This is the Cater Daily podcast for Thursday, January 30th, 2025.

I'm Caleb Brown.

What does it mean for Christians to heed the better angels when confronting the politics of this fallen world?

Jonathan Roush presents his argument in cross-purposes, Christianity's broken bargain with democracy.

We spoke earlier this month.

John, with due respect, why does anyone want to hear from you about this?

You know, I don't know, Caleb. I am the last person on the planet who I thought

would be writing a book, addressing Christians about Christianity. I am an atheist since

as far back as I can remember. I am Jewish, and you can be both of those things,

kind of, and I'm gay. So I had an upbringing with Christians just condemning me at every turn.

And 20 years ago, I wrote a piece celebrating the rise of secularism in America

and saying, wouldn't we all, won't we all be better off without religion? But I am here to

apologize for that and to say that was the wrongest thing I ever wrote. And that we all, we secular

liberals, like the listeners to this podcast, have a stake in the health

and repair of Christianity. And so I am here to talk to Christians earnestly about whether that can

be done. In your book, you call it the dumbest thing I ever wrote. You also just said it was the

wrongest thing you ever wrote, which was the

celebration of, I suppose, Christians losing their perch in a sense of being the most dominant voice

in a lot of public discussion,

to the extent that you view religion, specifically Christianity,

as valuable, what have you come to appreciate about it,

especially in our current political moment?

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