Christian Nationalism, Critique, and Judgement
PLUS a new show — Reign of Error
Here’s a confession that won’t surprise you. I’m not a fan of Christian Nationalism.
I belong to a tradition that teaches us not to judge others. We’re especially discouraged from judging peoples’ religions and their ways of life.
At the same time, the Sikh gurus don’t hold back when they see leaders manipulating religious teachings to take advantage of people, or to hurt them. Gurbani is filled with critiques of these so-called “religious people.” They might be Hindus or Muslims, religious scholars or political leaders. Guru Nanak Sahib spares no one. Anyone who uses religion to hurt people is a burden on this earth.
If Guru Nanak was here in the United States today, I imagine that he’d direct his ire towards Christian Nationalists. Not because they have different beliefs than him, and certainly not because they claim to love Jesus. I think he would reject the ways they use religion as a disguise to manipulate people into accepting some of the most damaging belief systems we’ve witnessed in our lifetimes. Ideas which insist that some people are better than others; ideologies which convince people to see some as better and others as worse; ideologies that trick people into helping themselves at the expense of one another.
I think what Guru Nanak would point out, is that none of these ideologies ultimately bring us happiness. When we hurt others, we’re also hurting ourselves.
Scholars call this moral injury. The willingness to dehumanize others chips away at our own humanity. I’ve felt this myself in small instances, and I can’t help but feel like we’ve all been witnessing this in our society over the past decade. People who are hurt proceed to hurt other people. “Hurt people hurt people.” How do we break this endless cycle?
One answer is that we each develop our own interventions. I’ve tried my hand in my own ways, and I’m also grateful to others in my circles who do the same. That’s why I’m excited about a new podcast launched today—Reign of Error—hosted by Sarah Posner. In this show, Sarah examines and challenges the scourge of Christian Nationalism today.
I had an opportunity to interview Sarah about the show prior to its launch. Sarah Posner is one of the clearest and most rigorous voices on the intersection of religion and U.S. politics today. She’s the author of UNHOLY: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind, and her investigative reporting has appeared in outlets including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, and Mother Jones. She’s also a go-to expert for journalists trying to understand how religious and political extremism operates inside the Republican Party.
Sarah is the host of Reign of Error, a new weekly podcast debuting on January 22 that starts with the news and pulls the thread all the way back—examining how white Christian nationalism and other forms of ideological extremism moved from the margins to the center of American politics. Blending sharp reporting with conversations with leading scholars, the show offers depth without jargon, and real clarity in an otherwise overwhelming media landscape.
I want to share my conversation with her here. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How did you develop the idea for Reign of Error, and what will distinguish it from other podcasts out there?
A: Brad, Ger, and I had several conversations about how we could make a podcast that would draw on the expertise of both scholars and journalists to help listeners understand the flood of news in the context of the right-wing movements that animate Trumpism. We hope this will help our listeners process the volume of news by understanding the ideologies and movements driving MAGA; the religious, business, media, and political figures that support it; and how that shapes its grassroots.
Q: The news cycle is so chaotic right now. How do you plan to keep up?
A: As a journalist who has covered Trump and MAGA since 2015, I have a lot of experience following these news cycles intended to inundate people’s timelines beyond comprehension. My goal is to combine my ability to rapidly process the news with my two decades of experience of covering Christian nationalism to guide engaging, illuminating conversations with experts.
Q: With this frenetic news cycle, do you think there’s an appetite for digging deeper into the religious ideologies driving Trump and MAGA?
A: Absolutely. We believe listeners are hungry to understand these attacks on our democracy beyond the latest social media post, and to develop strategies to combat the persistence of these anti-democratic movements in American pews and politics.
Q: Is Reign of Error only for religion nerds?
A: Absolutely not! While we will talk about religion quite a bit, this is very much a podcast about politics and power.
Q: Reign of Error is on the Axis Mundi Media Network. How does it fit with the shows they are producing? What’s the synergy behind working with a small boutique shop like them?
A: Reign of Error is a marriage between up to date new coverage of Christian nationalism, the Trump administration, and rising authoritarianism in the US - with deep dives from experts. We are doing two things at once. This is really a combination of journalism and scholarship. Axis Mundi focuses on bringing scholarship to the grassroots. The goal is to educate in order to activate. It started with Straight White American Jesus, which aims to provide a grad seminar on religion and politics in podcast form. So Reign of Error is a natural fit with the network. Their other series - like Andrew Seidel’s One Nation Indivisible - break down separation of church and state and religious liberty issues, the historical entanglements of White supremacy and religion, and so on.
Q: What excites you most about this show?
A: A year into Trump’s second term, we are flooded daily with propaganda, disinformation, AI slop, and truly horrific news from across the globe. I hope we can help people better understand why this is happening, who is animating it, and how they cultivate and maintain power. Each week, we will close with a segment called Anti-Doom--that is, some good news from the week to give us hope that our fellow citizens or people in power are defending democracy.