Faithful Politics

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In this episode of Faithful Politics, Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram talk with historian D.G. Hart about Christian nationalism, church-state separation, the American founding, and what can happen when Christianity becomes too closely tied to political power. Hart brings a distinctive perspective to this conversation. He is a conservative Presbyterian and a historian of American religion, but he is deeply skeptical of efforts to make Christianity dependent on government power.

Hart argues that one of the unusual features of the American experiment is that the United States broke from a long history of church-state entanglement. That separation was not just a legal technicality. It created space for religious pluralism and helped prevent Christianity from becoming coercive through the power of the state.

Book:
D.G. Hart, Protestants and Patriots: Presbyterians in the Age of Revolution: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9780268210823

Guest Bio
D.G. Hart is a historian of American religion and professor of history at Hillsdale College. His work focuses on Protestantism, American religious history, church life, and the relationship between Christianity and political authority. He is the author of several books, including Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant and Protestants and Patriots: Presbyterians in the Age of Revolution. In this conversation, Hart brings a historically grounded and theologically conservative perspective to debates about Christian nationalism, church-state separation, and the American founding.
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Was America founded as a Christian nation? Warren Throckmorton joins Faithful Politics to unpack the historical myths behind that claim and explain why they still matter today. Drawing from his book The Christian Past That Wasn’t, Warren walks through stories about Ben Franklin, the Constitutional Convention, Roger Williams, John Winthrop, David Barton, and the use of Christianity to justify everything from colonial conquest to slavery and Jim Crow. The conversation looks at how Christian nationalist history works, why it appeals to people, and why protecting church-state separation is one of the clearest ways to defend religious liberty for everyone.
Resources Mentioned
The Christian Past That Wasn’t: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History by Warren Throckmorton: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9798889835820
Guest Bio
Warren Throckmorton is an author, speaker, and former psychology professor whose work focuses on the intersection of psychology, history, religion, and public life. He is the co-author of Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims About Our Third President, which examines inaccurate claims about Thomas Jefferson and religious liberty. His latest book, The Christian Past That Wasn’t: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History, challenges popular Christian nationalist narratives about America’s founding by comparing those claims against primary historical sources. Throckmorton’s work helps readers understand how myths about the past shape political identity, religious belief, and public policy.
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:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPolitics
📩 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:
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Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected]
David Daley joins Faithful Politics to explain how gerrymandering, mid-decade redistricting, and recent Supreme Court decisions are reshaping the 2026 elections. The conversation covers Virginia’s redistricting fight, the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, the weakening of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and the potential loss of Black political representation across the South. Daley also explains why noncompetitive districts fuel polarization and why reforms like proportional representation, multi-member districts, ranked choice voting, and the Fair Representation Act may be necessary to restore meaningful voter representation.
https://fairvote.org/
Guest bio:
David Daley is a senior fellow at FairVote and a leading writer and commentator on gerrymandering, redistricting, voting rights, and democratic reform. He is the author of the national bestseller Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, which helped bring national attention to the modern strategy, technology, and political consequences of partisan gerrymandering. He is also the author of Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy and Antidemocratic, which examines the Supreme Court, voting rights, and the long-term weakening of democratic protections. 
Daley’s journalism and commentary have appeared in outlets including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Slate, The New Republic, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He previously served as editor-in-chief of Salon and has become one of the country’s most prominent public voices on how redistricting shapes 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:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPolitics
📩 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

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected]
In this Faithful Politics POV episode, Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram examine the Trump administration’s anti-Christian bias report and ask whether it proves real discrimination against Christians or mostly reframes policy disagreements as persecution. They discuss the FACE Act, the Richmond FBI memo involving traditionalist Catholics, IRS scrutiny of Christian nonprofits, vaccine exemptions, Liberty University fines, and the broader politics of religious liberty. The conversation is less about defending one administration and more about how Christians should evaluate evidence, resist easy outrage, and protect religious freedom without turning every conflict into persecution.

Wait, We're the Oppressed Ones? Part Eight: https://faithfulpolitics.substack.com/p/wait-were-the-oppressed-ones-part-535?r=1bt7sx
Our live POV episodes happen every 2nd Thursday. 
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:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPolitics
📩 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

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected]
What did the Apostle Paul actually teach about heaven, resurrection, and the meaning of life on earth?

Dr. Nijay Gupta joins Faithful Politics to talk about Paul, heaven, resurrection, and why Christian faith is not meant to function as an escape from the world. Drawing from his new book Paul for the World, Gupta explains how Paul’s letters speak to ordinary life - friendship, work, suffering, grief, money, community, and hope. The conversation challenges the idea that the gospel is mainly about getting to heaven after death and instead presents Paul’s vision of resurrection as a call to live faithfully in the world God intends to renew.

Paul for the World: A Grounded Vision for Finding Meaning in This Life, Not Just the Next by Nijay K. Gupta
https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781540966926_paul-for-the-world

Guest Bio
Dr. Nijay K. Gupta is the Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, a senior translator for the New Living Translation, and cohost of the Slow Theology podcast. He is the author of numerous books on the New Testament and early Christianity, including Tell Her Story, Strange Religion, and Paul for the World: A Grounded Vision for Finding Meaning in This Life, Not Just the Next. His work focuses on helping readers understand Scripture in its historical, theological, and practical context.
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:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPolitics
📩 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