Faithful Politics

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s fight over Muslim wudu stations at Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth airports opens into a much larger question: who gets protected by religious liberty in America?

Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein joins Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram to explain why facilities that existed for years suddenly became a political target, how legal experts view Abbott’s First Amendment argument, and how the dispute fits into a broader pattern of anti-Muslim rhetoric in Texas. 

The conversation moves from Employment Division v. Smith and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Kennedy v. Bremerton, the decline of the Lemon test, Ten Commandments laws, school vouchers, Christian nationalism, and the changing meaning of church-state separation.
Boorstein also explains why religious liberty becomes complicated in a pluralistic country and why some of the next major constitutional fights may center on the Establishment Clause.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott takes aim at Muslim washing stations in airports:https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/08/20/fight-over-airport-washing-stations-is-latest-anti-muslim-salvo-gop/
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Michelle Boorstein is a religion reporter for The Washington Post who has covered religion, spirituality, politics, and public life for more than two decades. Her reporting examines religious liberty, church-state disputes, changing religious identity, and the political influence of faith communities. She holds a journalism and history degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s in Near Eastern studies from New York University. Her recent reporting has focused heavily on religion, government, and the changing boundaries between them.

Why would a parent take their child on a dangerous journey to the United States? Gabrielle Oliveira argues that one of the most overlooked answers is care.

Oliveira, a Harvard professor who studies immigration, education, and family migration, spent years following 16 migrant families from Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. She explains how violence, insecurity, and a lack of opportunity push families to leave, while safety and education become central to what they hope to find in America.

We talk about border detention and family separation, what children remember about migration, why American schools can represent opportunity for immigrant families, and Oliveira’s idea of “constrained care” among teachers trying to support immigrant students.
She also challenges the way immigrant children are often portrayed only as victims or extraordinary success stories, leaving out the ordinary lives most children eventually build.
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Book: Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children’s Education, and Dreams for a Better Life
https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781503644540
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Gabrielle Oliveira is the Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and Brazil Studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. An anthropologist of education, her research examines immigration, mobility, family life, and children’s schooling across borders. She is the author of Motherhood Across Borders and Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children’s Education, and Dreams for a Better Life, which received the 2026 American Educational Research Association Outstanding Book Award.

Historian Joseph Kelly argues that the roots of American fascism reach much further back than Nazi Germany or Mussolini’s Italy. They can be found in the antebellum South and the political system built to defend slavery and racial hierarchy.

Kelly, author of The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818 - 1915, traces how the promise that “all men are created equal” collided with a growing ideology that insisted inequality was natural. We discuss Thomas Jefferson, the Denmark Vesey conspiracy, Nat Turner, pseudoscientific racism, Samuel George Morton, Jim Crow, and the use of fear and political violence to protect white power.

Kelly also explains Robert Paxton’s definition of fascism, why January 6 changed Paxton’s view of Donald Trump, and how election denial can function as a test of political loyalty. The conversation ends with the institutions Kelly believes still protect American democracy, including a free press, independent courts, academic freedom, and organizations committed to defending civil rights.
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Book: The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818 - 1915
https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781639732111
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Joseph Kelly is a historian and professor of literature and history at the College of Charleston. His work examines American democracy and the historical struggle between egalitarian ideals and systems of racial and political hierarchy. His latest book, The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818 - 1915, traces the development of American fascist politics from the antebellum South through Jim Crow and the rise of Anglo-Saxon nationalism. He is also the author of Marooned and America’s Longest Siege.

With the 2026 midterms approaching, the rules around voting are becoming part of the political fight itself. Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey joins Faithful Politics to explain what voters actually need to know about election security, voter registration, mail-in voting, voter ID laws, voter roll purges, and misinformation.

Andrea walks through current efforts to change how elections are administered, including the SAVE Act, challenges involving mail voting, citizenship verification, restrictions on digital voter registration, and the possibility of federal involvement at polling locations. She also explains what happens if you discover you have been removed from the voter rolls and why checking your registration early matters.

The conversation also tackles a larger question: What happens when Americans stop trusting elections themselves? With AI-generated misinformation likely to increase ahead of Election Day, Andrea explains how voters can verify information, protect their ability to vote, and make a plan before problems arise.

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Andrea Hailey is CEO of Vote.org, the nation’s largest nonpartisan nonprofit voter registration and get-out-the-vote technology platform. Under her leadership, Vote.org has combined digital voter tools, legal strategy, data-driven outreach, and grassroots partnerships to expand access to the ballot. In August 2026, Vote.org announced that Americans had used its platform to register to vote 10 million times. Hailey’s career has focused on voter engagement, civic participation, and election access

What does the Bible actually say about politics, and what happens when Christians allow a political party to shape how they read Scripture?

Biblical scholar Michael Rhodes joins us to discuss Reimagining Biblical Politics and why Christian political discipleship cannot be reduced to a handful of verses or a partisan platform. We explore Christian nationalism, immigration, poverty, justice, political power, and the ways both conservatives and progressives can allow partisan identity to shape their convictions.

Rhodes walks through figures including the Hebrew midwives, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Jesus to show how Scripture offers several models for engaging public life. He also explains his distinction between “outpost politics” within the church and “pilgrim politics” in the wider world.

Book: Reimagining Biblical Politics: What Scripture Says about Public Life and Why It Matters
https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781540967558

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Michael J. Rhodes is Dean of Faculty and Lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College in Auckland, New Zealand. An ordained pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, his scholarship focuses on Scripture, justice, poverty, economics, and public life. He is the author of Reimagining Biblical Politics, Just Discipleship, and Formative Feasting, and coauthor of Practicing the King’s Economy. His work also draws on years of Christian community development in Kenya, South Memphis, and South Auckland.