“Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation’s Capital on January 6th, 2021,” as the description of Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry’s new book, The Flag and the Cross, notes. “And many were bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus saves” and “Don’t Tread on Me;” Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’ name after storming the Senate chamber. Where some saw a confusing jumble,” though, Gorski and Perry “saw a familiar ideology: white Christian nationalism.”  In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Gorski and Perry about their book, the white identity politics of Christian nationalism, and the deep political roots of today’s reactionary Christian right. 

Philip S. Gorski, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, is a comparative and historical sociologist who writes on religion and politics in early modern and modern Europe and North America. He is the author of numerous books, including American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump and American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present. Samuel L. Perry, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, is a sociologist of American religion, race, politics, sexuality, and families. He has authored and co-authored numerous books, including Growing God’s Family, Addicted to Lust, and Taking America Back for God

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Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne Gladden
Post-Production: Stephen Frank


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Marc Steiner

Host, The Marc Steiner Show
Marc Steiner is the host of "The Marc Steiner Show" on TRNN. He is a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has spent his life working on social justice issues. He walked his first picket line at age 13, and at age 16 became the youngest person in Maryland arrested at a civil rights protest during the Freedom Rides through Cambridge. As part of the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, Marc helped organize poor white communities with the Young Patriots, the white Appalachian counterpart to the Black Panthers. Early in his career he counseled at-risk youth in therapeutic settings and founded a theater program in the Maryland State prison system. He also taught theater for 10 years at the Baltimore School for the Arts. From 1993-2018 Marc's signature “Marc Steiner Show” aired on Baltimore’s public radio airwaves, both WYPR—which Marc co-founded—and Morgan State University’s WEAA.
 
marc@therealnews.com
 
@marcsteiner