Weekly Roundup: The Problem with the Focus on the Family
Brad and Dan draw on Sophie Bjork-James’ new book, the Divine Institution, to demonstrate how Evangelicals use the nuclear family in order to both attack members of the LGBTQ+ community and draw attention away from systemic issues related to race and other public health threats. In particular, they discuss a) the trans bill and healthcare […]
White Supremacists, Border Vigilantes, and Survivalists with Dr. Susannah Crockford
Brad is joined by Dr. Susannah Crockford, author of “Thank God for the greatest country on earth: white supremacy, vigilantes, and survivalists in the struggle to define the American nation,” an article in which she shares her ethnographic field work from the Arizona desert, near the US-Mexico border. Her work illuminates how Christian nationalism works […]
The Christian Soulmate Fallacy–Response to Timothy Keller
Brad responds to a Twitter thread by Timothy Keller, pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Keller argues for sex in a lifelong covenant marked by deep permanent union. He calls this biblical. Brad points out that the only biblical soulmate story we have of this kind is between God and Israel, which is a problematic example […]
Weekly Roundup: Why Are They Trying Write Trans People Out of Existence?
Brad and Dan are happy to announce that SWAJ is joining the Irreverent Media Group–a collective of podcasts that offers content on deconstruction, rediscovery, and everything in between. We outline the details at the top of the episode. Check out irreverent.fm for more details! We spend the major segment discussing the 82 anti-trans bills up […]
Being a Woman of Color in Purity Culture with Asha Dahya
TEDx speaker and author Asha Dahya is the Creator and Editor in Chief of GIRLTALKHQ. She was born in the UK, raised in Australia, and now lives in the USA. Of Indian descent, Asha grew up in Evangelical churches and was imbued with the teachings of purity culture. She discusses how it shaped her understanding […]
Focus on Your Own Family: Response to Focus on the Family’s Jim Daly
Brad’s response to Focus on the Family head Jim Daly, who mentioned him in a recent article. In the article Daly tried to deflect the analyses that connect the Atlanta shooter with Evangelicalism and purity culture. Brad dissects Daly’s argument that: The Atlanta shooter’s actions were born from insanity, and thus warrant no further investigation […]
Weekly Roundup: Is There Anything Wrong with Christian Nationalism? (Hint: Yes)
Dan provides a detailed rebuttal to a piece claiming that there the concern about Christian nationalism is an overblown conspiracy by liberals and celebrities. Brad links this to the draconian voter-suppression law signed in Georgia last night. The law was bankrolled by Christian nationalists organizations and is a direct reaction to Black women and POC […]
Ravi Zacharias, the Atlanta Shooter, Anti-Asian Hate, and Misogyny
Brad talks with Adrian Gibbs, co-host of the Dirty Rotten Church Kids and an ex-evangelical of Filipino descent, about the connections between Ravi Zacharias’ abuse of spa workers of Asian descent and the killing of six Asian women of Asian descent at day spas near Atlanta next week. They discuss the themes of misogyny, racial […]
Sex, Theology, Purity–Response to Al Mohler
Brad was featured in a NYT article about purity culture and its affect on the Atlanta shooter along with other academics and advocates including Sam Perry, Joshua Grubbs, and Rachael Denhollander. Soon thereafter Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, derided the article and our comments on his podcast. This is Brad’s response. […]
Weekly Roundup: A Massacre in Atlanta
Brad and Dan discuss the various threads connecting the massacre in Atlanta: from the history of anti-Asian racism, to the various dimensions of purity culture, to the cover Christian nationalism provides to acts of violence. They then discuss the Vatican’s statement on why the Church can’t bless same-sex unions. To Brad and Dan this is […]