January 6, White Christian Nationalism, and How We Got Here, with Bradley Onishi

A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk into a Bar

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We speak with Dr. Bradley Onishi, a religion scholar whose latest book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next, explores the rise of the extremist religious right in America and its evolution from the 1960s through the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
We discuss his personal transformation from conservative Christian to scholar to unbeliever, his insights into January 6 and why he believes he could have been one of the insurrectionists, why evangelicals embrace conspiracy theories, the role religion played (and didn't play) in shaping the Republican party, and several interesting tidbits about everyone's favorite Family Man, James Dobson. We also delve into the American Redoubt, a survivalist and prepper movement that dreams of a Christian society within the United States, and its earnest preparations for a looming civil war.
Dr. Onishi offers a stark and unsettling warning: the distrust in our civic spaces and the readiness for religious violence could indeed be harbingers of our future.
The beverage we tasted in this episode is Penderyn Legend single malt Welsh whisky.
To skip the tasting, go to 5:33.
You can find the transcript for this episode here. Please note that it was auto-generated by an artificial intelligence and has not been reviewed by a human. Please forgive and disregard any inaccuracies, misattributions, or misspellings.

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Chapters

1. January 6, White Christian Nationalism, and How We Got Here, with Bradley Onishi (00:00:00)

2. Introduction (00:00:36)

3. Beverage Tasting (00:02:46)

4. Interview (00:05:33)

5. From Faith to Doubt (00:13:14)

6. Family Values and Resistance to Equality (00:22:17)

7. Political Leaders (00:32:52)

8. The Rise of Reagan and Trump (00:38:10)

9. Evaluating Evangelical Perspectives on Presidents (00:42:58)

10. Christian Nationalism in Politics (00:47:15)

11. Evangelicals, Politics, and White Christian Nationalism (00:56:44)

12. Evangelical Beliefs and Conspiracy Theories (01:04:49)

13. American Redoubt (01:12:31)