Faithful Politics

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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. 
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📩 Reach out to us:
Faithful Host, Josh Burtram: [email protected]
Political Host, Will Wright: [email protected]
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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

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: [email protected]
What if racism is not just a belief someone holds, but something people do through everyday choices, institutions, and patterns of behavior?
Ainsley LeSure joins Faithful Politics to explain why racism cannot be reduced to personal belief, private intent, or what someone claims is in their heart. Drawing from her book Locating Racism in the World, LeSure argues that racism is better understood through practice, behavior, outcomes, institutions, and the everyday relationships that shape our shared world. The conversation covers institutional racism, the post-civil rights era, Christian political mobilization, democracy, equality, voting rights, and the ways racial common sense continues to shape American politics. We also discuss the recent BAFTA awards incident involving racist language during an acceptance speech connected to Sinners, using it as a real-world example of how harm, responsibility, intent, and public response become more complicated when racism is treated only as a question of personal motive.
Locating Racism in the World:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/locating-racism-in-the-world-9780197833865?cc=us&lang=en&
Guest Bio
Ainsley LeSure, Ph.D. is a political theorist and Assistant Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Brown University, where she specializes in race and racism, phenomenology, democratic theory, feminist theory, and political thought. Her book Locating Racism in the World develops a phenomenological account of antiblack racism and challenges post-civil rights understandings that reduce racism to individual belief or intent. Her work helps explain how racism operates through everyday practices, institutions, relationships, and democratic life. 
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 does religious trauma actually look like inside high-control Christian environments?
In this episode of Faithful Politics, we sit down with Tia Levings, author of A Well-Trained Wife and I Belong to Me, to unpack her experience inside Christian fundamentalism and her journey out. Tia shares what life looked like inside a patriarchal, high-control religious system and how those environments shape identity, relationships, and personal agency.
We explore how theology, culture, and authority structures work together in these spaces. Tia explains how belief systems are reinforced through obedience, how questioning is discouraged, and how survivors often internalize blame for harmful outcomes. She also discusses how movements like the Institute in Basic Life Principles and figures like Doug Wilsoninfluence broader religious and political culture.
The conversation goes deeper into the concept of religious trauma and how it can mirror symptoms associated with PTSD. Tia walks through common patterns survivors experience, including loss of identity, fear responses, and difficulty trusting themselves after leaving. She also explains why rebuilding a sense of self is often harder than leaving the environment itself.
We also examine the connection between high-control religion and broader political movements, including Christian nationalism. Tia highlights how these belief systems scale beyond individual households into larger cultural and political influence.
Finally, Tia shares what healing looks like. Her latest book, I Belong to Me, focuses on recovery, autonomy, and rebuilding identity after leaving high-control environments. This episode offers a practical and honest look at what it takes to move forward.
Buy the book, I Belong to Me A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9781250374271
Guest Bio
Tia Levings is an author and advocate focused on life inside high-control religious environments and the recovery that follows. She is the author of A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy and I Belong to Me. Her work centers on religious trauma, deconstruction, and helping survivors rebuild identity and autonomy after leaving fundame
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