Churches Can Now Endorse Political Candidates - It's a Dark Money Nightmare

Straight White American Jesus

Axis Mundi Media: Bradley Onishi + Daniel Miller

News, Politics

4.7 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus content most Mondays, bonus episodes every month, ad-free listening, access to the entire 800-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/ Brad sits down with David Corn, Washington Bureau Chief at Mother Jones, to unpack the IRS’s quiet but monumental decision to gut the Johnson Amendment—effectively giving churches and religious organizations the green light to endorse political candidates for the first time in nearly 70 years. They explore how this shift could turn churches into political machines fueled by dark money, spark “pay to play” dynamics among pastors, and deepen polarization within congregations. From mega-churches pushing campaign ads to local races influenced by pulpit power, the episode dives into the far-reaching consequences for democracy, transparency, and the already fragile wall between church and state. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC Order Brad's book: https://bookshop.org/a/95982/9781506482163 Check out BetterHelp and use my code SWA for a great deal: www.betterhelp.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	AXIS Moondy
0:02.0	What's up y'all?
0:04.0	What's up y'all?
0:16.0	Brad here to tell you that Swatch Premium is on sale for $40 for 12 months.
0:22.4	We know things are hard right now.
0:23.6	We know things are uncertain.
0:25.0	We know that many of you are doing your best to make life happen.
0:29.1	So if you sign up today, you'll get the next 12 months of Swatch Premium for just $40.
0:35.7	We're inviting all of our premium subscribers to record our bonus episodes with us.
0:39.5	That means asking live questions, getting real-time answers. We also invite our subscribers
0:46.0	to our Discord community, where folks discuss important topics, react episodes, and share
0:50.8	resources on local activism. You'll get ad-free listening, access to our entire 867 episode archive,
0:58.0	bonus content for me every Monday, and just to make it even better.
1:03.0	You'll get bonus content from Andrew Seidel's exquisite new podcast, One Nation and Divisible, every Tuesday.
1:09.0	It's $40 for 12 months.
1:11.8	That's a pretty good deal.
1:13.5	We'll hope you check it out.
1:15.1	It's subscriptions like this that help us keep the show going,
1:17.8	doing it three times a week and covering every aspect of the Trump administration,
1:22.0	Christian nationalism, and the rise of authoritarianism in the United States.
1:26.6	You can check out the info in the show notes.
1:29.2	You can also go to accessmundi.supercast.com.
	...

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