Segments
This week marked the passing of the often-controversial, highly influential Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. Our host, Rev. Welton Gaddy, will speak with two experts, Brent Walker of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and Jay Michaelson of The Daily Beast to discuss Scalia’s legacy, his impact on the way the Court approaches religious liberty, and the right’s hypocritical calls to delay a nomination for his replacement. Welton will then sit down with Bishop John Shelby Spong to discuss his newest book, Biblical Liberalism – a Gentile Heresy, and his longstanding concern over biblical fundamentalism in the modern world. 
The Legacy of Antonin Scalia
Last weekend saw the sudden death of the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia. His tenure was marked with a remarkable shift in the Justices’ willingness to engage issues of religious liberty head-on, and much of the credit – or blame – for the way the Court approached the tension between secular freedoms and religious beliefs falls on his shoulders. In this episode, Welton welcomes the Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Dr. Brent Walker, to talk about Scalia’s legacy and what’s next for the Supreme Court on these critical issues.
“No SCOTUS Nominations!” The Right’s Unconstitutional Hypocrisy
Welton talks with Dr. Jay Michaelson, an attorney, rabbi, meditation teacher and columnist on the Supreme Court at The Daily Beast, about conservative activists’ calls for President Obama to hold off nominating a replacement Justice in the aftermath of Antonin Scalia’s passing. Jay will discuss Scalia’s legacy, the irrelevancy of the much-cited “Thurmond Rule” and the irony behind the direct challenges to the president’s constitutional obligations following the death of the man who virtually invented constitutional originalism.
The Meaning of Heresy in 2016
Since retiring as the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ in 2000, the Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong has kept up a busy schedule of travel, public appearances, writing – and challenging longstanding Christian orthodoxy. The release of Biblical Literalism – a Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew’s Gospel, his 25th book, brings him back to State of Belief to talk with Welton about his dive into a more contentious area of theology, his potentially-controversial use of the term “heresy” and the future – and drive towards inclusiveness – of the progressive Episcopal community.
