitzgerald, Marjorie Spruill, Jesse Eisinger, and so many more.

Subscribe to Truce wherever you get your podcasts, or listen at trucepodcast.com

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Joseph McCarthy was an unexceptional junior congressman from Wisconsin. He grew up brawling in the streets, playing cards, and embellishing his stories. Then, during a Lincoln Day address in 1950, Joseph McCarthy told an audience that he had a list of 205 communists working in the government. Within days, he was a household name.

McCarthy started "investigating" suspected communists in the American government, focusing on the US State Department. Along the way, he brought in a young lawyer named Roy Cohn. Cohn was already known for his work sending Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair. Now, he and McCarthy bullied and cajoled during private hearings. Being labeled a communist, or even a suspected communist could ruin a person's career. People committed suicide rather than face their scrutiny.

Their reign lasted four years, ending in the televised broadcasts of the Army-McCarthy hearings in which a lawyer asked if McCarthy had any decency. That was pretty much it for McCarthy. But Roy Cohn went on to have a well-connected career, providing legal services for the mob and Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News. He also became a mentor to a young real estate mogul named Donald Trump. Famous people like Andy Warhol attended his birthday party at Studio 54. Cohn died of AIDS, something that was killing gay men rapidly in the 1980s, though he denied he ever had it.

This is the story of two men allowed to prey on the fears of the American people for their own gain. One fell hard, the other found himself fighting against his own people.

In this episode, Chris interviews Larry Tye, author of the book "Demagogue". He's also the author of "Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend" and "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon".

Sources:

• "Demagogue" by Larry Tye
• Helpful article about the Rosenbergs
• Article about Klaus Fuchs
• McCarthy's speech in Wheeling, WV
• New York Times, February 23, 1954. Pages 16-17 “Transcript of General Zwicker's Testimony Before the McCarthy Senate Subcommittee”
• Video from Army-McCarthy hearings (forward to the last 20 minutes if you want to jump to the stuff I used)
• The guest list for Roy Cohn's birthday at Studio 54

Discussion Questions:

• Why do we love demagogues?
• Who are other demagogues in American history?
• The threat of communists in the government in the 1950s is sometimes downplayed. Do you think it was a real concern?
• McCarthy ran for Congress in an illegal way while still in the Marines. How do you feel about that?
• Roy Cohn sometimes went against his own people, claiming that gay people did not deserve equal rights. What might have been his motivation?
• Do you see any crossover between McCarthy, Cohn, and Donald Trump?
• Cohn died of AIDs in the 1980s when the disease was at its peak. Why might he have wanted to keep his illness a secret?

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The Love Thy Neighborhood podcast is really well produced. But they also take deep dives into some of the things going on in modern Christianity that I can't cover on Truce. They are a good supplement to the stuff we cover on this feed. So we thought... why not share each other's show?

In this bonus episode, you'll hear Chris talking with Anna Tran and Jesse Eubanks about their episode "Where the Gospel Meets Artificial Intelligence". It is a look into the ways in which AI may someday try to gain ground in the spiritual realm. Also, they do an interview with TikTok evangelist York Moore who uses that medium to share the gospel. I was especially interested in the ways in which AI chatbots are building false relationships with people, taking the place of human interactions.

They cover a lot of ground! Let them know that you heard about their show from the Truce Podcast!

Season six starts in just a few months, but I will be launching a bonus episode in a few weeks. Subscribe so you get every new episode as it's released.

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On March 4, 1933, FDR delivered his inaugural address. In it, he used the phrase "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I did a little searching and this phrase is used a LOT in Christian books. So often. But it almost always refers to the fear one person has in their heart. In reality, it is a comment on collective fear. The Great Depression started in 1929 and was exacerbated by a bank run in which Americans lost faith in the value of our currency and the banking systems.

That is an important distinction. FDR's speech is about collective fear. As I've contemplated the modernist/fundamentalist debate this season, I keep returning to the idea of fear, not in the US economy but in God's economy. He commands us to love the Lord, keep His commands, love our neighbors, turn the other cheek, and give to those who ask of us. Why do we forget to do this important work? Could it be because we've lost faith in God's economy?

This episode features a clip from my discussion with Jacob Goldstein, former host of NPR's Planet Money podcast and the current host of Pushkin's What's Your Problem? podcast. His book is Money: The True Story of a Made-up Thing.

Select Sources

• FDR's Inaugural Address
• Jacob Goldstein's Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
• Movie: It's a Wonderful Life

Discussion Questions:

• Why does it matter that FDR's quote "...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" is a collective statement and not one about individual fear?
• What are some identifying features of God's economy?
• Do you trust in the way that God tells us to do things?
• When was the last time you prayed for someone who you don't like?
• Do you believe in turning the other cheek?

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"The ends justify the means" is a phrase we hear occasionally. Often it is used to justify bad behavior, so long as it creates a profitable outcome. But we Christians know that we are called to live righteous lives. Are we people of the ends, or should we be known as a people of the means?

Chris is joined this week by Pastor Ray McDaniel of First Baptist Church in Jackson, WY, and his twin brother Nick Staron to discuss this important issue.

Discussion Questions:

• What does "the ends justify the means" mean?
• How have you seen that philosophy played out?
• Is that something you believe?
• How would things change if we focused more on the way we do things instead of our goals?
• How have fundamentalists justified their goals with poor behavior? How have modernists?

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In 1945, C.S. Lewis published his excellent book "The Great Divorce". It happens to be one of my favorite books. It has many themes, the biggest of which is that there can be no hell in heaven. The two are divorced from each other (hence the title). Another is that humans are easily distracted from God's work and the gospel.

This season I've been telling the backstory of Christian fundamentalism. I think many of us have been distracted from the gospel because of politics or the people around us. If you were joined by a loved one who passed away or an angel who challenged you to walk to heaven, would you? What distracts you from following Jesus? From really going for it?

Special thanks to my improv troupe (Nick, Josh, and Jackie) who helped with voices. Additional vocal work came from Paul Hastings from the "Compelled" podcast and Jerry Dugan from "Beyond the Rut". Give their shows a listen and let me know what you think!

Sources:

• The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (though I only used some concepts)

Discussion Questions:

• What distracts you from following God?
• Are you tied too strongly to things? Safety? Your family? Your job? Your identity? Your politics?
• What books do you read over and over again? Why?
• How can a person's own love of intellectualism be a distraction? How can we have compassion?

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The various countries also wanted to be compensated for their efforts to stop Napoleon. Couldn't they take a little piece of land? Encroach on one of the lesser kingdoms? Install their own puppet governments? In trying to undo all of the changes Napoleon made, they became little Napoleons themselves.

In the same way, when we confront extremism with extremism we become exactly what we dislike. Shouldn't Christians be more focused on simple righteousness than culture wars?

Select Sources:

• The Rites of Peace by Adam Zamoyski
• Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts (a great place to start if you want to learn about Napoleon)

Discussion Questions:

• What was the Congress of Vienna?
• Why did the congress matter?
• Have you ever served God to the point where it cost you something big to do so?
• How have you seen the modern Church become what it opposes?
• Have you seen Christians or churches act in a righteous way?

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The first-century Christian Church had a lot going on. Their Savior died and was resurrected, sending the Holy Spirit and leaving them with the command to take this new message to all tribes and tongues. The book of Acts records some of their travels, as they went all over the known world with this good news. But they were not the only people evangelizing. So were the gnostics. Gnosticism takes a lot of different shapes. It was a belief system that challenged Christianity, even as some tried to incorporate elements into the faith.

Now consider modernist theology - what we've been talking about all season. It is a belief system that doesn't believe in the miracles or the divinity of Jesus. To evangelicals of the 1800s and 1900s, this was a real threat. Like Gnosticism before it, modernism threatened to destabilize the gospel message. What to do?

In this bonus episode, Chris takes a look at 1-3 John to see what they have to say about dealing with heresy.

Chris is hard at work on season 6! He'll be presenting these short episodes in the meantime to recap some of the themes of season 5.

Discussion Questions:

• If you were alive in the mid-1800s and saw modernism rising, what would you do?
• Do you think modernism is a heresy?
• How should Christians today deal with heresy?
• What did the fundamentalists get right and how did they mess up when approaching heresy?

Selected Source Materials:

• 1-3 John
• "The Early Church" by Henry Chadwick

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One year later the play Inherit the Wind opened. It was supposed to be a critique of the McCarthy era set inside of a re-telling of the Scopes "monkey" trial. In doing so, it got many of the facts wrong. John Scopes never spent any time in jail. He didn't have a girlfriend, and that girlfriend was not berated on the stand. The townspeople of Dayton, TN were welcoming to both Bryan and Darrow.

To explore this work of art and revisionist history I spoke with the hosts of the Seeing and Believing podcast Kevin McLenithan and Sarah Welch-Larson.

Select differences between the Scopes trial and Inherit the Wind

• John Scopes was arrested but never spent time in jail.
• He was "arrested" in a soda fountain where the test trial was conceived and not in school.
• Scopes later claimed he never taught evolution, which is why he never took the stand in real life.
• The entire case was set up as a publicity stunt to bring attention to the town of Dayton, TN. They got the idea when they saw an ad placed by the ACLU.
• The character of Rachel did not exist in real life.
• The people of Dayton were welcoming to both Darrow and Bryan and Scopes was loved by many. He even spent time swimming with the prosecution between trial sessions.
• The moment when Bryan was on trial was held outdoors.
• H.L. Mencken was not some loveable curmudgeon. He was an anti-semite and a racist.
• Dayton largely did not vote for Bryan when he ran for president.
• Bryan died a few days after the trial, not while in the courtroom.
• Darrow did not carry a copy of the Bible and Darwin out of the courtroom.
• The textbook in question during the trial was clearly pro-eugenics, was sold in the soda fountain, and had been approved by the state textbook committee.
• The preachers of the town were kind. The odd sermon given the night of the trial never happened and the script adds a lot of strange things that are not in the Bible.
• Bryan wished the law to have no penalty, unlike his stand-in in the movie who hoped for a harsher punishment.

Sources

• Inherit the Wind (1960 version) starring Spencer Tracy
• Summer for the Gods by Edward Larson
• Chris' own visit to the Dayton museum dedicated to the trial
• Helpful video about the Napoleon painting

Discussion Questions:

• Where is the line between art and propaganda?
• Does art have an obligation to the truth?
• Do you see McCarthyism in Inherit the Wind?
• Is Inherit the Wind a fair way of discussing the Scopes trial, or a work of revisionist history? Why does it matter?
• What would it mean for a group that feels maligned and misunderstood to have a film misrepresent them?

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The trial was basically over. The prosecution won. John Scopes was moments away from being convicted of teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. The ACLU and the prosecution had what they wanted. But Clarence Darrow did not. He wanted to make a monkey out of William Jennings Bryan, the famous "fundamentalist". But how?

Darrow knew that if he turned down the chance to make a closing argument that Bryan would not be able to make one either. That meant that Bryan's carefully crafted words would never get heard. But he had one more trick up his sleeve. He would call Bryan, the lawyer for the prosecution, to the stand. Imagine that! The case was no longer about the defendant. It was about the lawyers trying to flex.

Bryan took the bait. He got on the stand outdoors next to the Rhea County Courthouse in front of an audience of millions. Darrow, in a masterstroke, hit him over and over with the questions of any village atheist. Did Jonah really get swallowed by a large fish? Did the sun really stand still because Joshua prayed that it would? And Bryan... floundered on live radio.

This event was made even more famous by the long-running play Inherit the Wind on broadway, which was followed up by a movie adaptation. But the play got it all wrong. Edward Larson, professor at Pepperdine University, and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Summer for the Gods, joins Chris to uncover what really happened on that muggy summer day.

Helpful Sources:

• "Summer for the Gods" by Edward Larson
• Rhea County Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum Worth a visit!
• Court Transcript of the Scopes Trial (easy to find online)
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin

Discussion Questions:

• Bryan believed in majoritarianism. What is that idea? What do you think of it?
• Do you think Bryan should have gotten on the stand? Why or why not?
• How did Bryan do on the stand in your opinion?
• Does this court case matter in your understanding of fundamentalism?
• How and when should Christians make stands for their beliefs? When should we stay quiet?

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Tennessee was the first state in the United States to crack down hard on the teaching of evolution in public schools. Others had dabbled, but Tennessee went all the way. The ACLU wanted to challenge the validity of the case in the courts. In order to do that they needed an educator to teach it, get busted, and be brought to trial.

At the same time, the town of Dayton, TN needed a boost. After the biggest employer closed down it faced serious economic trouble. What if the men of Dayon could manufacture a court case to draw the attention of the nation? They found a young teacher named John Scopes and convinced him to participate in their scheme. They booked Scopes, even though he probably never taught evolution. The ACLU had its case.

Soon William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow hopped on board and it went from a publicity stunt to something for the history books. This is the event that some historians (wrongly) point to as the death of Christian fundamentalism in the United States until it was revived by the Moral Majority. One man fighting for the biblical idea of creation and another for godless atheism. But the real history is far more complex.

Edward Larson, professor at Pepperdine University, joins us to discuss the trial and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Summer for the Gods".

Helpful Sources:

• "Summer for the Gods" by Edward Larson
• Rhea County Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum Worth a visit!
• Court Transcript of the Scopes Trial (easy to find online)
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin

Discussion Questions:

• What events led to the Scopes trial?
• Why did the ACLU feel they had to try the Tennessee Law?
• Who should decide what is taught in schools? Teachers? Parents? Lawmakers? Or some combination?
• What were William Jennings Bryan's motives for joining the prosecution?
• What were Clarence Darrow's motives for joining the defense?
• Should prayer be allowed before a trial about religion?
• Should Christians get involved in what is taught in schools? To what degree?

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In the 1600s, an Irish Archbishop named James Ussher did a bunch of math. The Bible is full of numbers and genealogies. He sat down and calculated that, in his opinion, the Bible dated creation at 4004 BC. According to Ussher, that is when God created man. That number has really stuck around!

I gathered my small group together to explore the Adams Synchronological Chart. It is a 23-foot-long timeline of human history, beginning in 4004 BC and ending in 1900. There it was! The 4004 BC number! Which brings up an interesting question, right? What did Christians really believe about evolution just before it became a linchpin battle for fundamentalists?

I turned to Edward Larson for answers. He's a professor at Pepperdine University and the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Summer for the Gods". The book chronicles the Scopes "Monkey" trial that we'll be covering in the next two episodes. But it also gives us a great introductory look at what Christians believed about evolution in the build-up to the trial.

It turns out that evangelical Christians and even fundamentalists were all over the place when it came to ideas of evolution. Many Christians, like William Jennings Bryan, believed in an old earth and even some forms of evolution. But they thought that it was God who caused that evolution. Charles Darwin, though, said that evolution was a matter of chance adaptations, thus cutting God out of the equation. Fundamentalists like Bryan were determined to stop the spread of Darwinian evolution for that very reason. They believed that if young people were taught that they were the result of grand mistakes then what reason did they have to treat each other with respect? To be good citizens?

Helpful Sources

• "Summer for the Gods" by Edward Larson
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin
• "The Birth of a Nation" on YouTube
• Article about James Ussher and his burial in Westminster Abbey
• Helpful article about Lamarck
• "The Evangelicals" by Francis Fitzgerald
• More about Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism
• An interesting article about "The Birth of a Nation"

Discussion Questions:

• How did Cuvier and Lamarck differ in their ideas about evolution?
• Do you believe in a young or old earth?
• Do you believe in some evolution, macro-evolution, or no evolution at all?
• What is the best way to oppose an idea?
• When should we propose laws to combat ideas we don't like and when should we allow others to believe what they like?
• Do you think the fundamentalists were right to combat teaching evolution in schools?
• Now that you know about Bryan's failure to call out the KKK, what do you think of him?
• "Birth of a Nation" shaped American views about black people. Are there more modern films and series that have shaped society in similar ways? Or changed public opinion in other ways?

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Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were wealthy young men in the early 1920s. They lived in big homes in Chicago and had world-class educations. They were both pushed hard academically, and Richard was sexually abused as a child. Both graduated early from high school and college. The two were an odd pairing. Nathan was quiet and awkward, not particularly handsome. Richard was gregarious and outgoing, good-looking... and a psychopath.

Nathan loved Richard, and the two sometimes had sex with each other. Richard realized he could control Nathan by trading intimacy for criminal activity. They started with typical juvenile delinquent behavior. Soon, though, Richard wanted more. He considered himself a master criminal, someone too smart to get caught. He and Nathan were exposed to the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche wrote that the ultimate purpose of humanity was to evolve into what he called the ubermensch or superman. Leopold and Loeb thought they were that evolved human. Therefore, they should be able to plot and execute the murder of a young boy without ever getting caught.

Only, they were so bad at it that it took very little time to pin it on them. Only the brilliance of Clarence Darrow, the country's most prominent defense attorney, could save their lives.

In this episode, we're joined by Candace Fleming. She's the author of the book Murder Among Friends about the crime.

The version of Also Sprach Zarathustra used in this episode is courtesy of the Creative Commons License and was produced by Kevin MacLeod.

Sources:

• Murder Among Friends by Candace Fleming
• Helpful article on the Houston Symphony's website about Also Sprach Zarathustra
• Article about what Nietzsche meant by "God is dead"
• Full text of Also Sprach Zarathustra
• Helpful video about Nietzsche's work
• Smithsonian article about Leopold and Loeb
• William Jennings Bryan's closing arguments of the Scopes trial
• Clarence Darrow's closing arguments of the Leopold and Loeb trial

Discussion Questions:

• Now that you know what the song Also Sprach Zarathustra is about, does it change your opinion of the piece?
• Do you think Nietzsche was right to worry about what would happen after Christianity took a back seat to world events? What should have been our response?
• With this little bit we covered about Nietzsche today, what do you think of his work? Can you see why it makes Chris nervous just to mention it in an episode?
• Do you see the connection between evolution and superman?
• Were people like Darrow and Bryan right to be concerned about young people learning Nietzsche's philosophy?

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I invited law professor Paul Lombardo, author of "Three Generations, No Imbeciles", to join me to try to answer that very question. It turns out that that question is harder to answer than you'd think. In the early 1900s, the word "eugenic" was often used to mean "pure" or to imply that a product was healthy for babies. But that word also extended into segregating certain populations from society and forced sterilizations.

It is important to understand the history of eugenics because some Christians use the fear of eugenics as a lens to understand the Scopes "Monkey" trial. I think that is an accurate connection, but we really should understand it. Did William Jennings Bryan support eugenics? Can Christians support eugenics? Many did. There were even competitions that rewarded pastors for writing pro-eugenics sermons. That was especially true for liberal pastors.

In this episode, we attempt to answer some tough questions. I hope you enjoy it!

Helpful Sources:

• "Three Generations, No Imbeciles" by Paul Lombardo
• "Preaching Eugenics" by Christine Rosen
• "Summer for the Gods" by Edward Larson
• An article from Smithsonian Magazine about Herbert Spencer
• Paul's article about William Jennings Bryan's support of the WCTU and eugenics
• CDC article about syphilis
• Helpful article about the immigration act
• Helpful Focus on the Family article about how some Christians don't believe that the sins of the father carry over
• Washington Post article about the "welfare queen" of the Reagan era

Discussion Questions:

• What is eugenics?
• How did the term "eugenics" differ in the early 1900s from today?
• Are you in favor of eugenics? Why or why not?
• How is eugenics tied to evolution? How is it not?
• Do Christians have a responsibility to play when it comes to protecting people with special needs?
• What can we do to help those with special needs?

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New episodes are already done, but he's trying to create a little cushion of extra episodes in case of emergencies. Thanks for your support of the show!!!

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Harry Emerson Fosdick had a certain reputation. He was the theological "bad boy" of modernist theology when he stood at a lectern in the 1920s and delivered his famous sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?". He was in New York City. One preacher, preaching one sermon. But this one talk spread all over the country and created real upset. Could modernist theology win in the Northern Presbyterian denomination?

J. Grescham Machen didn't think it should. He was a fundamentalist and wrote in response to Fosdick's sermon. But how does one keep out heresy?

The fundamentalists decided to call in a big-name Christian celebrity -- William Jennings Bryan. He was on a cross-country crusade to stop the teaching of evolution in public schools. Not because he didn't believe in science. He did. The problem that Bryan saw with teaching evolution in school was the cruelty that humanity would express if they believed they were nothing more than animals.

The battle between liberal and conservative Christians was a public one. William Jennings Bryan and Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote competing articles in The New York Times. Would it cause a split in the Northern Presbyterian denomination?

Sources for this episode:

• "Fundamentalism and American Culture" by George Marsden
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin
• Articles about Fosdick on Christianity Today and the Gospel Coalition
• Fosdick's sermon
• Machen's response
• Westminster Confession of Faith

Discussion Questions:

• What do you think are the basic beliefs required to call something "Christianity"?
• What if someone does not believe those things but still calls themselves a Christian?
• Does it matter when people try to use a word to describe themselves that does not apply to them?
• What is to be our response when we encounter someone who spreads false doctrine?

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So far this season I've covered William Jennings Bryan, a man who enjoyed the nickname "Mr. Fundamentalist". But he wasn't really a fundamentalist. Experts point to another man as the true face of fundamentalism. That man was William Bell Riley. He was a famous preacher in his day, bouncing around the midwest until he settled in Minnesota. He founded the Northwestern schools to spread his vision of Christianity and picked debates with modernists at the University of Chicago. He formed the World's Christian Fundamentals Association to help deliver denominations from modernism.

But... he lost. A bunch.

In this episode we explore the life of William Bell Riley to discover why he and the fundamentalists burned brightly, only to fizzle out a few years later.

Helpful Links:

• God's Empire by William Vance Trollinger
• Minnesota History article about Riley
• New Hampshire Confession
• Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald

Discussion Questions:

• How should we react to heresy?
• Do you look for strong leaders like William Bell Riley or do you prefer calm leaders? Why?
• Do you have a creed you live by? Does your church profess one? Why or why not?
• How do Bible schools shape our world? Have they impacted your life or the lives of friends?
• Riley and his friends lost in part because they were all trying to be leaders. Do you think you could submit to the leadership of others? If so, who?

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The modernish/ fundamentalist controversy was heating up in the early 1900s. Conservatives saw this coming a long way off but could not stop modernism from taking control of seminaries and popular pulpits. It was everywhere. It all came to a head with WWI.

Theological conservatives saw WWI as evidence that the world was getting worse. To them, it was a chance to fight for patriotic reasons. Modernists were also pro-war because they thought this was the "war to end all wars". There would be no more war after this and democracy would take over the world. The liberals fired the first shots in this theological battle because they thought that premillennialism encouraged people to root for the end of the world.

William Jennings Bryan was Secretary of State in the US during this time and did his best to keep us out of the war.

This episode features the voices of George Marsden (author of "Fundamentalism and American Culture") and Michael Kazin, professor at Georgetown University and author of "What it Took to Win".

Sources:

• Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• A Godly Hero by Michael Kazin
• What it Took to Win by Michael Kazin
• These Truths by Jill Lepore
• To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild
• Dead Wake by Erik Larson (about The Lusitania)
• Woodrow Wilson's second inauguration
• Short article about Billy Sunday

Discussion Questions:

• What was the purpose of WWI? What caused it?
• Would you have been for or against the war in the 1900s?
• How can pre and post-millenniallism shape a person's view of the world? Does it have to?
• How does social Darwinism tie into WWI and WWII?
• Is WWI an outcome of changing morality?
• How would you tell a large audience of Christians to adapt to changing morality?

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Walter Rauscenbush published his classic book Christianity and the Social Crisis in 1907. It went on to become a defining work of the social gospel movement. We've spent a lot of time talking about the social gospel this season. That is because it has been identified by historians as the key movement that fundamentalists rebelled against. So we really should understand it, right?

In this episode, Chris takes us through highlights of this classic book in order to understand how the social gospel differed from evangelical Christianity. While it lifted up the necessity of doing good works, the social gospel often omitted salvation altogether. Contrast that to evangelical preachers like D.L. Moody who lived their lives with the sole purpose of evangelism.

This division between evangelicalism and liberal theologies led to the Great Reversal when theologically conservative Christians went from participating in public acts of goodwill to distancing themselves from it.

Breakdown of points made from Christianity and the Social Crisis

• Rauschenbush's thoughts on socialism (p152)
• Theories on prophets of the Old Testament creating Judaism - p3 - 5
• Amos and Jeremiah denied that God ever told them to sacrifice - p6
• Morality is the only thing God cares about - p6
• God is interested in the morality of the nation over the individual - p11, 29
• The Bible has been altered when it comes to the stories of Jesus - p62-63
• Wealth is associated with the wicked in the Bible - p13
• Jewish people distributed land in communistic ways - p14
• John the Baptist and Jesus both wanted to restore theocracy to Israel - p53
• Rauschenbush's ideas about how industry chews people up - p370
• Socialism is inevitable - outside link page 153

Discussion Questions:

• What is Christianity?
• How much of Christianity can you remove before it becomes something else?
• Why are we so split between those of us who think of good works and those of us who think of salvation?
• What is the role of Christians in society?
• Now that you've decided on the role of Christians in society, how do you match up with your own expectations?

Select Sources:

• Google Books version of Christianity and the Social Crisis
• Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden
• More on the ship of Theseus

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I'm joined this episode by some good friends to introduce you to "The Fundamentals". This influential time capsule document takes us inside the proto-fundamentalist movement, just before it really took off.

Discussion Questions:

• What would you include in your own list of fundamentals?
• Is creationism fundamental? What is the role of evolution in our modern theology?
• The fear of evolution wasn't just about people thinking we'd come from chimps. It also revolved around concerns of people applying evolution to other areas of life. How have you seen evolution applied to other studies?
• Is the Bible inerrant? What does that mean?
• Have you read the full Bible yourself? Why or why not?

Essays we read:

• “My Experience With the Higher Criticism” by JJ Reeve
• "The Deity of Christ" by BB Warfield
• “The Certainty and Importance of the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead” by Reuben Torrey
• “Science and Christian Faith” by James Orr
• “Evolutionism in the Pulpit” by “An Occupant of the Pew”

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Most of us would answer with the translation we carry. Maybe it's New Living, the King James, or the New International Version. I've heard plenty of conversations about translations in my life. But I've never heard a serious discussion about the notes in various Bibles.

Continuing our long exploration of the Christian fundamentalist movement, we explore the Bible version that nudged the United States toward a particular negative theology. One that encouraged people to question the trajectory of history itself. That was one of the purposes of the Scofield Reference Bible, named for its author C.I. Scofield.

The Scofield Reference Bible emphasizes the premillennial dispensationalist theology we've been talking about all season. It expects that world history is sliding into chaos. That was not the primary view in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the US. Most people thought that humanity could improve things until Jesus returned. This Bible is one of the things that changed that.

Special thanks to Nick, Melanie, Hannah, Marc, and Marian for their help with this episode!

Discussion Questions:

• What kind of Bible do you have? Why did you choose it?
• What agenda does your Bible have?
• What audience is it intended for?
• Who wrote your Bible notes?
• Flip to Genesis 1 and Revelation 1. What position does it take on creationism? The end of the world?
• Have you ever considered the origins of your study notes?

How do you feel about us having so many different targeted Bibles?

Select Sources for this Episode:

• The History of the Scofield Reference Bible by Arno C. Gaebelein
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitgerald
• Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden
• Article on Lyman Stewart who financed this Bible
• A Godly Hero by Michael Kazin
• Isaiah 37
• A Christianity Today article about the changes made to the Scofield Bible (material not used for the episode, but still interesting)
• The Scofield Reference Bible (1945 edition)
• The MacArthur Study Bible
• The Founders Bible
• The Battlefield of the Mind Bible

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If we know him at all it is from the Scopes Monkey Trial at the end of his life. Or maybe we know of his 3 failed campaigns for President of the United States on the Democratic ticket. But many of us are unaware of his efforts to establish world peace. William Jennings Bryan hated war. He wasn't a pacifist - he enlisted for the Spanish-American War after all. But he saw the meaningless carnage of war and vowed to do his best to reduce the amount of bloodshed.

So "The Commoner" used his position as Secretary of State under President Wilson to establish 30 peace treaties. In this mini-episode, we revisit his career and talk about the impact this man might have had if WWI hadn't slowed his progress.

God-willing I'll be back soon with a full episode! Thanks for your patience!

Helpful Sources:

• "A Godly Hero" book by Michael Kazin
• "A Righteous Cause" book by Robert Cherny
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitgerald
• "Money: The True Story of a Made Up Thing" by Jacob Goldstein
• "What's Your Problem?" podcast from Pushkin Industries, hosted by Jacob Goldstein

Discussion Questions:

• William Jennings Bryan was the head of the party of Jim Crow. Do his actions to stop imperialism or war shape how you feel about him?
• Would a conciliation treaty policy work today?
• Is world peace a worthy goal today? What role do weapons play in that?
• How might this tie into fundamentalism?

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None of that came true.

We're talking about it today in order to understand the zeitgeist in the late 1800s. This book sold over half a million copies in its first few years of publication. It is now over a million copies. That doesn't happen without stirring something in society. As we'll see, socialism was tied to the Social Gospel. The opposition to the Social Gospel is what would go on to create the Christian fundamentalist movement.

Helpful Links:

• What's the Difference Between Communism and Socialism? - Episode of Truce from season 3
• A helpful New York Times article about Looking Backward

Discussion Questions:

• How have fictional books you've read impacted your worldview?
• What do you think about Bellamy's predictions?
• How does the fear of socialism and communism impact evangelicalism?
• What real threats were facing evangelicalism in the 1800s? How about now?

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We've been reading the book "In His Steps" together for the last few weeks. It was written by Charles Sheldon, a man whose book is often associated with the social gospel movement. While some historians struggle over the significance of this work, it's pretty plain how it fits this movement.

I invited patrons of the show to listen early and then discuss their thoughts on this controversial book.

What did you think about the audiobook? Should I record other books this same way?

Discussion Questions:

• Did you enjoy "In His Steps"? Why or why not?
• How do you think women were portrayed in "In His Steps"?
• What do you think about the Home Economics movement?
• How did you see the social gospel in the book?
• Is the book evangelistic? At which points? If not, why not?
• Does Christian media need to be "heavy handed"?

Recommended Resources:

• In His Steps by Charles Sheldon
• The Secret History of Home Economics

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In His Steps by Charles Sheldon is a classic of Christian fiction. It is also one of the top-selling Christian books of all time. We've been running through the history of Christian fundamentalism this season. It's worth noting that fundamentalism was a reaction to liberal theology, especially modernism. Another form of liberal theology was the "Social Gospel". It was a movement led by people like Walter Rauschenbusch that emphasized the socially conscious aspects of Christianity, while simultaneously downplaying evangelism.

Christian fundamentalists did not like the Social Gospel. For one thing, it had a positive view of human progress. It said that the world could get better and better and then Jesus would return. Christian fundamentalists generally think that world history trends downward.

I'm presenting this original audio recording for many reasons. I think this book offers a great window into the era in which it was created (the late 1800s). It also represents the Social Gospel and a slice of the Holiness movement quite well. Finally, I think we need to hear this story in our modern context. Modern Christian churches are divided. What would happen if we dared to ask "What Would Jesus Do?"

Things to track as you listen:

• The role of women in this society
• Wealthy attitudes toward the poor
• The genesis of financial woes in this book is sometimes economic crisis (the late 1800s was full of panics and recessions) and sometimes sin based
• The Holiness movement and those who object to it
• Is this book evangelistic? If so, how is the gospel presented? If not, what does this book leave out?
• The overall positive view of human progress
• Social movements like the pure foods movement, temperance, suffrage, anti-gambling

In His Steps resides in the public domain, but this recording is copyrighted in 2022 by Truce Media LLC.

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In His Steps by Charles Sheldon is a classic of Christian fiction. It is also one of the top-selling Christian books of all time. We've been running through the history of Christian fundamentalism this season. It's worth noting that fundamentalism was a reaction to liberal theology, especially modernism. Another form of liberal theology was the "Social Gospel". It was a movement led by people like Walter Rauschenbusch that emphasized the socially conscious aspects of Christianity, while simultaneously downplaying evangelism.

Christian fundamentalists did not like the Social Gospel. For one thing, it had a positive view of human progress. It said that the world could get better and better and then Jesus would return. Christian fundamentalists generally think that world history trends downward.

I'm presenting this original audio recording for many reasons. I think this book offers a great window into the era in which it was created (the late 1800s). It also represents the Social Gospel and a slice of the Holiness movement quite well. Finally, I think we need to hear this story in our modern context. Modern Christian churches are divided. What would happen if we dared to ask "What Would Jesus Do?"

Things to track as you listen:

• The role of women in this society
• Wealthy attitudes toward the poor
• The genesis of financial woes in this book is sometimes economic crisis (the late 1800s was full of panics and recessions) and sometimes sin based
• The Holiness movement and those who object to it
• Is this book evangelistic? If so, how is the gospel presented? If not, what does this book leave out?
• The overall positive view of human progress
• Social movements like the pure foods movement, temperance, suffrage, anti-gambling

In His Steps resides in the public domain, but this recording is copyrighted in 2022 by Truce Media LLC.

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We'll be getting together to discuss "In His Steps" and answer listener questions. This event is open to anyone who gives $10/month or more on Patreon.

Link: https://www.patreon.com/trucepodcast

Event details: Tuesday August 9, 2022 at 8pm EST/7pm CST/ 6pm MT/ 5pm PST. Zoom link will be posted on Patreon for those who give $10/month or more.

If you cannot give to help the show, but still really want to participate, please get in touch with @trucepodcast on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook and Chris will try to squeeze you in.

Potential discussion topics:

• How "In His Steps" ties into the Holiness and Social Gospel movements
• What is the role of the female characters in this book?
• The role of wealth and poverty in the story
• What this book means to us
• Is "In His Steps" an evangelistic book?

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Christian fundamentalists did not like the Social Gospel. For one thing, it had a positive view of human progress. It said that the world could get better and better and then Jesus would return. Christian fundamentalists generally think that world history trends downward.

I'm presenting this original audio recording for many reasons. I think this book offers a great window into the era in which it was created (the late 1800s). It also represents the Social Gospel and a slice of the Holiness movement quite well. Finally, I think we need to hear this story in our modern context. Modern Christian churches are divided. What would happen if we dared to ask "What Would Jesus Do?"

Things to track as you listen:

• The role of women in this society
• Wealthy attitudes toward the poor
• The genesis of financial woes in this book is sometimes economic crisis (the late 1800s was full of panics and recessions) and sometimes sin based
• The Holiness movement and those who object to it
• Is this book evangelistic? If so, how is the gospel presented? If not, what does this book leave out?
• The overall positive view of human progress
• Social movements like the pure foods movement, temperance, suffrage, anti-gambling

In His Steps resides in the public domain, but this recording is copyrighted in 2022 by Truce Media LLC.

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These are questions that modern Christians struggle with. They have their origin in John Wesley, a hymn writer, preacher, and one of the founders of Methodism. In this episode of Truce, we track how this seemingly simple concept got tied up in movements from fundamentalism to Pentecostalism.

This episode is going to seem a bit "out there". But this information is important to fundamentalism. Keswick Holiness in particular created an "us and them" scenario where there are Christians who "get it" and those who don't. The divide is between "carnal" Christians and those who are really saved. This impulse makes it easier for fundamentalists to see themselves as set apart from other Christians.

We're joined by Chris Evans, author of "Do Everything" which is a biography of suffragette Frances Willard.

Helpful Sources and Links:

• D.L. Moody: A Life by Kevin Belmonte
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• John Wesley's tract on perfection
• Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden
• Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley

Discussion Questions:

• How long can a Christian go without sinning?
• Do you see yourself as "better" or "different" from other Christians? Why? How does that impact the way you treat them?
• How did the holiness movement shape Pentecostalism?
• Do you see history and ideas as straight lines, or as a tangle?

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In this episode, we'll explore the emergence of fiefdoms in evangelicalism—ministries with little or no denominational oversight. This method of ministry was crucial in landing us where we are today. Could the evangelicals Church of today use a Magna Carta of sorts to keep ministries under accountability?

Helpful Sources and Links:

• D.L. Moody: A Life by Kevin Belmonte
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• A helpful article on the Magna Carta https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magna-Carta
• Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden
• Short bio on Reuben Torrey
• Forbes article about Christianity in Ivy League Colleges
• Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley

Discussion Questions:

• Do you think that ministry leaders should be held accountable?
• Should accountability be external or is it okay to limit it to internal accountability?
• Are there steps that Truce can take as a show to introduce accountability without bogging Chris down with too many requirements?
• Do you live in a Christian “bubble”? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the bubble?
• Would you let your kids go to a secular school? Why or why not?
• It's interesting that Reuben Torrey was seen as snooty. Do you think that attitude is compatible with humble Christian service?

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So we're going to spend this episode talking about this remarkable man. Born in poverty, educated to only about a 4th-grade level, he would rise to become one of the most important American evangelists. His folksy style and booming voice were winsome to the millions of people to whom he preached. In this difficult series about controversial ideas, why not take some time to discuss something that went right in the late 1800s? The ministry of Moody.

I'm joined in this episode by Kevin Belmonte. He's the author of several history books including D.L. Moody: A Life. Check out his books and let me know what you think!

Helpful Links and Sources

• Kevin Belmonte's book D.L. Moody: A Life
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• A nice bio on Harry Moorhouse
• See the plaque where Moody was converted

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever shared the gospel with someone like Mr. Kimball did in the shoe store? Why or why not?
• Is there someone you could pray for that they would be saved?
• Why do you think Moody was so popular in his day?
• Have you ever encountered Moody Radio, Publishers, or Bible Institute?
• The “Christian bubble” really started to take shape in the era of Moody. How has the “bubble” impacted your life?
• What are your views on poverty? How do people become poor and how can it be fixed? Do you think that all poor people are lazy? Why?

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• Is one race better than another?
• Is one religion? If so, which one? In what ways?
• Is one economic system better than another?
• Is one system of governance like a democratic republic like the US, or socialist, or monarchy, theocracy, communism, best?

Some people answered these questions with a resounding "yes". But if we think our people and ways are better than anyone else's, what responsibility do we have to spread those things? Men like Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt were firm believers in social Darwinism, though their vision of it meant teaching those less "civilized" people our ways. And they were okay with the United States taking power over them.

Meanwhile, there were men like William Jennings Bryan who refused to think of others in social Darwinism terms. He spent years fighting that dark philosophy, ultimately prosecuting the Scopes Monkey trial to stop the spread of social Darwinism. But the seeds of eugenics were planted.

Caught in the middle were the people of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Phillippines, and other colonies of the Spanish empire. Spain was busy imprisoning Cubans in concentration camps. Their ruthless behavior toward America's neighbors caught the attention of the US Senate, which was already champing at the bit for a fight. Men in the United States were worried about their waning influence on society. Groups bellyached about how men were not men anymore thanks to cities and offices. In the minds of some, war was the answer to weak-willed men. And Spain provided that war.

Our guest today is Paul T. McCartney author of “Power and Progress: American National Identity, the War of 1898, and the Rise of American Imperialism”. He teaches at Towson University.

**CORRECTION - In the original version of this story I referred to the USS Maine as the HMS Maine. That was incorrect. HMS stands for "Her Majesty's Ship", which makes no sense for American ships. The current version was changed for accuracy.**

Discussion Questions:

• Do you believe your people are somehow superior to another people group? Why?
• Does that sound like an attitude Jesus would have?
• If you are somehow superior, what is your responsibility to other people?
• Should the US help people who are being oppressed around the world? When should we intervene?
• Do you think that men are in decline? If so, what is the answer to that?
• Do you better relate to Teddy Roosevelt or William Jennings Bryan when it comes to war? Or are you a pacifist?
• How would Jesus have responded to the cruelty of Spain?
• What do you think about social Darwinism?

Helpful Links and Sources:

• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald
• "Church History in Plain Language" by Bruce Shelley
• "The War Lovers" by Evan Thomas
• "Power and Progress" by Paul T. McCartney
• "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin
• Britannica article on Darwin's Beagle voyage
• Britannica article about Darwin's London years and natural selection
• Bio of Henry Cabot Lodge
• Article abouhttp://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text7/tillman.pdft Alfred Thayer Mahan
• Proctor's Speech
• Tillman's Speech
• Bryan's Speech
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin

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Populism is a tricky subject. We use it these days as a slur, but populism can be a useful phenomenon. History professor and author Michael Kazin says that populism is an important tool when it comes to regulating power. In the late 1800s, railroads and banks were out of control. Industrialists like John D. Rockefeller had uninhibited control of their markets. Rockefeller believed in social Darwinism and didn't mind using dirty tactics to undermine his competition.

The Populist Party sprouted out of frustrations women had with the political machines of their day. Republicans and Democrats were not yet willing to accept women and the issues they cared about. Women were slowly becoming a force within politics, but neither party had the guts to accept them. So women and others decided to form their own party. But in the election of 1896, the Populist Party was worried about a split vote. They worried that if they were to run a candidate of their own then they might split the vote. So the Populist Party backed Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan.

Bryan was a man of God. He quoted the Bible extensively, talked about the example of Jesus. But he was soundly defeated by the Republicans and William McKinley. He had only about 4% of the budget of his opponents. The story of Bryan is an interesting one because it contains the building blocks of fundamentalism.

Discussion Questions:

• What is a populist?
• Can you name some populists?
• What are the advantages of populism? The drawbacks?
• How are Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders similar?
• William Jennings Bryan was one of the first presidential hopefuls from a major party to tour the country. How has this shaped American politics? Why do we like to see politicians in our home states?
• What do populism and fundamentalism have in common?
• Do you think that fundamentalism relies on strong figures as populism does? Why or why not?

Helpful Resources:

• "A Godly Hero" and "What It Took to Win" by Michael Kazin
• Library of Congress collection of Chautauqua materials
• Bernie Sanders Clip from C-SPAN
• Elizabeth Warren Clip from C-SPAN
• Donald Trump clip from C-SPAN
• Article about Mary Lease
• "These Truths" by Jill Lepore
• Library of Congress collection of McKinley/Bryan campaign materials. It's worth searching the site in general for images from both of them.

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Here is why the gold standard made the Great Depression much worse. Simply put, the panic of 1929 caused people to run to the bank and demand their money back in the form of gold. We were on the gold standard back then and you could literally go to a bank and ask for them to get your money in gold. But banks were running out! There was only so much gold on hand because banks don't generally keep 100% of their money in the vault. And banks (for the ease of our understanding things) "create" money when they do loans. So it was possible for a bank only to have a certain percentage of their loans backed by actual gold.

This created real trouble. If the banks ran out of gold, they'd go broke and have to close. So the Federal Reserve decided to raise interest rates. Raising interest rates gives people an incentive to leave their money in banks because then they get more interest. BUT it also made it harder for people to borrow money or refinance their existing loans. Which put a huge crimp on the American financial system. In order to keep gold in the banks, the Fed had to hobble the loan industry. That meant that businesses couldn't get loans to help with payroll, and people looking to start a business couldn't get the money they needed. And the economy froze.

That is why the gold standard was bad for the economy. Preserving it meant sacrificing the loan industry.

Helpful Sources:

• "Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing"

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This system worked really well... for a while. But by the 1890s the constant deflation caused by the increasing value of gold meant that people with loans had to work harder and harder to pay them back. The value of gold and the value of goods had an inverse relationship, like a seesaw. One side went up and the other went down.

This is the topic William Jennings Bryan chose to discuss at the 1896 Democratic Convention. And it was that speech that won him the presidential nomination that year. Imagine that! Someone so passionate about inflating the cost of goods that they are chosen to be president! His bimetallism (he wanted to add silver into the mix to devalue the specie) stance came out of his social gospel leanings and his Christian faith. This was a high point for the social gospel. As the evangelical world was about to turn to the darker premillennialist view, Bryan made an impassioned plea that we could, in fact, make this world a better place.

My guest for this episode is the amazing Jacob Goldstein. He's the author of the book “Money: the True Story of a Made-Up Thing”. He's also a former co-host of the Planet Money podcast and now hosts "What's Your Problem?", a show where he interviews guests about the issues in their industries. You'll also hear from Michael Kazin, professor of history from Georgetown and author of "A Godly Hero".

Helpful Links

• "Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing" by Jacob Goldstein (makes a great gift!)
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin
• "The Cross of Gold" speech

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever gotten so excited at a political speech that you would gladly carry the politician around the room?
• What is money?
• Why do some of us want our money to be backed by something else? Why gold?
• Is there something inherent in gold that you think makes it forever valuable?
• Do politicians and government officials have some responsibility to consider how monetary policy impacts those in the lower classes? What does that look like?
• How has your life been impacted by monetary policy?
• How do you feel about things like the FDIC?

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Christian fundamentalism has impacted our lives in various ways. Ray McDaniel (pastor of First Baptist Church in Jackson, WY) shares that he grew up under fundamentalist teaching. Chris Staron (host of the Truce Podcast) talks about his childhood and teen years listening to fundamentalist radio. Nick Staron discusses the last few years when he has seen fundamentalism rise inside his own circle of friends.

• Here are some things to consider from this episode:
• Modernist theology can be seen as an actual threat to evangelical theology. How should we deal with threats in a godly way?
• Do end times teachings open doors for sharing the gospel?
• How much do we really know about the end times? And how should that shape the way we live today?
• What does it really mean to love people who are from a different denomination?
• Do we still need denominations today?
• How can we keep ministries accountable?

Helpful links:

• The Late Great Planet Earth - hosted by Orson Welles

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Modernist theology is often marked by the desire to discuss the "historic Jesus". This term can be a bit confusing because it is less about understanding what historic texts say about Jesus and more about discussing the non-miraculous aspects of Jesus' life and ministry.

Our special guest this episode is Chris Evans, professor of Christian History and Methodist Studies at Boston University and author of "Do Everything" a biography of Francis Willard.

Discussion Questions:

• What does it mean that fundamentalism is a reaction to modernist theology?
• What is modernist theology?
• Do you know any theologically liberal people?
• Do you find it difficult to both love the Lord and love your neighbor?
• What makes someone a Christian? Does your view include theologically conservative people? What about theologically liberal people? Where is the line for you?
• How vital are Jesus' miracles to your life and faith?
• Is there a tension in Christianity where it is culturally difficult to be theologically conservative and still want to love our neighbors?

Helpful Links and Sources:

• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald
• An interesting article on Arminius
• "Church History in Plain Language" by Bruce Shelley
• "Who is An Evangelical?" Thomas Kidd
• Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters edited by Donald K. McKim p 350
• Matthew 22:36-40

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Sure... but what else? We tend to think of this century as a quiet, pastoral era when people were friendly and life was simple. But the 1800s were a crazy time! The American Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Spanish-American War, conquest, the suffrage movement, the prohibition movement, massive technological changes. It's a wonder we ever made it out alive.

In this episode, we explore the early life of William Jennings Bryan and the Democratic Party, the party of Jim Crow that he would soon lead. After the Civil War, it was the Democrats who created Black Codes in the South to restrict the upward mobility of African Americans. They were the party of white farmers and soon transitioned into representing labor unions and, eventually, many black people in the United States. Bryan was one of the men responsible for that transition.

Helpful Links and Sources:

• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin
• Truce episode about the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
• Meeting notes of the 1873 Evangelical Alliance
• "Fundamentalism and American Culture" by George Marsden
• "A Righteous Cause" by Robert W. Cherny (book on William Jennings Bryan)
• Interesting bio on Stephen Douglas
• President Hays' acceptance speech

Discussion Questions:

• What do you think of when you think of the 1800s?
• Was the 1800s a simpler time?
• What mistakes did the Republican Party make in ending Reconstruction?
• How should abolitionists have handled the South after the Civil War?
• Can a Christian lead a racist political party? Should they?
• What were some technological advances that came about in the 1800s? How might they have shifted the way people lived and thought back then?
• Are there technological changes going on now that could shift the way we think and interact with each other?
• Chris ends the episode by talking about how Christians should be a people of the means, not necessarily the ends. Do you think the ends ever justify the means for Christians?

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This season we're tracing the history of Christian fundamentalism through the life of William Jennings Bryan. But first, we need to learn some important definitions. Our big word of the week is dispensationalism. It's not as complicated as it sounds. Dispensationalism is (in part) the notion that God treats humankind differently depending on what era we are in. It is not accepted by all Christians, but it is a building block of fundamentalism. Another component of dispensationalism is the secret rapture--the idea that God will take His elect to heaven just before the tribulation. It also asserts that the Christian Church will become apostate before the end times. This last tidbit is important! Premillennialism made Christians suspicious of the outside world, but it was dispensationalism that made us suspicious of each other.

John Nelson Darby is often credited as the father of dispensationalism. He came up with the idea of the rapture and is the man who packaged a bunch of existing ideas into this systematized vision of the Bible. In the 1700s and 1800s, people adapted the scientific notion of categorizing everything into genus and species and applied it to all areas of study, even when reading the Bible. This encouraged people like Darby to break the Bible into "dispensations" or eras.

Our guest this week is George Marsden. He's the author of "Fundamentalism and American Culture".

Discussion Questions:

• Are you suspicious of other Christians? Why is that?
• Do you believe in the rapture? Why?
• Does the God of the Bible behave differently in different parts of the Bible? Or is He the same throughout?
• Do you believe that Jewish people were destined to return to Israel based on Matthew 24:32-33 or Romans 11:25-26?
• What did you know about the French Revolution before our recent episodes on it? Do you think it was a significant event in world history? If so, why?

Helpful Links:

• "Fundamentalism and American Culture" by George Marsden (book)
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzerald (book)
• "Who is an Evangelical?" by Thomas S. Kidd (book)
• Interesting article about Napoleon, the Pope, and the French Revolution
• A fantastic book about Napoleon (one of my fav books) is "Napoleon: A Life" by Andrew Roberts
• "American Apocalypse" by Matthew Avery Sutton (note: only the first few chapters influenced this episode)
• "The Roots of Fundamentalism" by Ernest Sandeen.
• 1 Corinthians 1:8
• Helpful article about Common Sense Realism
• Fascination Smithsonian article about Mount Tambora

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What is the difference between premillennialism and postmillennialism? And what does it matter?

After the French Revolution in the late 1700s, Christians began to see the world as coming to an end. Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 describe an oppressor who will wear the people out for a period of time. Some Christian interpret that as being 1260 years. That 1260 years can be placed over the reign of Justinian all the way through history up until the French Revolution. That is just one interpretation that not everyone shares. But if you hold that view then this event was HUGE. It meant that the end of the world was super close. It has now been over 200 years since that event, but many premillennialists still hold up this prophecy as proof of the fulfillment of scripture.

Many Christians were sparked to uncover the meaning of it all. Some turned to an old idea -- premillennialism. It's the notion that the world is on a downward trajectory. Things are going to get really bad and then Jesus will return. Before this time, many evangelicals were postmillennialism. They thought the world was going to get better over time. This split was an important part of what would become the fundamentalist/ modernist debate.

Premillennialism has some dark "logical" conclusions to it. Some premillennialist like pastor John MacArthur argue that since the world is going to burn anyway, we humans shouldn't worry about things like global warming.

Discussion Questions:

• Why was the French Revolution such an important moment in world history?
• Pre-Revolution the nobles and clergy controlled much of the power in France. They could out-weigh 98% of the population of France. Is this perhaps a reason why the French people turned against them?
• Are you a premillennialist, a postmillennialist, or neither?
• Did you read the Left Behind books? What do you remember? How did they impact you?
• Do you think you have a positive or negative view of world history? How does that impact the way you act?
• Should premillennialists see Jesus' second coming as a reason to avoid taking care of the planet?

Helpful Links:

• The Victoria and Albert Museum's article about Mysore and Tipoos Tiger
• "Fundamentalism and American Culture" by George Marsden (book)
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzerald (book)
• "Who is an Evangelical?" by Thomas S. Kidd (book)
• Interesting article about Napoleon, the Pope, and the French Revolution
• A fantastic book about Napoleon (one of my fav books) is "Napoleon: A Life" by Andrew Roberts
• John MacArthur sermon excerpted and used with permission from "Grace to You"

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Correction: The original version of this episode incorrectly represented Arminian belief. It involves the belief that once grace is offered by God that a sinner can reject the offer. The original version stated that the sinner made the first move to initiate a relationship. That is incorrect. Arminians believe that God makes the first move, but His offer can be rejected. The error has been corrected in this version, My apologies for any confusion.

Who is an evangelical? If you go by the news today, you probably think evangelicals are all American middle-class white men. Nope! Evangelical Christians come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. They can be men or women from anywhere in the world. They can speak any language. And they can have a lot of variety in their beliefs.

This season on the Truce Podcast we are examining the history of Christian fundamentalism. How did fundamentalism begin? What is Christian fundamentalism? Is Christian fundamentalism a good thing, a bad thing, or somewhere in between?

In this episode, we're joined by author and professor George Marsden. He's the author of Fundamentalism and American Culture, which is THE book everyone else refers to when they talk about fundamentalism. According to Marsden, fundamentalism is "militantly anti-modernism protestant evangelicalism". That is a lot of big words! By the end of the season, you should understand all of that. One important part of that definition is the word "evangelicalism". It is one of those words that has been used so much in so many different ways that it can be difficult to define it. There are whole movements to create new definitions these days. But in order to move forward this season, we need to pick some frame of reference. I chose David Beggington's definition of what defines an evangelical:

Bebbington's Quadrilateral

• Biblicism (a focus on the Bible)
• Conversionism (an emphasis on evangelism)
• Crucicentrism (the centrality of the cross)
• Activism

Those four things, according to Bebbington, are what make up an evangelical. Again, it is a hotly debated subject.

So when did evangelicalism begin? Many of the sources that I found pointed to the revivals in the decades leading up to the American Revolution. Evangelists like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield spread the gospel using a post-millennialist vision of the end times mixed with Calvinism. This was part of the First Great Awakening. Then there were others after the revolution who spread an Arminian view of salvation. Guys like Finney. Belief in God became more personal, without the direct oversight of a priest or minister. It became an individual's responsibility to look after their spiritual growth.

Welcome to season 5! God willing, I'll be releasing new episodes every other week.

Discussion Questions:

• What is an evangelical?
• What is a fundamentalist?
• If fundamentalists are evangelicals who are angry at something, what are they angry at? Are you one of those people?
• Do you believe in the Calvinist view of salvation or the Arminian one? Does it matter? Why?
• The Great Awakening movements established a sense that belief in God was not something that needed to be handed down by a priest or minister. Do you think that was a positive move? What are some potential drawbacks (if any)?

Helpful Links and Sources:

• "Fundamentalism and American Culture" by George Marsden (book)
• "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzerald (book)
• "Who is an Evangelical?" by Thomas S. Kidd (book)
• "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin (book)
• Transcript of the Scopes trial (book, though you can find it free online)

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In our present moment, it seems that people are inclined to extremes. Christian fundamentalism seems to be on the rise. This season we're examining the history of Christian fundamentalism. We'll start by defining terms like "evangelical", "premillennialism", "dispensationalism", "modernist theology", and "fundamentalism". Then we'll work our way to the Scopes Monkey Trial, that massive media event in 1925 that pitted fundamentalism against evolution.

Our guests this season include George Marsden, Joel Carpenter, Kevin Belmonte, Edward Larson, Paul T. McCartney, and Michael Kazin. We'll also feature a fascinating conversation with Jacob Goldstein, co-host of the Planet Money podcast.

We can never hope to cover every facet of a subject this huge. Instead, the goal is to help normal people like us understand the basics of this movement that is actively shaping world history.

Subscribe so you get every new episode as it is released.

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In this bonus Christmas message, I just want to remind all of us of Jesus' command to both love our God AND love our neighbor.

How has 2021 been for you? Leave a comment on social media or on the website at www.trucepodcast.com. God willing, season 5 of Truce will begin in winter 2022.

Merry Christmas,

Chris

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When you think of the world's worst mass murderers, King Leopold II doesn't usually come up. But due to his forced labor practices in the Congo, nearly 10 million people lost their lives. He did this by pretending that his actions in that region were a missionary effort. In reality, he forced Africans to harvest wild rubber or risk having their hands cut off.

The truth is even darker than that: it turns out that Leopold was far from the only person doing this. This same era was marked by many major world powers engaging in forced labor. From the US in the Philippines to Arab countries in eastern Africa, much of the modern world was built on forced labor.

Author Adam Hochschild joins us for this episode to discuss his book "King Leopold's Ghost".

I first heard about this story on the Noble Blood podcast and their episode "The Red Paint on Leopold II".

Discussion Questions:

• Had you heard of King Leopold II before this?
• Leopold did send missionaries to the Congo. Was that a positive or negative thing for our Christian witness?
• Did you know that other major countries were engaged in forced labor into WWII?
• What do you think of the US-backed coup in Congo? Is it okay for the US to get involved in the politics of another nation?

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The British slave trade had several well-known opponents: William Wilberforce and John Newton (who wrote "Amazing Grace") to name a few. But historian Adam Hochschild ("King Leopold's Ghost", "To End All Wars") argues that history has largely forgotten the most valuable member of the abolition movement: Thomas Clarkson. Clarkson was in charge of gathering and disseminating information across the British Isles. He fought for years to end the slave trade and then slavery itself.

This movement is important for many reasons. It was the first to use logos, a coordinated marketing campaign, and it established a high bar for investigative journalism. It was also an ecumenical movement.

In this episode we explore slavery, the importance of slave rebellions, the power of ecumenical efforts, and the book "Bury the Chains".

I mentioned the so-called Curse of Ham in the episode. Learn more about it here.

Helpful discussion questions:

• Had you heard of Thomas Clarkson before this episode?
• Do you participate in any cross-denominational movements? Where do you draw the line?
• Has your church ever participated in anti-racism movements?
• Was there any wisdom in ending the slave trade first?
• Why do you think John Newton didn't give up the slave trade as soon as he became a Christian?
• Was it possible to be a Christian and own slaves?
• Do you think humanity will ever go back to slavery?
• Do modern payday loans keep people in bondage in the way that debt kept people in bondage in the 1700s?

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So many Christians are angry at the Church. Not just the Church but their local churches as well. Producer Chris Staron decided to take a look inside one small congregation to see how Black Lives Matter, COVID, the 2020 Presidential Election, and more have impacted one community. How are people in Jackson, Wyoming responding in a time of dissension and deconstruction in the body of Christ?

Special thanks to Ray McDaniel and Karl Klemmer for talking with Chris for this interview.

Helpful Links:

• Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Steps
• First Baptist Church

Discussion Questions:

• How have the last few years changed your ideas about the global Church?
• How have they changed your ideas of your local church?
• How would you respond if you were the pastor of a local church today and your congregation wanted you to pick a political side?
• Should pastors speak about politics from the pulpit?
• Why do we put so much emphasis on messages from the pulpit and discount the ability for congregants to have meaningful conversations on their own?
• Are you deconstructing your faith? What does that term mean to you?
• If you are deconstructing your faith, have you removed the local church? The Bible? If so, how has that impacted your faith?
• Are you open to people who have different opinions? How do you interact with those people? Is it in person?
• Do you have friends with different opinions than you? How can you get some if you don't?
• Do you see the Church as a "we" and "us" or as a "them"? Why?

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Truce usually uses research, music, sound effects, and expert interviews to tell complicated stories about the Christian Church. We've made something like 100 episodes! Our listeners recommended that we celebrate by asking Chris questions submitted by audience members.

Special thanks to Melvin Benson of the Cinematic Doctrine podcast for asking the questions!

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Jackson, Wyoming is a small tourist town in the middle of nowhere. It is just a few miles south of Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. Millions of people pass through each year as tourists. It's a vacation hotspot. But for those who choose to stay in this region, Teton County is anything but a vacation. Rising income inequality and housing costs have created a hostile environment for working people. The median home price in Jackson went up 47% in 2020 alone, rising to $2.2 million while wages remain stagnant.

We've been talking for the last few episodes about myths of the American West, how cowboy myths about a lone rugged individual have shaped the US. Now it's time to understand how cowboy myths have impacted American Christianity.

Our guest today is Justin Farrell. He's a sociologist and professor at Yale. His book is Billionaire Wilderness. In it, Farrell recounts his studies of the ultra-wealthy. What makes them tick? What are they afraid of? Why do they dress the way they do? And what draws them to the far western border of Wyoming?

Discussion Questions:

• Read the story of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-27). What do you think of Jesus' warning about wealthy people entering the kingdom of God?
• Many of the tax avoidance practices discussed in this series are legal (except pretending to live in one place while living in another). Do you think that legality and morality are tied together?
• Are these practices moral?
• What types of friction do you experience in your own life?
• How would more money change the level of friction you encounter?
• How would less money change the level of friction you encounter?
• Do you think that friction is a valuable thing to pay attention to in our lives?
• What is the role of empathy in a Christian's life?
• How do you use money to benefit yourself as opposed to others?

Helpful Links:

• Justin Farrell's book Billionaire Wilderness
• NY Times article about President Trump changing his residence to get out of paying taxes
• Book The Velvet Rope Economy about inequalities in health care, airlines, services, and even Disney World.

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Some of the wealthiest people in the world live (or pretend to live) in Jackson, Wyoming. That includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Digging into the property tax records, we discovered that one of the most successful actors in film history pays less in property tax than a single mom living on less land. What gives? Why are rich people paying less in property tax than working people?

The answer has to do with a thing called a conservation easement. A conservation easement is essentially an agreement between a landowner and the government that says, "I promise I'll keep my property from certain kinds of building projects". In return, the government gives the landowner massive tax benefits on the federal and local levels.

In this episode, Chris digs into the history of these instruments to understand what they are and how they are impacting rural Wyoming and the rest of the country.

UPDATE: The original version of this episode contained an error that has since been corrected. The original version stated that getting an $800,000 tax deduction was essentially the same as getting an $800,000 refund. That is incorrect. My apologies.

Helpful links:

• Helpful article about conservation easements
• Excellent pamphlet with information about easements
• YouTube video about how taxes are assessed
• Search the Teton County property tax records

Discussion Questions

• What do you think about public land?
• Do conservation easements seem fair?
• Are conservation easements a helpful way to preserve the environment or government-sponsored private land? Both?
• What should Jackson locals do to make the property taxes fair?
• How do you feel when you learn that taxation practices favor the rich?
• Are there conservation easements where you live?

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The myth of the American cowboy features a lone man who makes his fortune on the open plains. He doesn't need the government, and he doesn't need some big corporation telling him what to do. But that myth is far from the reality in the west. Many cowboys worked for large corporate cattle operations. And when those operations were in danger, he relied on the government for help.

The Johnson County War started when the Homestead Act of 1862 brought new people to central Wyoming. The area just west of the Big Horn Mountains had been free-range grassland where anyone could let their cattle run free. The large cattle operations loved this setup because it saved them an immense amount of money and infrastructure. The new homesteads threatened their empires because they divided up the land and restricted their access. So the Wyoming Stock Growers Association banded together to send a message: get off our land. They send a murder squad to Johnson County, Wyoming to scare the people of Buffalo with a series of brutal murders.

What followed was one of the darkest chapters in Wyoming history. Where big businesses murdered with impunity, aided by the governor and sitting president.

Helpful links:

• The Jim Gatchell Museum in Buffalo, WY
• The TA Ranch (where the siege took place)
• Book used for research: Wyoming Range War by John W. Davis

Discussion Questions:

• What role did the Homestead Act play in stirring up trouble in central Wyoming?
• Is there a character in the story that you identify with?
• Is there any part of you that sympathizes with the WSGA?
• How does this story challenge your concept of the American cowboy?
• What role does the government have in protecting an industry?
• How do you feel about the government's failure to punish the invaders?

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What do you think of when you picture a cowboy? A rugged, handsome individual? A lover? Someone who doesn't need the government's help? Evangelicalism has long pushed this as the ideal model for the Christian man. What is the impact of that set of ideas?

John Wayne and Ronald Reagan have both become popular figures in American men's ministries. Their names come up often, they both played cowboys in Hollywood. But they are unlikely heroes. Both men were divorced. Wayne wasn't an evangelical, and Reagan had once been a democrat. But both men were instrumental in whipping up anti-communist sentiment in the US, building credibility with a religion focused on individualism.

You can draw a line from them straight to former president Donald J. Trump. All three had questionable public morals but were seen as strong, uncompromising figures. They are seen in many men's books as the epitome of masculinity. That idea, though, comes in contrast with Jesus' own words about turning the other cheek, forgiving our enemies, and loving our enemies.

In this episode, Chris talks with Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of "Jesus and John Wayne: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation".

Discussion Questions

• What do you think of when you picture a cowboy?
• How have you heard cowboys, soldiers, and fighters discussed in evangelical circles?
• What books have you read that stressed the importance of tough men?
• What do you picture when you think of a Christian man? How has that been shaped?
• What do you picture when you think of a Christian woman? How has that been shaped?
• What is your idea of Jesus like? Is He a warrior, a gentle savior, or both?
• Can you see the link between the cowboy image and Donald Trump?

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Christians throughout history have responded to politics in different ways. In our modern era, it can seem like Christianity and Republican politics are one and the same. But what do we do when the Bible clashes with our political party? What if our economic model leaves no room for the poor?

Author and theologian Kaitlyn Schiess joins us to talk about her book, "The Liturgy of Politics", as well as how we can heal as a church.

Discussion Questions

• How have you seen politics and Christianity mixing in the US?
• Is there are healthy way for Christians to engage in politics?
• How have your politics informed your ideas of the poor?
• Do you think that all poor people are lazy?
• How can your local church reach out to people who look/speak/act differently that you do?
• How have you see Kaitlyn's four false gospels play out in your life and church?
• Prosperity
• Patriotism
• Security
• Supremacy

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Do systems really keep minorities down? Even asking the questions sound socialistic to some. But we need to go through our society to root out systems that breed inequality. But how? Sometimes discussions of racism can make us feel helplessly lost.

That's why I called in an expert.

Jemar Tisby is a Christian speaker, author of “The Color of Compromise” and “How to Fight Racism”. He's also an important voice in modern America. Even if you don't agree with everything he writes in his books, it's important to hear what he's saying here. What are the systems that separate black and white people? How can we learn to grieve as a people, as a local church, and as a community?

Discussion Questions:

• How can you organize an event at your church (online) to discuss the history of racism in your church, community, schools, and hearts?
• Have you ever stopped to do a racial autobiography? (my questions, not Jemar's)
• When was the first time you met someone of a different race?
• What did your parents teach you, consciously or unconsciously, about race?
• Have you ever used a racial slur? Why? How did you feel about it then? How do you feel about it now? What is the power of those words?
• Have you ever been afraid of someone from another race? Why? When?
• Do you regularly come in contact with people of a different race?
• How do you feel when you see a police officer? Why might someone else have a different reaction? How did you come to feel that way?
• Are there distinct, racially divided neighborhoods in your area? How did they get there? Do you ever go to a different neighborhood? Why or why not?
• Are discussions of race inherently socialistic?
• Are discussions of class inherently socialistic?

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The January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol demonstrated the dangers of extreme Christian nationalism. When we allow our ideas about God and His protection to overrun the Bible, we get into serious trouble. Now, many Christians are questioning their faith. Why does the Jesus of the Bible look so different from us and our country?

In this episode, Chris discusses our strange relationship with the United States. We love it when it affirms us, but we don't know what to do when the US behaves in an evil manner. How do we unify the Church in an era of division?

Helpful Discussion Questions:

• How have you seen the United States tied to Christianity?
• What do you think people mean when they say the US is a Christian nation?
• When have you seen the US behave in a Christian manner?
• When have you seen it wander from Christian principles?
• Do you follow the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, or an economic Jesus?
• How can you love people in your local church who believe different things about Jesus than you do?

Helpful links:

• You can learn more about the Virginia Law Codes in Rebecca Cox Richardson's book "How the South Won the Civil War".
• In the episode, I reference that the US provided rebels in Afghanistan with copies of the Koran and VHS bootlegs of the movie "Rambo". You can learn about that in Steve Coll's book, "Ghost Wars" pages 90 and 194-197.
• Learn about John Adam's day of fasting
• The Treaty of Tripoli
• More about Dalton Trumbo
• "Trumbo" movie trailer

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Pain, she said, is not always a bad thing. Pain is what our body uses to tell us something is wrong. That we need to make a change. If your appendix hurts, it's helpful. Because if they didn't, you'd have no way of knowing that they were going to burst. Sometimes, we need to feel pain.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty raw today. I haven't been able to focus on much. Yesterday, January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters, incited by Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC. It was an act of terrorism. A coup attempt on US soil. I'm angry. I'm scared. And what hurts the most is to know that evangelical Christians share the blame. We were a big part of his support base. Despite his stirring up rebellion, his lies about everything from the size of his inaugural audience to the shameful claims of a rigged election, his obvious conflicts of interest, racism, sexism, and potentially criminal dealings with Deutsche Bank, many of my people stand by his side. And there is nothing he can do to break that spell. Some Christians will support him no matter what.

I started this podcast three years ago for a lot of reasons. There is one big reason, though. I wasn't public about it. I've spent a lot of hours debating whether or not I should tell you. But I started Truce because I think my people, Christians, are headed for persecution. Not because of the Bible. Not because we believe in Jesus, and the world hates Jesus. But because we're acting like children. We worship oligarchs and their money, even though Jesus told us not to. We ignore the poor, even though Jesus commanded us to take care of them. We've acquired a taste for hate, even though the Bible says to love our neighbors. We've sought vengeance when it's clear that vengeance belongs to the Lord.

I don't think anyone deserves to be persecuted. Hear that. Nobody deserves persecution. But I think we're building a pretty strong case against ourselves. Christian media will try to put a positive spin on it, say it's not our fault. That the heathens hate Jesus. Know that this is the reason: because we turned our back on our calling in pursuit of power.

I probably wounded you in saying that. That's okay. We've grown so used to thinking that we deserve a life free from pain. I want to remind you that pain is not always a bad thing. It tells us when we're bleeding, when we're wounded, when we're sick. I think a lot about the Babylonian's taking over Judah in the Old Testament. God's people acted wickedly generation after generation. So they paid for their wickedness.

I won't offer us comfort today. I just won't. Because we won't change until it hurts. Our positive and uplifting media outlets have robbed us of our ability to lament. To grieve. Yes, pray for this country. But if we stop there, we're missing the point. We need to repent, turn from our evil ways, humbly and graciously serve others as Jesus served. Repent.

Until we do, let it hurt. Let today hurt.

God help us.

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In Russia during the Soviet era, hundred of posters and magazine covers were printed to encourage people to abandon their faith. They were state-sponsored and designed to be interpreted even by people who could not read. This propaganda clearly tied anti-Christian sentiment to the United States.

In his new book, Godless Utopia, Roland Elliott Brown collected a number of these images and provided commentary on their meaning.

What does it mean that we call the United States a Christian nation? What does it mean when presidents like Ronald Reagan merge their faith with the US? How does that impact our witness? These are questions we'll continue exploring throughout this series.

Donate a little to help the show on either Patreon or Paypal

Helpful links:

• You can view images from the book here. Please note that some of these images may not be appropriate for all eyes.
• Watch the whole "evil empire" speech here.
• Article about Ruth Snyder, the first woman to be sent to the electric chair
• Roland's article about Soviet propaganda (see page 18)
• Mobituaries podcast episode about lynching and D.W. Griffith's film "Birth of a Nation"

Topics covered:

• What did soviet propaganda look like?
• How did Stalin use the Orthodox church to fight in WWII?
• What was Ronald Reagan's "evil empire" speech?
• Is it okay for US Presidents to speak at Christian events?

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How strong was the soviet mythology? Strong enough to make a young boy turn in his own parents. At least... that's what the communist government of Russia wanted their people to believe. They created a myth around a boy named Pavlik Morozov who they deemed Pioneer 1.

Select Sources:

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/collectivization
• https://www.rbth.com/history/329601-demon-or-hero-morozov
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1450370/Squalid-truth-of-Stalins-little-martyr-killed-for-informing-on-his-father.html

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Vladimir Prokhnevskiy moved to the United States as a Christian refugee from Ukraine. He and his family left that country after enduring oppression from their governments. He spoke with Chris about what it was like to live in such poverty, how his father was threatened with work in Chernobyl, and how a shoebox from Operation Christmas Child impacted his life.

Vladimir and his twin brother own Ukramedia, a company that teaches people to make motion graphics. You can watch this video about their lives and work.

It was a thrill to talk with Vladimir. Please consider supporting this show so that we can continue to make these episodes.

You can donate via our Patreon or Paypal pages or at trucepodcast.com.

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After the fall of the Romanov dynasty, Russia fell into the hands of the Bolshevik political party. They led the country into one of the darkest chapters in world history when religious people and dissidents were targeted, imprisoned, and murdered. This history is hard to hear but important for us to know.

Our special guest this episode is Felix Corley of www.forum18.org.

In this episode, we discuss why Vladimir Lenin persecuted Christians and how Joseph Stalin instituted a policy of fear in the Soviet Union.

Helpful Links:

• Forum 18
• Article about the poem "First They Came"
• The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
• An interesting article about former Soviet countries

Topics discussed:

• Why did Vladimir Lenin hate Christians?
• Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia
• Persecution of Muslims in Russia
• How many people did Joseph Stalin kill?
• Nikita Khrushchev

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When the Russian tsars fell, they left a power vacuum. Who would rule Russia after the Romanov dynasty? The Bolshevik's rose to power, led by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin immediately began persecuting anybody he didn't like.

In this episode, we'll examine the dark realities behind the Russian revolution: how it started with good intentions but ended with the death of millions. We'll also see how a culture of fear and suspicion held the nation captive.

Our guests today are Professor Barbara Engel (author of "Russia in World History"), and Roland Elliott Brown (author of "Godless Utopia").

This is part of our series examining how the rise of communism in Russia impacted the Christian church. Check out the rest of season three for more information. We're working hard to make Truce the best Christian podcast on the market. Please rate and review the show!

FACT CHECK NOTICE:

• Genghis Khan, who I did not mention in the episode, is in the running for having murdered the most people in history. I discovered this fact after the episode had been completed. Sorry!

Topics covered:

• How did Vladimir Lenin come to power?
• How did Stalin come to power?
• How many people did Stalin kill? (20-25 million)
• Is communism bad?
• What was the Soviet Union?
• How did the Soviet Union begin?
• Who were the Bolsheviks?
• Why do some people like Stalin?