Culture, Faith and Politics with Pat Kahnke

They called Trump and Mike Johnson "modern-day Esthers" — chosen by God, appointed for such a time as this. But the Esther Bible story doesn't say what they think it says.

 

Esther was a powerless Jewish exile who risked her life to protect her people from annihilation. She had no army, no legislation, no executive authority. She was a refugee at the mercy of an empire. MAGA theology has taken one of Scripture's most profound stories of courage against oppression and turned it into a permission slip for political domination.

 
In this video, I apply the Fruit Test (Matthew 7:16) to the MAGA Esther claim — examining how figures like Mike Johnson, Franklin Graham, and Dutch Sheets have weaponized this passage to sanctify Christian nationalism and the consolidation of state power.

What happens to your faith when authority figures stop answering your questions?

Pat Kahnke and Adam work through Stage Two of Brian McLaren's stages of faith — a conversation for everyone navigating the space between certainty and collapse. Whether you're deconstructing Christianity, wrestling with faith and doubt, or just trying to stay sane in the age of MAGA theology, this is for you.

We're working through two essays: Adam's "Complexity Is What Happens When Authority Figures Stop Answering Your Questions" and David Brooks' New York Times piece "The Shock of Faith" — possibly the most honest account of faith deconstruction written by a public intellectual in years. Brooks describes himself as "a wandering Jew and a very confused Christian." He told a room full of conservatives "you're supposed to boo" — and kept going. That's Stage Two in real time.

The latest polls have revealed that Donald Trump is truly a record setter – his unfavorability is higher than Richard Nixon at the height of Watergate. Pat Kahnke discusses all this and more on Culture, Faith, and Politics live.

America can't plead ignorance — not when the evidence has always been right in front of us. Award-winning author Melvin E. Edwards joins Pat Kahnke to investigate how a nation chooses not to know, and what that moral choice actually costs.

Edwards' debut novel Nuremberg, Mississippi asks the question that Nuremberg prosecutors put to Nazi officials: when what you're doing is legal — but legal is causing the deaths of people — did you ever think about just not doing that? From Jim Crow sundown towns to the patterns playing out today in the age of MAGA and Christian nationalism, this conversation draws a straight line from 1965 Mississippi to modern America.

Purchase "Nuremberg, Mississippi" here: https://a.co/d/0gUiOpU3

Trump's administration released a 565-page report claiming 14 acts of "anti-Christian bias" by the Biden administration. Every serious follower of Jesus should be embarrassed by it. This isn't persecution. This is the loss of privilege — and the difference matters theologically.