David French & Russell Moore: America at 250 - When Founding Fathers Meet Modern Faith

Good Faith

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

What Does America's 250th Birthday Mean for Its Future and Our Faith?

To celebrate America's 250th birthday, Curtis Chang is joined by his The After Party partners David French and Russell Moore to ask how Christians should think about patriotism, democracy, and national identity in a divisive age. Comparing the optimism of the 1976 Bicentennial with today's fractured political climate, they explore America's founding ideals, the promises and failures of liberty and equality, the relationship between Christianity and the American experiment, and the dangers of Christian nationalism. Together, they answer listener questions and offer a vision for faithful civic engagement — one marked by gratitude without idolatry, honesty without despair, and allegiance to Christ above every nation.

00:34 - Introduction to America's 250th Birthday

02:07 - Comparing the 250th with the Bicentennial

09:18 - America's Gifts to the World

16:16 - Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

25:13 - The Pull of Christian Nationalism

29:29 - Project 2025 & What True American Renewal Requires

36:07 - A Bottom Up Christian Influence on Government

40:30 - Politics is Downstream from Culture

45:14 - Guidance for Pastors on the 250th

48:24 - America's Historical Role in the World

52:22 - Defining Christian Patriotism

58:03 - A Closing Prayer For Our Country

More to Listen to:

Good Faith 199 – David French asks: What the Heck Is a Christian Nationalist?
Good Faith 181 – Can the Church Resist Political Extremism Again? With Paul D. Miller
Good Faith 36 – The Religion of American Greatness
Good Faith 207 – N.T. Wright Explains Ephesians: The Church, Christian Nationalism, and the Armor of God

Referenced in the Episode:

Remembering the American Bicentennial Celebration
Remembering Operation Sail
Remembering the Miracle on Ice
Article: Christian Nationalism's Dark Forebears by David French
Ben Rhodes' All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches
Jon Meacham's American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
Legal Philosophy and the Founding Fathers
James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments
Who was the minister, Roger Williams?
John Locke's influence and Christian faith & legal philosophy of the American founding
The story of Thomas Jefferson & Rev. John Leland
Understanding Frederick Douglass and the Constitution
Article: How Viktor Orbán's Hungary Eroded the Rule of Law and Free Markets
PEPFAR: President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
Who is Freddy, the German?

Scriptures Referenced:

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're not Americans first.
0:03.0	We're citizens of the kingdom of God first.
0:06.0	But we are Americans and we're grateful for the freedom.
0:10.0	We're grateful.
0:11.0	We honor our country the way that we honor our mother and father, not deifying it, but giving gratitude for it and resolving to be better citizens.
0:40.7	Welcome to the Good Faith podcast, where friends who follow Jesus help each other make sense of the world.
0:47.4	I'm your host, Curtis Chang. This podcast is produced by a nonpartisan 501C3 organization.
0:58.5	As I record this, it will soon be America's 250th birthday. On July 4th, what will you be thinking? What will you be feeling? What will you be doing? It should be a historic event celebrated by the entire country,
1:05.8	but it feels like we've been provided with minimal or worse, very dissonant ways to respond.
1:13.7	This is why David French, Russell Moore, and I got together to help all of us make better sense of America at 250.
1:22.9	We talked about history, theology, and culture, and Russell and David riffed on an angle I did
1:29.2	not quite expect going in, which is how the experience of visitors from around the globe
1:35.3	coming to America for the World Cup reveals why this country is still worth celebrating.
1:43.1	Here's my conversation with David and Russell.
1:47.0	Hello, welcome, everyone, and welcome especially to David French, Russell Moore.
1:54.4	David and Russell, it's an after-party reunion.
1:57.5	We've gotten the band back together.
1:59.9	So welcome, both of you. And the stadiums are packed,
2:03.4	Curtis. Thank you for having us. Great to be here. All right. We are here to talk about America
2:11.7	on its 250th birthday. And I can't help but go into this event without contrasting it to the last big
2:20.9	birthday party that America threw, the bicentennial. I was only eight years old then. I still remember
2:27.6	going to multiple public events, barbecues, picnics, flags everywhere, people seeing yakey doodle dandy, star-spangled
	...

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