In 2022

It feels like we are in crisis mode as we approach decision season in the Supreme Court. Reproductive rights, public school funding, students’ religious freedom rights, and more hang in the balance, and we’re waiting with bated breath to see whether the Court will rule on the side of the people or the privileged few. This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we will explore the encroachment of the Religious Right into mainstream politics.

It seems that every time news breaks of another anti-democratic, anti-freedom crisis, we find the fingerprints of the Christian nationalist movement. From the prominence of the Religious Right in the Trump administration, to fervent antisemitism and anti-Muslim bigotry rearing its head in Congress, to an increasingly theocratic Supreme Court, Christian nationalism is alive and well. Ben Lorber, research analyst for Political Research Associates, will join Rev. Welton Gaddy, host of State of Belief, to discuss what he’s learned after years of tracking the corrosive influence of white Christian nationalism on our democracy.

The Establishment Clause – or as Jefferson coined it, our nation’s “wall of separation” between religion and government – has long been the bedrock of our democracy. But it’s increasingly clear that this wall is being chipped away by members of the Religious Right and their allies in our legislatures and courts. Historian Steven K. Green, author of Separating Church and State: A History, will join Welton to analyze how we got here, and where we must go.

Contrary to popular belief, a majority of Americans across faith traditions support civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people. Unfortunately, a vocal minority continues to use faith as a justification for bigotry. Maureen O’Leary, Interfaith Alliance’s own director of field and organizing, will speak with Welton about this year’s Faith for Pride campaign, which aims to change the narrative on religion and equality.

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