Straight White American Jesus

An in-depth examination of the culture and politics of Christian Nationalism and Evangelicalism by two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors. If you have ever wondered what social and historical forces led white evangelicals to usher Donald Trump into the White House this is the show for you. As former insiders and critical scholars of religion, Dan Miller and Bradley Onishi have a unique perspective on the Religious Right. Guests have included Chrissy Stroop, R. Marie Griffith, Janelle Wong, Randall Balmer, Katherine Stewart, and many others.

  1. 17h ago

    The Sunday Interview: The Christian Turn Against Democracy (PART II)

    In PART II A conversation between Robert P. Jones and Brad Onishi, whose books—Backslide and American Caesar—arrive one week apart from the same publisher. Jones traces how "backsliding" carries both theological and political-science meanings, citing survey data showing measurable democratic erosion (from a rating of 67 down to 54, with a projected drop to 47) and arguing white Christianity, not just American democracy, is in "apostasy," pointing to majority white evangelical support for immigrant detention camps as a bright line. Onishi then walks through American Caesar's core argument: that Reconstructionist Protestants, radical traditional Catholics, and tech-world figures have formed a loose coalition around "saving Western civilization," a discourse he argues is really about excluding Muslims, African and Latin American migrants, and anyone outside a narrow white Christian identity, while reaching back not to the 1950s but toward a fantasy of medieval Christendom. The two discuss Hannah Arendt's writing on inner resistance versus external compliance, the media's reluctance to scrutinize Christian nationalism the way it would Islam, and the resurgence of arguments for restricting women to domestic roles. They close on a note of qualified hope: polling suggests a majority of Americans favor religious pluralism and multiculturalism even though a minority currently holds power, and both authors call for renewing—rather than simply restoring—a democratic and theological imagination for a generation to whom "democracy" no longer means much on its own. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe.  Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/axis-daily-brief/id1896931494 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798341900370/Defying-Tyrants Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ -  Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months  www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Sunday Interview: The Christian Turn Against Democracy (PART II)
  2. 1d ago

    The Sunday Interview: The Christian Turn Against Democracy w/ Robert P. Jones (PART 1)

    In PART I of this conversation, Brad Onishi and Robert P. Jones (author of Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith in a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy) discuss what they call the "war on empathy" within segments of white Christianity in the United States. Robert argues that voices like Allie Beth Stuckey, Joe Rigney, and Elon Musk framing empathy as sinful serves as a theological retrofit that gives people permission to support policies—like mass deportation and detention—that their deeper moral instincts would otherwise reject. Drawing parallels to 1933 Germany, the civil rights era (Emmett Till, Birmingham), and more recent events (George Floyd's murder, January 6th), the two explore how this ideology trains people to override empathetic responses to visible suffering and even to deny documented reality altogether, a phenomenon they tie to Hannah Arendt's writing on self-deception under authoritarian regimes. The conversation closes with a brief teaser about Robby's book concept of "embracing division," which argues polarization is not the core problem in American politics but rather a symptom of a broken system and rising anti-democratic forces. Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/ Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom’s Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09-16/reading-bradley-b-onishi Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/p/the-american-caesar-book-tour 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Sunday Interview: The Christian Turn Against Democracy w/ Robert P. Jones (PART 1)
  3. 3d ago

    Weekly Roundup: JD Vance, the End Times, and the Antichrist

    Brad and Dan break down JD Vance's wide-ranging interview with Gen Z podcaster Bryce Crawford, unpacking his comments on the end times, the possibility that the Antichrist is "living among us," and his oddly deflated answer about whether he's going to heaven — reading it all as Vance clumsily blending incompatible evangelical premillennial and Christian nationalist post-millennial theologies to court an audience he doesn't quite understand. They also examine the wave of right-wing attacks on Gloria Steinem following her death, using her own words on the "traditional family" to explain why pluralism in family structures is treated as an existential threat by the Christian right. Finally, they dig into new USPS mail-voting rules — including a whistleblower complaint and a tense court hearing before Judge Talwani — that could result in ballots being rejected over postmark delays ahead of the midterms, before closing with reasons for hope in independent medical groups' vaccine guidance and an unusually real consequence for a billionaire sports owner. If you enjoy our work, please subscribe. Paid subscribers get bonus content, ad-free listening, access to the entire 1k episode archive, an invite to our Discord community, and access to the Axis Daily Brief. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 🔔Subscribe - Substack: www.axismundi.substack.com Books mentioned: 📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/e... 📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/... Live events: 🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09... Full tour dates: https://axismundinetwork.substack.com... 🔗 axismundi.us www.quo.com/SWAJ - Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months www.groundnews.com/SWAJ 40% off the Vantage Subscription! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Weekly Roundup: JD Vance, the End Times, and the Antichrist
  4. 6d ago

    Axis Live: Hegseth Is Firing Generals and Hiring Influencers — Inside the Pentagon's Collapse

    Brad Onishi and Matthew D. Taylor break down two major stories reshaping the Trump-era right: the sudden deportation of Milo Yiannopoulos and the escalating chaos inside Pete Hegseth's Pentagon.They dig into how Milo's fast-tracked removal reveals the internal power struggles of MAGA world — including his feud with Nick Fuentes and Laura Loomer's growing influence over immigration enforcement — and what it signals about who gets protected and who gets purged within the movement. Then they turn to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, examining reports of mass firings among top generals, a rudderless U.S. Army, unsustainable war spending in Iran, and the Pentagon's controversial move to put paid influencers like "Data Republican" on the payroll to push pro-Hegseth messaging while shutting out the traditional press.Along the way: Christian nationalism's role in reshaping MAGA identity, the military's meritocracy under threat, Silicon Valley's growing alignment with authoritarian politics, and whether Hegseth's rumored presidential ambitions have any real chance.SUPPORT US:www.axismundi.uswww.irmce.org - our supporting nonprofitBooks mentioned:📕 American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy by Brad Onishi — out September 15: https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/📗 Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists by Matthew D. Taylor — out October 6: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/...Live events:🎤 Brad in Portland at Annie Bloom's Books — September 16, 7 PM: https://annieblooms.com/event/2026-09...🎤 Brad, Matt Taylor, Robert P. Jones, in Denver — November 20Full tour dates: axismundi.us🔗 axismundi.us Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Axis Live: Hegseth Is Firing Generals and Hiring Influencers — Inside the Pentagon's Collapse
  5. Aug 30

    The Sunday Interview: Damned If She Does - Why Women Are Leaving the Church

    Brad sits down with journalist Sarah Stankorb to discuss her new book, Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion, out September 15th. They dig into why women — long the backbone of American congregations — are leaving in unprecedented numbers, from Gen Z women outpacing their male peers to the erosion of the gender gap among millennials. The conversation covers the specific fractures driving women out: the Catholic sex abuse crisis and its parallels in evangelical spaces, the racial reckoning of 2020 and churches' silence in its wake, and the deep discomfort many feel over homophobia and transphobia within their communities. They also explore what comes after leaving — the difficulty of trusting institutions again, the patchwork spiritualities (astrology, women's gyms, tarot) many turn to instead, and the striking demographic differences between atheists, agnostics, and the "nothing in particulars." The episode closes with a wide-ranging discussion of institutional trust, political imagination, and whether the energy behind candidates like Zohran Mamdani is connected to this same generational exodus from organized religion. 🔔 Become a paid subscriber for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to daily analysis on religion, politics, and the Christian right. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💙 Support our work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.irmce.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ 📚 Preorder Brad Onishi’s new book, American Caesar: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.ground.news/swaj for 40% of the Vantage Subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Sunday Interview: Damned If She Does - Why Women Are Leaving the Church
  6. Aug 28

    Weekly Roundup: Talarico is "Al-Qaeda" and Kanter's WNBA Stunt

    This week on the SWAJ Weekly Roundup, Brad and Dan dig into Lance Wallnau's baseless claim that Texas gubernatorial candidate James Talarico is secretly linked to Al-Qaeda, unpacking how this fits a broader Christian nationalist strategy of tying Democrats to Islamist and Marxist "infiltrators" — even as polling shows Talarico outperforming Trump's 2024 numbers in his district. They also break down Enes Kanter Freedom's confrontational stunt at a WNBA game, arguing that anti-trans activism functions as a form of misogyny aimed at enforcing patriarchal norms on women's spaces. The episode closes with a look at a Florida grand jury finding that the DeSantis administration misappropriated $10 million meant for children's Medicaid to fight a marijuana legalization ballot measure — a story Brad and Dan frame as part of a broader erosion of political accountability. 🔔 Become a paid subscriber for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to daily analysis on religion, politics, and the Christian right. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://axismundinetwork.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💙 Support our work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.irmce.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ 📚 Preorder Brad Onishi’s new book, American Caesar: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.ground.news/swaj for 40% of the Vantage Subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Weekly Roundup: Talarico is "Al-Qaeda" and Kanter's WNBA Stunt
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About

An in-depth examination of the culture and politics of Christian Nationalism and Evangelicalism by two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors. If you have ever wondered what social and historical forces led white evangelicals to usher Donald Trump into the White House this is the show for you. As former insiders and critical scholars of religion, Dan Miller and Bradley Onishi have a unique perspective on the Religious Right. Guests have included Chrissy Stroop, R. Marie Griffith, Janelle Wong, Randall Balmer, Katherine Stewart, and many others.

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