Unmasking the "Christian" Right. With John Fugelsang
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Bill talks with John Fugelsang about his new book, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. The discussion focuses on what it really means to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and critiques the hypocrisy of the religious right. Fugelsang argues that fundamentalists have hijacked Christianity, using it to justify hateful and exclusionary policies while ignoring the core messages of Jesus about love, humility, and service to others. He also addresses hot-button issues like abortion, immigration, and LGBTQ rights, tying each back to scripture to expose the contradictions in right-wing Christian rhetoric. The conversation ends by highlighting progressive Christians and leaders who are working to reclaim Christianity from the clutches of fundamentalism.
You can purchase his great book here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, good friends, happy holidays. |
| 0:09.0 | Welcome back to the Bill Press Pod. |
| 0:11.0 | It's good to see you on this day after Christmas. |
| 0:15.0 | And speaking of Jesus, here's something that still baffles me. |
| 0:19.0 | How could 80% of people who profess their allegiance to Jesus |
| 0:23.9 | Christ and say every word of the Bible must be taking literally, how could 80% of them vote for Donald Trump? |
| 0:33.2 | And they did in 2024. Donald Trump, the most immoral man ever to occupy the Oval Office. For starters, |
| 0:41.0 | a man accused of sexual assault by two dozen women. Yep, that blind and dangerous connection |
| 0:47.7 | between the religious right and Donald Trump is just one of many topics covered in an |
| 0:51.9 | important new book by talk show host and stand-up comic John Fugel sang. |
| 0:56.0 | Here's the title, Separation of Church and Hate, a sane person's guide to taking back the |
| 1:03.2 | Bible from fundamentalist, fascist, and flock-fleasing frauds. |
| 1:08.9 | Wow. |
| 1:09.9 | So what's the real message in the gospel today about such issues as |
| 1:14.2 | immigration, health care, or gay rights? How did right-wingers steal religion and can progressives |
| 1:20.5 | ever steal it back? Lots of questions today for author John Fuglesang. John Fugel-Sang, so good to reconnect with you. It's been too long, and thank you for joining us on the Bill Press spot. Oh, Bill Press. It is such an honor to be here. I am your biggest fan. And my heart is still warmed from when you let me guest host your radio show all those times in D.C. Thank you so much for having you., you are our favorite guest host. We loved it when you came down to guest toast. |
| 1:46.0 | Stop it, Bill Press. I'm not worthy. Stop it. |
| 1:48.3 | So look, now this is your new book. Great book. Congratulations. Separation of church and hate. |
| 1:54.7 | You and I think more than anybody else, right, are ready to talk about this topic. |
| 2:00.3 | Me, a former seminarian, |
| 2:02.2 | and you, the son of a former nun and former Christian brother. This is our DNA, right? |
| 2:08.6 | Yeah, you've always been someone in media that I can talk about theology with. And for me, |
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