The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast

The Importance of Maintaining the Separation of Church and State (with Rob Boston)

This week's guest is Rob Boston, senior editor of Church and State and long-time prolific writer for the organization Americans United for the Separation of Church & State.
Rob has been with AU for more than 30 years, and in that time he's written extensively on not only church and state, but on exposing--and debunking, in some cases--many of the key leaders of the Christian Right and Christian nationalist movements.
In this episode, Rob and I cover a wide range of topics related to the importance of maintaining the separation of church and state, which a great number of Christian nationalists have been working to batter down for decades now.
Why should you be concerned, or for that matter, care about this topic? I think you will after listening in!
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Contact Information
Follow Rob on Twitter @RobBoston1
Find his articles on the AU Website
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

Bonus Episode - Jesus and John Wayne: Muscular, Masculine White Evangelical Christianity (with Kristin Kobes Du Mez)

In this special bonus episode, I'm happy to share my interview of Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of an outstanding book released on Tuesday, the 23rd of June 2020, and timed to coincide with its release.
Titled Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, the book explores the legacy of "evangelical masculinity"--and chronicles how, in the last century or so, white evangelicals have been on a quest to "reclaim their lost manhood."
We'll cover not only how this movement came about and how it developed most clearly over the last 40 years, but also discuss the legacy of this movement--biblical patriarchy, along with its numerous abuses and scandals. This is also the legacy that led to that infamous 81% of white evangelicals voting for Trump in 2016.
Find out more about the book on Amazon
Follow Kristin on Twitter @kkdumez
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018
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Tracing the History of Christian Homeschooling in America (with Dr Milton Gaither)

This week's episode features an information-packed chat with Dr Milton Gaither, widely considered one of America's foremost leading experts on the subject of Christian homeschooling.
Dr Gaither wrote the book on the subject--literally. His 2008 book Homeschool: An American History (revised in 2017) contains a wealth of information not just on the development of homeschooling in general, but specifically Christian homeschooling. This is the subject we spend the most time unpacking and exploring.
Why does this topic matter? Generally speaking, much of the Christian homeschool movement today has been influenced by the work of RJ Rushdoony, "the father of Christian Reconstructionism." Why does that matter? Listen in to find out why!
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Dr Gaither's Homeschooling Research Notes site
Contact Information
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

Grace from a Secular Perspective (with "The Graceful Atheist")

This week we are taking another break from talking about dominion theology and Christian nationalism to focus on a topic I've dealt with a lot in the past--how to reconstruct your life, and rebuild, after leaving one's faith or religious beliefs behind.
 
My guest this week is David, host of The Graceful Atheist podcast. We have a fantastic discussion comparing notes both as ex-pastors who walked away from our former Christian beliefs, but are still doing a lot of "pastoral" work--helping others who have deconstructed, or are thinking about starting the process.
 
You'll find this a helpful and informative episode that covers a lot of ground!
 
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Follow David on Twitter @GracefulAtheist
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018
 
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Bonus Episode: The Case Against Miracles (with John Loftus)

In this special episode, I'm chatting with author, ex-evangelical and now atheist, John Loftus.
 
John is the author of the recent book The Case Against Miracles, an anthology that aims to discuss miracles from a scholarly point of view. Along with several other noted academics, John takes aim at this topic, seeking not only to define miracles--but to ask whether or not there is even evidence to believe that such a thing exists.
 
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John Loftus's Website Debunking Christianity
 
Contact Details
Follow John on Twitter @loftusjohnw
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018
 

Ideological Fundamentalism, Information Disease, and America's Response to the Global Coronavirus Crisis (with Conway & Siegelman)

I apologize in advance for the long title, but when you hear this show, I promise it will be worth the listen!
This week's guests are the legendary returning guests, Conway & Siegelman. They wrote the hugely important and influential books Snapping in 1978 and then, just a few years later, came out with Holy Terror. 
With their incredible, on-the-ground field research, they were among the first to track and study in depth the "cult phenomenon" of the 1970s, and then later the rise of the Christian Right in the late 1970s-80s. 
In this episode we'll cover a lot of ground, so strap yourself in and hold on!
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http://patreon.com/mindshiftpodcast
Contact Conway & Siegelman
http://stillpointpress.net
Follow Me on Twitter @MindShift2018

Bonus Episode - Onward Christian Soldiers: Growing up as a Loyal Foot Soldier

Off the back of a recent Medium article I recently wrote on this subject, I decided to riff on this topic and so turn it into a podcast episode on its own. In this episode, I describe what life was like for me, growing up as a loyal foot soldier in "The Lord's Army."
Thoroughly indoctrinated by my church and Christian school experiences alike, I had never heard the names of influencers like RJ Rushdoony and others who later came along and helped spread his Christian Reconstructionist and dominion agenda.
If you grew up in church, or attended a Christian school--then you'll resonate with this bonus episode.
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

Taking America Back for God: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in the USA (with Sam Perry)

This week's guest is sociologist and author Sam Perry, who co-wrote the book together with Dr Andrew Whitehead Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States.
What makes their book on Christian nationalism different? The authors take a sociological approach to the subject, distilling data from nationwide surveys on religion, to uncover the motives and inspiration behind Christian nationalism.
Along the way, they discovered some fairly disturbing trends about what's going on in the intersection of evangelical Christianity and the American political scene today.
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Contact Details
Follow Sam Perry on Twitter @socofthesacred
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018
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Bonus Episode - Confronting Magical Thinking: Some Christian Responses to the Coronavirus (with Tim Sledge and David Hayward)

In this special bonus edition, I have the pleasure of bringing together three ex-evangelical pastors: myself, Tim Sledge, and David Hayward (better known as "The Naked Pastor.")
 
A former megachurch pastor from Texas, Tim is the author of the bestselling books Goodbye Jesus and Four Disturbing Questions With One Simple Answer. David is of course best known for his poignant cartoons that, while poking fun at the church, often reveal the inbuilt patriarchy and misogyny of much of evangelicalism today. He is also the author of The Liberation of Sophia.
 
Together, we not only analyze and unpack some of the more bizarre Christian responses to Covid-19, we'll also explore some of the motives that may perhaps be driving them from a theological and biblical point of view.
 
If you're a Christian struggling with anxiety and are contemplating deconstructing your faith, then this episode is for you!
 
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Contact Information
Tim Sledge on Twitter @goodbye_Jesus
David Hayard on Twitter @nakedpastor
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

The Power Worshippers: Exploring Religious Nationalism (with Katherine Stewart)

This week's guest is Katherine Stewart, author of the book The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.
 
Katherine has devoted the last ten years of her life to uncovering, and telling the story publicly, of the many and varied ways in which the Religious Right and other Christian nationalist groups have infiltrated American society, from education to the top levels of politics.
 
Should you be concerned about this movement? According to Katherine, religious nationalists don't want merely to establish a religion--they are about grasping7 political power. In their aim to establish a theocracy in America, the rights of many have already been trampled underfoot, with more on the way--if they achieve their agenda.
 
Support Independent Media like MindShift Podcast on Patreon
 
Contact Details
Follow Katherine on Twitter @kathsstewart
Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018
 
Check out my article, "An Interview with Katherine Stewart" on Medium