S5E26 Baptizing America - Mainline Protestantism and Christian Nationalism with Brian Kaylor

Award-winning author, journalist, and fellow podcaster Brian T. Kaylor joins Ken to talk about his soon-to-be-released (June 6, 2024) book, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism. Brian adds a significant contribution to the discussion about the pervasive Christian Nationalism so prevalent today - the movement that became highly visible in the January 6th assault on our nation’s Capitol. It’s a little-discussed fact that the foundation for Christian Nationalism was laid by the “Seven Sisters” - the mainline denominations that far and away dominated the American religious scene before the explosion of evangelical denominations in the 1960s and 70s. Brian Kaylor asserts that despite its spurious claim, “Christian Nationalism isn’t Christian.” Ken and Brian unpack this thesis and review his well-researched, compelling book. They discuss Robert Bellah’s “Civil Religion” and the prescient warnings from Paul Tillich and H. Richard Niebuhr. Other topics include The National Prayer Breakfast, The Family, St. John’s Episcopal Church (“The President’s Church”), the National Cathedral, and traditional hymnology (including the prolific hymns written by Fanny Crosby). All of this has culminated in MAGA Trumpism and the complete takeover of the Republican Party. The American Flag and the Christian Flag have been standards in mainline denominational churches throughout out history - the Confederate Flag, too. Kaylor draws on Greg Boyd’s Myth of a Christian Nation to underscore the vast difference between the biblical notion of the Kingdom of God and America as the New Israel. SHOW NOTES

Become a Patron | Ken’s Substack Page