Holy Smoke: Could Trump 2.0. herald a new era of religious liberty in America?

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🗓️ 26 January 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of the US-based Conscience Project and a friend of Holy Smoke, joins Damian to talk about what the incoming second Trump administration could mean for religious freedoms in America. Andrea argues that the Biden administration waged an unprecedented assault on such freedoms during his term. What could happen over the next four years on issues like gender, abortion, adoption and religious discrimination? And what are the nuances between federal and state laws? (2:06)

Also on the podcast, Damian speaks to The Spectator’s Will Moore, Lara Prendergast and Freddy Gray about the nomination of Cardinal Robert McElroy to be the new Archbishop of Washington. Far from being a routine appointment, Damian reveals in this week’s magazine that this is clearly a retaliation against the new Trump administration for the nomination of an arch MAGA loyalist, and uncompromising Catholic, as the new ambassador to the Holy See. Cardinal McElroy is an outspoken liberal. What does this tell us about both the Papacy and the President? And how much sway does the Catholic hierarchy really have in Trump’s America? (21:55)

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis, and unrivaled books and arts reviews.
0:06.1	Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online.
0:11.2	Alongside that, you get a 20-pound John Lewis or Waitrose Voucher.
0:14.7	Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.
0:27.7	Welcome to Holy Snoke, the Spectator's Religion podcast.
0:29.5	I'm Damien Thompson.
0:40.7	An earthquake here to Washington, D.C., when President Trump, in the first hours of his second term,
0:47.3	effectively banished gender ideology from the federal government. That's good news for the many Christians who over the last four years have been trying to protect their families from the more
0:51.9	extreme manifestations of trans ideology that they feel of threatening
0:56.3	their children. But the powers of a US president are limited. What can he do about the gender ideology
1:02.1	and the support for very late-term abortions embedded in so many American institutions that don't
1:07.7	fall under the umbrella of the federal government. That's the subject of my discussion
1:11.8	with Andrea Pichotti Bayer, the attorney who runs the Conscience Project in Washington, D.C.
1:18.2	And in the second half of the episode, there's an extract from our sister podcast, The Spectator's
1:23.3	edition, in which Freddie Gray, the Spectator' Deputy Editor and US Politics Expert, and I
1:30.0	discuss an article I've written in this week's magazine about what I think is the appalling
1:34.6	appointment of Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego to become the new Archbishop of Washington.
1:41.2	Appalling not just because it's an act of crude revenge by Pope Francis in retaliation
1:46.7	for the election of Trump and Catholic support for him, but also because very troubling questions
1:51.9	remain about what McElroy, perhaps the most left-wing bishop in the US hierarchy, knew about
1:57.7	the predatory activities of the disgrace now ex-cardinal, Theodore McCarrick.
2:03.0	But first, my conversation with Andrea Pichotty Bear. Welcome back to Holy Smoke. It's been a couple
	...

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