Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other

Politics and Religion. We’re not supposed to talk about that, right? Wrong! We only say that nowadays because the loudest, most extreme voices have taken over the whole conversation. Well, we‘re taking some of that space back! If you’re dying for some dialogue instead of all the yelling; if you know it’s okay to have differences without having to hate each other; if you believe politics and religion are too important to let ”the screamers” drown out the rest of us and would love some engaging, provocative and fun conversations about this stuff, then ”Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other” is for you!
Politics and Religion. We’re not supposed to talk about that, right? Wrong! We only say that nowadays because the loudest, most extreme voices have taken over the whole conversation. Well, we‘re taking some of that space back! If you’re dying for some dialogue instead of all the yelling; if you know it’s okay to have differences without having to hate each other; if you believe politics and religion are too important to let ”the screamers” drown out the rest of us and would love some engaging, provocative and fun conversations about this stuff, then ”Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other” is for you!
Episodes
Episodes



Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
We're joined by Lincoln Project Sr. Advisor Stuart Stevens and cover a lot of ground. What have been the 2 dominant genes of the Republican Party going back to post-WWII? And which one won? What does the guy who got more Republican politicians elected than just about anybody think of the state of the Party? What was the 2016 election really about? What are all the baseless claims of election fraud in 2020 really about? How do modern democracies die? How can the Republican Party be cured of all that is wrong with it? What has the Lincoln Project done to address the issues that arose at the end of 2020 and early 2021? What is the Lincoln Project doing now to save our democracy?
Stuart Stevens is a seventh generation Mississippian who has been driven by a fascination and love of politics, film, and writing and has pursued those interests throughout his life. Stuart did a lot of school, having attended Oxford; Middlebury College, UCLA Film School’s MFA program, and the American Film Institute. He is the author of eight books including his latest, published in 2020, It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Esquire, among other publications. He has written extensively for television shows, including Northern Exposure, Commander in Chief, and K Street. For twenty-five years, he was the lead strategist and media consultant for some of the nation’s toughest political campaigns including 5 presidential campaigns. In 4 of those campaigns, his candidate became the nominee. And in 2 of them, they won "the big enchilada". Stuart's had a long time interest in endurance sports which, as he says, he pursues badly. Stuart has been a Senior Advisor with the Lincoln Project since 2020.
https://lincolnproject.us/
https://www.stuartstevens.com/
https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens
bit.ly/itwasallalie
https://twitter.com/coreysnathan



Sunday Oct 16, 2022
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
Hopefully this conversation with Reverend Dr. Jacqui Lewis will be as much of a gift to you as it was for me. We explored some deep questions like, What was the failure of the people of Israel around the time of Yeshua ben Yosef? Is our own generation also failing Jesus as Messiah? What does it mean to be a "drum major for peace"? What is the church's culpability in racism? What is ubiquitously God's call on our life - whether we're Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Bantu, Sikh, or any other faith? What does it mean to be a theologian in residence in one's own life?
The REV. DR. JACQUI LEWIS is Senior Minister and Minister for Vision, Worship, and the Arts at Middle Collegiate Church, a church that was founded in 1628 and one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in North America; and she is Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Middle Project which, along with Middle Church, hosted fifteen annual conferences to train faith leaders to combat racism, poverty and bigotry by growing multiethnic congregations that work for justice. Rev. Dr. Lewis is a prolific author, her latest book teaches us how to love the hell out of the world. It’s called Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World.
https://jacquijlewis.com/
https://www.middlechurch.org/
https://www.middleproject.org/
https://jacquijlewis.com/fierce-love/
https://twitter.com/RevJacquiLewis
https://www.instagram.com/revjacquilewis/
https://twitter.com/coreysnathan



Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
If you're a political junkie like me, this conversation will knock your socks off! Joe Trippi and Mike Madrid, one long time Democratic strategist, one long time Republican strategist discuss how DEMOCRACY IS ON THE BALLOT (and how 67% of BOTH Republicans and Democrats believe this). We also get into how candidates who have huge scandals (clears throat... did someone say "Herschel Walker"?) are able to stay in their races (and sometimes even get a bump!); what a "Bannon line" voter is and how to win them; where the real tossup races are in the House and Senate; what happened to the party that used to stand up to Russia that's now an extension of Putin's propoganda operation; what the most important hidden metric is that no one is paying attention to (Hint: It's neither the generic ballot nor presidential approval); what the best political strategists in the country are doing at this stage of the campaign; and much, much more!
Many know Joe Trippi from his excellent podcast, That Trippi Show. Joe’s been running political campaigns at every level in U.S. politics and even internationally, starting in city politics in Northern California and then jumping into the big leagues on Ted Kennedy’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in 1980. Joe’s also been involved in some groundbreaking “bottom up” strategies along the way like when he ran Governor Howard Dean’s grassroots presidential campaign in 2004. More recently, he helped Doug Jones, a Democrat, win the Alabama Senate seat, the first Democrat to get elected to the Senate in Alabama in decades. Joe has also joined Lincoln Project to "build a pro-democracy coalition."
Mike Madrid is a national political strategist, an expert in demographics and Latino politics. Mike’s academic work on Latino politics became the foundation for groundbreaking communications and outreach strategies in California, Texas, Florida and nationwide. Later, Mike was a co-founder of the Lincoln Project which played a significant part in defeating Donald Trump. Mike also lectures on race, class and partisanship at USC and he’s a regular contributor on one of our favorite programs Politicology with Ron Steslow. He is the co-host of the excellent and timely podcast The Latino Vote along with Chuck Rocha. Mike also hosts the program Mike Drop on the CallIn app which is then released as a podcast. And most notably, Mike Madrid is the first guest ever to score a hat trick on the TP&R pod!
https://twitter.com/JoeTrippi
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/that-trippi-show/id1523896927
https://twitter.com/madrid_mike
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-latino-vote/id1613279254
https://www.callin.com/show/mike-drop-WBRuydpbns
https://twitter.com/coreysnathan



Sunday Oct 02, 2022
Sunday Oct 02, 2022
In this conversation with Catherine Manfre, author of the new book Not There Yet: Living Through Egypt, Love and Uncertainty, we discuss how 9/11 shaped Catherine and changed the course of her life; the importance of being an ally against bigotry even in moments when no one else is watching; how to confront prejudice in more productive, persuasive ways; strong women leaders in Egypt who lead their own movement; when the systems that are supposed to be established for justice fail us; how often women need to put their lives and their bodies on the line for what is right (not just in Egypt and the U.S., but in the protests in Iran today); having lived through the revolution in Egypt in 2011, how the events here in the States after the 2020 election leading up to Jan. 6th and beyond really hit hard; how the government in Egypt would use tactics like manipulating the media, finding scapegoats real or imagined, and sparking political violence and how there's an eerie similarity to what some leaders and elected officials have resorted to here in the States; and that if we can't find common ground, it's going to be difficult for us to get through life together as one united country.
Catherine Manfre is a business and strategy advisor and consultant with an MBA from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business and a BA in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from NYU. She has advised private and public sector organizations on a range of business and management challenges and is passionate about solving the hardest, most difficult problems. She lived in Cairo, Egypt for four years where she learned Arabic, met her husband, and became an Egyptian street food connoisseur.
Voice of Freedom - www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV9UY_8qABY
www.amazon.com/Not-There-Yet-Through-Uncertainty-ebook/dp/B0BDQQTV6P



Sunday Sep 25, 2022
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
In this conversation with Reed Howard of the Millennial Action Project we discuss his experience as a millennial who identified as a Republican but then had to figure out how he could move forward in his party in the age of Trump; going to divinity school to study why evangelical voters were so drawn to Donald Trump; the perils of making politics one's religion; how elite level communications tell people how to think and feel about important issues like abortion, same sex marriage and even democracy itself; creating space to have cross-partisan conversations; what Reed really thinks of 3rd party efforts; his concern that if Republicans abandon the Republican Party, it will result in more illiberalism and more of a threat; how folks can get involved in campaigns and their political party; and methods of talking to persuadable voters about supporting candidates and issues they haven't supported in the past.
Reed Howard is the Senior Director of Communications at the Millennial Action Project, which activates young leaders to bridge the partisan divide and transform American politics. Reed is a strategist and practitioner at the intersection of democracy reform, cross-partisan politics, and faith who has advised the nation’s leading nonprofits, political organizations, and public figures on how to engage America’s young people across the political spectrum. Reed led communications at Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service. He worked with Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign to reach Republican voters; he is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Millennial Leadership Network, the Board of Directors for Republican Women for Progress, and the senior leadership team of Principles First. He served as a minister at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Atlanta, and currently serves as a chaplain-in-residence at Georgetown University.
https://twitter.com/ReedHowardVA
https://www.millennialaction.org/
https://twitter.com/MActionProject
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-future-is-faction



Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Christy Smith is campaigning to represent CA27 in the U.S. House of Representatives. The current Congressman, Republican Mike Garcia won the district in 2020 by 333 votes out of over 340,000 that were cast. Yet Mike’s voting record and public statements while in office have represented only the most extreme MAGA fringe and not the entirety of this very purple district.
In this conversation with Christy, we discuss a wide range of issues from saving our democratic institutions to student debt relief, environmental issues to education, and we even discuss her position on providing police and first responders with the resources they need. We also discussed the politics of 2022 including how it's different campaigning this year vs. 2020; Christy shares how she's connecting with folks such as college-educated women in her district, many of whom have never voted for a Democrat before; she also specifies ways she's reaching out to another important constituency of CA27, Latinos; and we talk candidly about how her opponent Mike Garcia, despite his campaign promises to be a moderate, has actually governed as an extremist kowtowing only to the MAGA fringe of his Party.
Christy has a long track record in public service in the district she hopes to represent in Congress. While serving in the CA State Assembly, Christy authored nine bills which became law focusing on education reform, homeowner protections, college affordability, good governance and protection for victims of human trafficking. Prior to the State Assembly, Christy served two terms as a Governing Board Member of the Newhall School District, notably helping to secure $60 million in resources for facility and technology upgrades for the school district. It’s also worth noting that Christy graduated high school in Santa Clarita, went to College of the Canyons (before graduating from UCLA) and has also raised a family in the Santa Clarita Valley.
https://www.christyforcongress.org/
https://twitter.com/ChristySmithCA
https://www.politicsandreligion.us
https://twitter.com/coreysnathan



Thursday Sep 08, 2022
Thursday Sep 08, 2022
This is a bonus TP&R episode of Freedom Road Podcast with our friend and colleague Lisa Sharon Harper and her guest the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III.
Listen in as Lisa Sharon Harper and Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III do this deep dive on the meaning of and the hunger for the unfettered right to vote in the United States of America.
Freedom Road Podcast brings together national faith leaders, advocates, and front-lines activists for candid conversations about the pressing issues of our times.
Lisa Sharon Harper leads trainings that increase clergy and community leaders’ capacity to organize people of faith toward a just world. A prolific speaker, writer and activist, Ms. Harper is the founder and president of FreedomRoad.us, a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in our nation by designing forums and experiences that bring common understanding, common commitment and common action.
With civil rights advocacy in his DNA, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III built his ministry on community advancement and social justice activism. As Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Moss spent the last two decades practicing and preaching a Black theology that unapologetically calls attention to the problems of mass incarceration, environmental justice, and economic inequality.
https://freedomroad.us/
https://freedomroad.us/category/freedom-road-podcast/
https://twitter.com/lisasharper
https://twitter.com/om3
https://twitter.com/coreysnathan



Sunday Sep 04, 2022
Sunday Sep 04, 2022
Peter Wehner is a contributing editor at The Atlantic and contributing writer to the New York Times which is where he wrote a column in January of 2016 that he would not be voting for Donald Trump under any circumstances. Pete is also the author of The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump. Earlier in his career, Pete worked in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. In the George W. Bush White House, Pete was deputy director of speechwriting before becoming director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives. Additionally, he was involved in President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign as well as Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Pete and Corey talked about the virtue of grace; the catastrophic effect that the failures of leaders such as Ravi Zacharias and others have had on the church; the marriage of American Christianity with Christian nationalism; what it means to be a "theoretical pessimist but an operational optimist"; how we can fight against the influence of those who can't be reached by reality while persuading those who can; and more broadly how to have healthier encounters among folks who disagree.
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Politics-Frayed-Republic-After/dp/1982661798
https://www.nytimes.com/column/peter-wehner
https://www.theatlantic.com/author/peter-wehner/
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