Russell Moore on Christian Nationalism

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Russell Moore, a prominent figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, resigned over the church’s response to racism—which Moore considers a sin—and documented sexual abuse allegations. The theologian sits down with David Remnick to reflect on the intersection of Christianity and American politics. “Jesus always refused to have his gospel used as a means to an end,” Moore says. “People who settle for Christianity or any other religion as politics are really making a pitiful deal.” Plus, the contributing writer Eliza Griswold reports on an energized movement of Christian nationalists aiming for statewide power in Pennsylvania. They believe that the authority to rule comes from God, not from a plurality of voters. “This isn’t about injecting Christian values into society,” Griswold notes, “this is about overthrowing secular democracy.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNWC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:09.6	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnik.
0:13.1	Our contributor Eliza Griswald has been reporting from Pennsylvania on the political trends
0:18.2	affecting the midterms.
0:20.2	There's the Senate race between Memadaz, Dr. Oz, and a Lieutenant Governor John Federman
0:25.5	who suffered a stroke this year that's impacted his campaign, particularly after he struggled
0:30.2	in a recent debate.
0:31.9	But there's also something else going on in Pennsylvania, an energized movement of Christian
0:36.6	Nationalists aiming for power in state government.
0:40.0	Those Nationalists see God, not the will of voters, as the source of authority in government.
0:45.3	Our writer Eliza Griswald says the movement is truly significant at the state level,
0:50.0	where it can put far-right candidates into the legislature.
0:54.8	Eliza, this is not your old school Christian right that we used to talk about.
0:59.4	The era of Billy Graham and Jerry Fowler, is it?
1:03.9	Not at all, David.
1:04.9	This is something really different.
1:06.2	This isn't about injecting Christian values into society.
1:11.0	This is about overthrowing secular democracy.
1:14.5	In what sense?
1:16.8	In the sense that what we see is people who believe that a God-ordained government requires
1:24.2	that they take over the institutions of democracy.
1:27.6	It's actually kind of thinking called dominionism that's growing very popular in some circles
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -878 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios and The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.