Culture, Faith and Politics with Pat Kahnke

When the UFC came to the White House lawn, fighter Josh Hokit stepped up to a microphone and gave America a perfect picture of what MAGA Christianity has become — a religion of power, dominance, and spectacle that bears no resemblance to the Jesus of the Gospels.

In this episode I break down the Josh Hokit White House UFC moment and what it reveals about Christian nationalism in the Trump era: a faith that worships the strong, mocks the weak, and mistakes brutality for blessing. We'll trace the "bread and circuses" parallel back to Rome — the empire that fed Christians to the lions in arenas just like this one — and ask how the followers of a crucified Savior ended up cheering for the coliseum.

One year after Melissa Hortman was assassinated in her own home, Vance Boelter has pleaded guilty — and the motive that MAGA spent a year denying is now a matter of federal record. Boelter, a self-described preacher and Christ for the Nations graduate, hunted lawmakers by name with a police disguise and a 70-person target list. This is the story of how spiritual-warfare theology stopped being a metaphor.

Yuval Noah Harari's conversation with Ezra Klein exposes something theologians have been slow to name: MAGA is not a political movement — it's a redemption narrative. And redemption narratives are the most powerful force in human history. Pat Kahnke and Adam Swenson break down what Harari gets right, where theology goes further, and why Christian nationalism has succeeded by replacing the Gospel with a story that feels better than the truth.

Mark Driscoll is one of the most documented bullies in modern American Christianity — so why do people keep following him? In this conversation, Amy Hawk and I dig into the pattern: from the collapse of Mars Hill Church to his current Trinity Church in Arizona, and the lawsuit he's now filed against a pastor who walked away. We play the clips and let Driscoll speak for himself — the pulpit rants, the "biblical manhood" that looks a lot more like intimidation than discipleship. Then we ask the harder question: what is it about this brand of domineering, fear-based leadership that still draws crowds, builds platforms, and gets a national stage? We look at the documented behavior, hold it up against the character Scripture actually calls for in a leader, and try to understand why so many Christians mistake cruelty for courage — and control for conviction. If you've ever sat under a leader like this, or watched someone you love get pulled in, this one's for you.

Booed at Madison Square Garden. Storming out of a Meet The Press interview. It's not been a great week for the President of the United States. Are we seeing the unraveling of Trump? Pat Kahnke discusses all this and more on Culture, Faith, and Politics live!