Shows / Straight White American Jesus
Straight White American Jesus
An in-depth examination of the culture and politics of Christian Nationalism and Evangelicalism by two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors. If you have ever wondered what social and historical forces led white evangelicals to usher Donald Trump into the White House this is the show for you. As former insiders and critical scholars of religion, Dan Miller and Bradley Onishi have a unique perspective on the Religious Right. Guests have included Chrissy Stroop, R. Marie Griffith…
Episodes
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: “We Are Not a Monolith”: Latino Evangelicals, Immigration Politics, and the Battle Over Representation
In this episode of the Straight White American Jesus Sunday Interview, host Leah Payne speaks with Jonathan Calvillo, sociologist of religion at Candler School…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Under-Babied and Overruled: Trump’s Golden Calf Politics
Brad and Dan dig into another whirlwind week in Trumpworld, beginning with the unveiling of a towering gold-leaf Donald Trump statue at his Doral golf resort…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 190: “The Atheists Are Coming!”
Despite claiming to present us with a “Christian” vision of manhood, there is nothing identifiably Christian about Josh Hawley’s account of masculinity and…
Straight White American JesusThe Myth of Religious Freedom w/ Reza Aslan and Peter Manseau
In the premiere episode of season five of Our Seven Neighbors: Religion and Resistance in America, host Reza Aslan joins historian and Smithsonian curator…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Paul Pressler, the SBC Takeover, and a Culture of Power and Abuse
Brad Onishi interviews Texas Monthly senior writer Robert Downen about his 12,000-word feature on Paul Pressler, a key architect of the Southern Baptist…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: The Grownups in Charge? SCOTUS, Gerrymandering & White Christian Power
Redistricting Mania and the Christian Nationalist Push for Minority Rule Brad Onishi and Dan Miller discuss the fallout from a recent Supreme Court decision…
Straight White American JesusThe Manosphere and the Fundamentalism Pipeline
In this special crossover episode, Dan Miller joins Dr. Laura Anderson on Sunday School Dropouts for an in-depth examination of the ideological forces shaping…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Governing Without Accountability: Silicon Valley’s Ideology with Adrian Daub
In this episode, Annika Brockschmidt sits down with Adrian Daub, Professor at Stanford University and author of the upcoming book What Tech Calls Governing…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: The Death of Voting Rights: SCOTUS, Alito, and the Colorblind Myth
In this week’s solo roundup, Dan Miller deconstructs a series of aggressive maneuvers by the 47th administration designed to codify Christian nationalism into…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 189: “Jesus Isn’t An Alpha”
Despite his promises, Josh Hawley’s vision of masculinity and masculine virtue is not “Christian” in any definable way. But while this may be surprising, given…
Straight White American JesusHegseth Repeals Vax Mandate: The Anti-Vax Playbook Comes to the Pentagon
The repeal of the military’s flu vaccine mandate by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth might seem like a minor policy shift, but it opens a window into a much…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Weathering the Backlash: Navigating The Anti-DEI Wave with Dr. Tiffany Townsend
In this compelling installment of the Sunday Interview, host Brad Onishi engages in a deep-dive conversation with Dr. Tiffany Townsend, a distinguished…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Project 2025 in Action: The Indictment of the SPLC
Brad Onishi and Dan Miller discuss the Trump DOJ’s indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging it defrauded donors by paying informants for access…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 188: “Where’s Jesus?”
Josh Hawley tells us he’s giving us a vision of Christian “manhood.” But as we near the end of his book on the subject, is he? In this episode, Dan argues that…
Straight White American JesusTrump's Bible Reading is More Than Spectacle - It's Spiritual Terrorism
Trump’s 2 Chronicles Reading and the Politics of Christian Nationalism Brad Onishi discusses an 84-hour marathon Bible reading at the Museum of the Bible tied…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: The Rise of the Hype Priest: Judah Smith, Celebrity Faith, and Modern Evangelicalism
In this episode of the Straight White American Jesus Sunday Interview, host Leah Payne speaks with journalist Sam Kestenbaum about his reporting on celebrity…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Trump, Vance, and Just War Theory + Pete's Pulp Fiction
Religion scholars Brad Onishi and Dan Miller recap a week of conflict in which Pope Leo criticized war and bombing in a statement widely read as aimed at the…
Straight White American JesusSWAJ Rewind: Culture of Life
What does it mean when cultural and religious conservatives proclaim that they affirm a “culture of life?” We know it means that they oppose abortion and…
Straight White American JesusTrump, the Pope, and the Myth of Western Civilization
In this episode, Brad Onishi unpacks the escalating clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo—from Trump’s public criticism of the Pope to the now-viral AI image…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Did Jesus Invent Western Morality with Dr. Bart Ehrman
In this episode, Brad Onishi is joined by world-renowned New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman to explore the origins of the Western moral conscience through…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Did Donald Trump Threaten the Pope? + MAGA Turns on Trump
In this week's episode, Brad Onishi navigates a high-stakes intersection of nuclear brinkmanship and theological crisis. The discussion centers on the fallout…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 187: “It’s Important Work—As Long As Someone Else Does It”
Josh Hawley tells us that blue-collar and manual labor are the domains of true masculinity. He tells us that they are the path to freedom, and meaning, and…
Straight White American JesusPredators, Algorithms, and Profit: How New Mexico Took Down Meta
In this episode of Straight White American Jesus, we sit down with New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez for a wide-ranging conversation about his office’s…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: The Myth of Liberal Media Bias: A History of the Conservative Media Machine
Annika Brockschmidt sits down with historian AJ Bauer to dismantle the long-standing myth that the "liberal media" narrative was a natural reaction to biased…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: No Catholics at the Pentagon, Trump as Jesus + the Conversion Therapy Court Case
In this episode of Straight White American Jesus, hosts Brad Onishi and Dan Miller unpack a chaotic and revealing week at the intersection of politics…
Straight White American JesusOne Million Neighbors Ep 2: War
Episode two of One Million Neighbors brings us to the chaotic final days of Saigon in April 1975, as ten-year-old Simon Hoa-Phan watches his world unravel…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 186: “Blue Collar or Bust”
Josh Hawley says that men are called by God to work. In fact, he says that working is the source of God’s image within men. But what counts as “work” for…
Straight White American JesusImmigration, Christianity, and Refugees: The Story of One Million Neighbors
Brad Onishi introduces One Million Neighbors, a new limited series hosted by Melissa Borja. The episode opens in the Twin Cities—Minneapolis and St. Paul—where…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Desire, Shame & Masculinity with Jay Stringer
Brad Onishi sits down with therapist and author Jay Stringer to explore his new book Desire, a deep dive into how we form identity, intimacy, and meaning in a…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Pete Hegseth’s Military Vision, Violent Prayer & GOP Tax Dogma
Brad Onishi and Dan Miller unpack a series of troubling developments surrounding Pete Hegseth’s vision for the military chaplaincy, where chaplains may soon…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 185: “Who Are the Elites?”
Josh Hawley says that the crisis of masculinity in America is due to the fact that men won’t work. And the reason they won’t work, he assures us, is because…
Straight White American JesusNo Kings: The Dangerous Lie That America’s President Was Meant to Be a Monarch
This episode of Straight White American Jesus features Brad Onishi unpacking a central claim gaining traction on the political and religious right: that the…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State with Caleb Gayle
In this episode of the Straight White American Jesus Sunday Interview, host Leah Payne speaks with award-winning journalist and historian Caleb Gayle about his…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: “Kill the Enemy”: Iran War Lies, "Killing" Talarico, + Calls For Political Violence
Welcome back to Straight White American Jesus. In this episode, Brad Onishi and co-host Dan Miller dig into the resignation of Joe Kent and the unraveling…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 184: “A Crappy Sermon?”
In the end of his chapter on men as “warriors,” we finally get to his full vision of what a “warrior” is. What does Hawley have to tell us? Is there anything…
Straight White American JesusIs James Talarico a "Liberal" Christian Nationalist?
In this episode, Brad Onishi takes on a provocative question: is James Talarico really a “liberal Christian nationalist,” as critics on both the right and left…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: How Christianity Shaped America: Matthew Avery Sutton on Power, Evangelicals, and the “Chosen Land”
In this Sunday Interview, Bradley Onishi sits down with historian Matthew Avery Sutton to discuss his sweeping new book Chosen Land. Sutton argues that from…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: MAGA Masculinity, the Iran War, and the DOGE Files: What Happens When Power Rejects Expertise
On this episode of Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller dive headfirst into the Trump administration’s approach to Iran—and the deeper…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 183: “Genocide Joshua”
The third role Josh Hawley tells us that men are called to play is that of “warrior”? But what does that mean? Where might we look for an exemplar? One of Josh…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: The New MAGA History: How Trump, JD Vance, and the Right Are Redefining What It Means to Be American
Host Annika Brockschmidt sits down with historian Thomas Zimmer for a wide-ranging conversation about the politics of history in the age of Trumpism—and why…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Trump’s Iran War? MAGA Divisions, Epstein Distraction & End Times Politics
In this episode of Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller break down the Trump administration’s military action against Iran and the…
Straight White American JesusReign of Error 007: Birth Control, Bathrooms & Biblical Patriarchy: The War on Gender and Reproduction
Sarah Posner sits down with New York Magazine senior writer Sarah Jones to unpack the accelerating assault on transgender rights in Kansas and beyond. They…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 182: “So, That’s a Warrior?”
Josh Hawley informs us that one of the distinctive roles men are called to play is that of “warrior.” But what, exactly, makes a warrior? What are the…
Straight White American JesusMAGA Christians Are Split Over Iran
MAGA Christians are splitting over Donald Trump’s strike on Iran, with high-profile voices like Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Marjorie Taylor Greene arguing…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Survivors Speak: Christian Nationalism, Patriarchy & Doug Wilson (Pamela Brown of CNN)
In this episode of Straight White American Jesus: The Sunday Interview, Brad Onishi speaks with CNN Chief Investigative Correspondent Pamela Brown about her…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: State of the Union Fallout: ICE Expansion, Christian Nationalism & Retribution Politics
In this episode of Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller break down the spectacle and subtext of the recent State of the Union. While the…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 181: “It’s Not About Sacrifice”
Josh Hawley argues that men are called to be fathers, and that fatherhood is defined by sacrificing oneself. But is it? Should it be? Why does high-control…
Straight White American JesusTucker Carlson vs. Mike Huckabee: The MAGA Rift Over Israel, Antisemitism, and Christian Zionism
In this brief episode of Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi dissects a revealing interview between Tucker Carlson and Mike Huckabee, using it as a…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Leah Payne with Dr. Melissa Deckman (PRRI) on Measuring Christian Nationalism (PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas)
Dr. Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and political scientist specializing in gender, religion, and public opinion, joins…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Pentagon Pulpit, Silenced Christians: Doug Wilson, James Talarico & the Battle for the American Soul
Doug Wilson’s appearance at a Pentagon prayer service hosted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is more than a symbolic moment—it’s a window into the kind of…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 180: “Freedom and Constraint”
Josh Hawley argues that “modern-day Epicureans” abandon all notions of “history, family, home, and tradition.” He argues that without these, humans have no…
Straight White American JesusFaith in the Streets: A Pastor's Firsthand Account of ICE's Terror and the Neighbors Resisting It
When the history of this moment is written, Minneapolis may take its place alongside Selma, Stonewall, and Harper’s Ferry—a name synonymous with resistance. In…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: Ableism, WCN, and MAHA
Dr. Andrew Whitehead joins Brad Onishi to discuss his groundbreaking research revealing a disturbing connection: Christian nationalism is one of the strongest…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: Epstein, ICE & the Super Bowl Culture War: What MAGA Prioritizes
In this episode of Straight White American, Jesus, we unpack the unraveling of Pam Bondi’s moral rhetoric under the weight of the Epstein files. Bondi once ran…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 179: “A Father’s Virtues?”
Josh Hawley identifies the defining roles men are called to play in order to exercise their “masculine virtues.” The second of these is that of father. What…
Straight White American JesusJames Dobson, Jeffrey Epstein, and the Theology of Abuse
In this episode of Straight White American, Jesus, we dig into the disturbing revelation that James Dobson’s name appears among the Epstein files. :Why would…
Straight White American JesusThe Sunday Interview: How Blood and Soil Nationalism Went Mainstream w/Seth Cotlar
In this episode, host Annika Brockschmidt is joined by historian https://substack.com/@sethcotlar Dr. Seth Cotlar, professor at Willamette University, for a…
Straight White American JesusWeekly Roundup: National Prayer Breakfast, ICE Theology, and the Super Bowl Halftime Debacle
In this Weekly Roundup, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller unpack the National Prayer Breakfast and what it revealed about the collapsing boundary between religion and…
Straight White American JesusIt's in the Code ep 178: “There’s No Such Thing”
Josh Hawley argues that America’s restoration can only come as men develop and exercise their unique, God-given masculine virtues and the play their assigned…
Straight White American JesusReign of Error 002: Pete Hegseth, Doug Wilson, and the God of War
Host Sarah Posner examines Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s escalating campaign to remake the Pentagon in the image of a militant, hyper-masculine Christian…