Faithful Politics

• Faith or Fundraising? Defending the Johnson Amendment with Amanda Tyler

  Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected]'re breaking from our usual Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday release schedule to address a topic making headlines: the Johnson Amendment.What is the Johnson Amendment—and why are some Christian leaders eager to repeal it? Enacted in 1954, the law prohibits churches and other nonprofits from endorsing or opposing political candidates. While critics argue it silences pastors, Amanda Tyler, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, says it actually protects the integrity of both church and state.In this episode, Tyler explains how repealing the Johnson Amendment could politicize the pulpit, erode sacred trust, and compromise true religious freedom. With legal expertise and deep Baptist roots, she offers a compelling defense of why churches should stay out of electoral politics.If you've ever wondered whether pastors should endorse candidates from the pulpit, this conversation offers both moral clarity and constitutional insight.Editor’s Note:In this episode, there is a brief misstatement regarding the Texas lawsuit and litigation strategy. Amanda mistakenly stated that Texas sued the Department of Justice, when in fact it was the DOJ that sued Texas. A White House press release confirms this. While the procedural detail was misstated, the broader point being made remains unchanged.Guest BioAmanda Tyler is Executive Director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), a constitutional lawyer, and a leading voice in the fight against Christian nationalism. Under her leadership, BJC has mobilized faith communities to protect religious liberty for all, including through initiatives like Christians Against Christian Nationalism. She is the author of How to End Christian Nationalism.🔗 Resource LinksHow to End Christian Nationalism by Amanda Tyler: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781506498287BJC – Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty: https://bjconline.org/Christ Support the show🎧 Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, get in touch with the hosts, or suggest a future guest?👉 Visit our website: faithfulpoliticspodcast.com 📚 Check out our Bookstore – Featuring titles from our amazing guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstore ❤️ Support the show – Help us keep the conversation going:donorbox.org/faithful-politics-podcast 📩 Reach out to us: Faithful Host, Josh Burtram: [email protected] Political Host, Will Wright: [email protected] 📱 Follow & connect with us: Twitter/X: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics 📰 Subscribe to our Substack for behind-the-scenes content:faithfulpolitics.substack.com 📅 RSVP for upcoming live events:Chec...

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• Rusty Hawkins on Why ‘Color-Blind’ Christianity Still Harms Racial Justice

  Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected] 1954, white Southern churches declared that school integration “defied God’s design.” Seven decades later, many of those congregations champion “color-blindness” instead. What changed—and what hasn’t? Historian Rusty Hawkins (Indiana Wesleyan University), co-editor of The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy, joins Faithful Politics to trace the theological through-line from Jim Crow sermons to modern debates over CRT and DEI. Hawkins explains how pastors and laypeople alike used Scripture to sanctify segregation, then re-branded the same resistance as a fight for “quality education” and “parental choice.” He also argues that today’s church can still become a force for racial reconciliation—if it learns from the prophetic witness of the Black church and rejects power for service. Whether you’re a pastor, activist, or history buff, this conversation equips you with the receipts—and the hope—to confront racism’s religious roots.Guest BioRusty Hawkins is Associate Professor of History at Indiana Wesleyan University, specializing in American religion and race. He co-edited the award-winning The Bible Told Them So and is currently writing a religious biography of Alabama Governor George Wallace. Hawkins’s scholarship appears in Christianity Today, the Journal of Southern Religion, and other outlets, making him a leading voice on how evangelical theology has shaped—and been shaped by—America’s color line. Support the show🎧 Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, get in touch with the hosts, or suggest a future guest?👉 Visit our website: faithfulpoliticspodcast.com 📚 Check out our Bookstore – Featuring titles from our amazing guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstore ❤️ Support the show – Help us keep the conversation going:donorbox.org/faithful-politics-podcast 📩 Reach out to us: Faithful Host, Josh Burtram: [email protected] Political Host, Will Wright: [email protected] 📱 Follow & connect with us: Twitter/X: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics 📰 Subscribe to our Substack for behind-the-scenes content:faithfulpolitics.substack.com 📅 RSVP for upcoming live events:Chec...

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• Who Owns the Ten Commandments? Mark Glanville on Power and Sacred Symbols

  Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected] June 2024, Louisiana passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom—reviving old debates about church-state separation and moral authority. But what if we’ve misunderstood the Ten Commandments all along?Dr. Mark Glanville, Old Testament scholar, jazz pianist, and director of the Centre for Missional Leadership at UBC, joins the podcast to reframe how we read scripture in public life. Drawing on his essay “Ten Commandments, Zero Context,” Glanville explains how these ancient laws were never about symbolic domination or individual morality, but about shaping a just, compassionate community freed from oppression.From biblical law’s roots in slave emancipation to today’s debates over Christian nationalism, immigration, and public theology, this episode asks: What kind of society are we really trying to build? And whose law are we following—Pharaoh’s or God’s?🎧 Listen in, then share this episode with a friend or pastor.📬 Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of faith and politics.Guest Bio:Dr. Mark Glanville is an Old Testament scholar and the Director of the Centre for Missional Leadership at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. A professional jazz pianist and theologian, Glanville is the author of Improvising Church and Preaching in a New Key. He also hosts the Blue Note Theology podcast—“the only theology podcast hosted from a grand piano.”🔗 Resource LinksImprovising Church: Scripture as the Source of Harmony, Rhythm, and Soul: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781514007457Mark Glanville’s Website: https://www.markglanville.org/ Support the show🎧 Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, get in touch with the hosts, or suggest a future guest?👉 Visit our website: faithfulpoliticspodcast.com 📚 Check out our Bookstore – Featuring titles from our amazing guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstore ❤️ Support the show – Help us keep the conversation going:donorbox.org/faithful-politics-podcast 📩 Reach out to us: Faithful Host, Josh Burtram: [email protected] Political Host, Will Wright: [email protected] 📱 Follow & connect with us: Twitter/X: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics 📰 Subscribe to our Substack for behind-the-scenes content:faithfulpolitics.substack.com 📅 RSVP for upcoming live events:Chec...

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• Fixing a Broken Democracy: Meredith Sumpter on Ranked Choice Voting

  Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected]% of Americans believe our political system isn’t working—and they’re not wrong. In this episode, Will sits down with Meredith Sumpter, CEO of FairVote, to unpack one of the most promising reforms in American democracy: ranked choice voting (RCV). With over 800 elections already conducted using RCV and growing bipartisan support in states like Maine and Alaska, this episode explores how RCV reduces negative campaigning, empowers majority rule, and encourages candidates to actually engage with all voters—not just their base.Meredith explains how RCV works, where it’s spreading, and why local communities are leading the charge. Can a voting method really make elections more civil? What would it take to implement RCV nationwide? And why are some politicians resisting it, even if their constituents support it?This isn’t just a conversation about ballots—it’s about restoring faith in the democratic process.👤 Guest BioMeredith Sumpter is the CEO of FairVote, a nonpartisan organization working to make American democracy more representative and functional. With a background in diplomacy, global strategy, and policy, she leads efforts to expand ranked choice voting and other election reforms nationwide. Support the show🎧 Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, get in touch with the hosts, or suggest a future guest?👉 Visit our website: faithfulpoliticspodcast.com 📚 Check out our Bookstore – Featuring titles from our amazing guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstore ❤️ Support the show – Help us keep the conversation going:donorbox.org/faithful-politics-podcast 📩 Reach out to us: Faithful Host, Josh Burtram: [email protected] Political Host, Will Wright: [email protected] 📱 Follow & connect with us: Twitter/X: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics 📰 Subscribe to our Substack for behind-the-scenes content:faithfulpolitics.substack.com 📅 RSVP for upcoming live events:Chec...

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• Loyalty, Suffering, and Power: Joseph Torigian on Xi Jinping’s Moral Code

  Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected] does Xi Jinping, one of the world’s most powerful leaders, believe the Communist Party deserves unwavering loyalty—even after it persecuted his own family?Author and political historian Joseph Torigian joins Faithful Politics to unpack his groundbreaking biography, The Party's Interest Come First, a deeply researched portrait of Xi Zhongxun, father of China’s current president. With insights drawn from rare archival material, spy memoirs, and even interviews with the Dalai Lama, Torigian helps us understand how personal suffering shaped the elder Xi’s devotion to party discipline—and how that legacy forged Xi Jinping’s authoritarian vision for modern China. We explore the moral logic of elite politics in Beijing, the party’s uneasy relationship with religious minorities like Christians and Catholics, and why understanding history is essential to forecasting China’s future.As China’s global influence grows and tension with the West intensifies, this conversation couldn’t be more timely—or more vital.👤 Guest BioJoseph Torigian is an associate professor at American University and a leading expert on authoritarian regimes, elite politics, and the Chinese Communist Party. His latest book, The Party’s Interest Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, draws on rare archival sources and interviews to offer new insights into the foundations of China’s modern political power. Support the show🎧 Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, get in touch with the hosts, or suggest a future guest?👉 Visit our website: faithfulpoliticspodcast.com 📚 Check out our Bookstore – Featuring titles from our amazing guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstore ❤️ Support the show – Help us keep the conversation going:donorbox.org/faithful-politics-podcast 📩 Reach out to us: Faithful Host, Josh Burtram: [email protected] Political Host, Will Wright: [email protected] 📱 Follow & connect with us: Twitter/X: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics 📰 Subscribe to our Substack for behind-the-scenes content:faithfulpolitics.substack.com 📅 RSVP for upcoming live events:Chec...

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