Faith, Politics, and Power: Talia Lavin on the Christian Right’s America

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2024

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Across America, a storm is brewing as the Christian Right gains unprecedented power. From book bans to anti-trans laws, this political force is reshaping the nation. In her book, Wild Faith, author Talia Lavin delves deep into the motivations of this movement, exploring its segregationist past and apocalyptic future through primary sources and firsthand accounts.

Lavin introduces readers to a cast of characters within the Christian Right, including self-proclaimed prophets, Christian militias, and influential political figures. She examines the movement’s impact on various aspects of society, from abortion rights to child welfare. Wild Faithconfronts the pressing question of whether American democracy can withstand this organized theocratic movement.

Shermer and Lavin discuss historical phenomena like the Satanic Panic and Recovered Memory Movement, as well as contemporary issues such as the movement’s influence on societal institutions, opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, and Christian Zionism. The conversation also delves into apocalyptic beliefs, control of female sexuality, and the movement’s impact on children and families.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Michael Sherman Show. The Michael Sherber Show You mentioned being a cultural Christian that's an interesting phrase because you know
0:29.8	when I on Hershey Ali came out a few months ago maybe six months ago now as a as a Christian
0:35.6	she was one of the most famous atheists in the world and then she explained the reason
0:40.9	she did this at least, was that at least the Christians
0:45.4	will stand up to the Islamic terrorists and extremists that want to destroy Western
0:51.0	culture or whatever.
0:52.0	And then she said, well, there was also
0:53.9	personal reasons for it. Anyway, Richard Dawkins, probably the world's most
0:56.8	famous atheist, said, well I guess I'm a cultural Christian in the sense that
1:00.9	you know I was born and raised in a Western country, Great Britain,
1:05.0	and so and we were a Christian nation and so yeah I guess I am culturally that so I guess I would have to say born and raised in in America. Yeah, I guess I'm a cultural Christian in some kind of loose sense that we're floating around in a culture that's mostly Christian and that's what you mean by you know America is a Christian
1:23.9	nation even though really officially it's not it's a secular as a government it's
1:28.0	supposed to be secular it's supposed to have separation of church and state so
1:31.6	that's kind of an interesting way to think about it.
1:34.6	Well, I mean, I just think anyone who sort of is seriously, seriously thinks that that firewall is intact at this moment in time and we have 22 states enacting like very specific
1:46.6	religious, religiously inspired, openly religiously inspired, policies to rob women of bodily autonomy when we have all of these
1:58.6	religiously inspired laws to limit sex education, to limit the rights of trans people and trans kids.
2:10.0	I mean, this is a moment in which the Christian right is flexing its power and not hiding that their policies are very much motivated by God and by religion.
2:21.9	And while that may be particularly apparent to me as someone who
2:26.8	never had a vision of Jesus revered in in her home, you know, that kind of stuff becomes when you just see how often Jesus,
2:39.5	Christianity,
2:45.0	the sort of notion of Christianity as goodness,
	...

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