Unreasonable

During our hiatus, David and Christina engage in a series of mid-season one-on-one conversations analyzing the latest news, offering tools for engagement and serving up reasons for optimism. This week, they discuss a bill allowing the National Prayer Breakfast to be held in the Capital Rotunda, making faith-nonfaith marriages work, candidate vetting, the less-obvious value of lobbying, the work Wil Jeudy and Secular Houston are doing on the ground in Texas, tools for growing a secular electorate, and the positivity of pluralism.Season Two of Unreasonable starts March 15!Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

During our hiatus, Unreasonable is gearing up for what will be an extremely active year. But between now and March 15, David and Christina will engage in a series of mid-season one-on-one conversations analyzing the latest news, issue calls to action and, as is their wont, share reasons for optimism. This week, they consider the results of the Iowa caucuses, conservative campaigns courting the Jewish vote in light of the Israel/Hamas war, and whether Democrats have been complicit in normalizing the extremism of Republican candidates.Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

As a constitutional lawyer, Andrew Seidel has fought on the front lines in the battle to protect and preserve the separation of church and state. He’s written two books on the scourge of Christian Nationalism: “The Founding Myth” provides a detailed history of the false notion that America was founded as a Christian nation, how the myth began and who’s perpetuating it today. “American Crusade” focuses on how Christian Nationalists have won incremental battles in the courts for over 50 years leading to foundational changes in our country, from deciding elections to the reversal of Roe, book bans, the legal  erasure of Black history, public funding for religious institutions, an insurrection, and the theocratical activism of our Supreme Court. He is a ubiquitous presence on social media, and his TikToks go viral. This may sound superficial, but his warnings are resonating with younger audiences. He’s found a way to communicate arcane constitutional issues in ways everyone can understand. All of this makes Andrew Seidel the perfect guest to help us close out Season One of “Unreasonable: Church, State and the American Divide.”Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

Pennsylvania State Representative Chris Rabb represents the 200th district of Philadelphia County, which includes, as he calls it, The People's Republic of Mount Airy.  He is also non-religious and is proudly open about it. We talked to RepRabb about politics, religion, and why the twain should never meet. This one is fast and furious and 100% on point!Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

Since Eisenhower, every American president has attended something called the National Prayer Breakfast, hosted by a mysterious and amorphous group called the Fellowship Foundation, or more familiarly, The Family.The Family’s focus, according to our guest, journalist Jonathan Larsen, is to “pursue relationships with people in power and use those relationships to pursue relationships with people in power. Jesus plus nothing. In contrast to the sort of traditional, stereotypical Jesus image of helping the poor, washing the feet of lepers, [The Family] is very much is focused on people in power.”And through those people in power they can influence policy according to their biblical interpretations. Fast forward to Mike Johnson.Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

In the lead-up to the 2022 midterms, pollsters uniformly predicted a red wave. This seemed a harmless prediction as our fickle American electorate often engages in buyer’s remorse a mere two years after a presidential election. But what actually happened was the exact opposite of that polling. While not exactly a blue wave, Democrats performed well enough for the election to be considered not just an upset but a full-throated rejection of MAGA.How did the pollsters get it so wrong?And how did Simon Rosenberg get it so right?In this episode, we talk to the long-time Democratic strategist and creator of Hopium Chronicles about his lonely prediction of a blue surge, the difference between quantifiable data and opinion polls, why progressives have been so successful over the last three elections, and what we all need to do to keep our democracy out of the hands of right-wing wackos moving forward. Hopium = Hope with a Plan. Let's do this!Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

Since Unreasonable began, we’ve heard of horrifying tales, from the dark money fueling our far-right SCOTUS to the religious impositions on our personal healthcare choices, to the history, mobilization and impact of White Christian Nationalists literally praying for Armageddon.In observance of Halloween — Unreasonable’s highest and holiest of days — we’re revisiting some of our scariest moments and reflecting on what they mean for our future.Enter. If you dare… Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

“How do you expect this country to ever be anything but in turmoil?”This is the rhetorical question posed by our guest, Gwen Leaffe Carr, executive director of the Carlisle Indian School Project.A relatively unknown chapter in the ongoing tragedy of America’s Native people is the one about the boarding schools designed to erase them. Or, in the words of their architect, Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, to “kill the Indian in him, and save the man." This episode of Unreasonable is dedicated to all those who suffered the indignity of these schools, to those who died there, and to those who survived.Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

When we give up on our students, especially those in public schools, we relinquish our collective responsibility as stewards of a thriving democracy. After all, knowledge is power. And in a democracy, knowledge is also a birthright. Defunding our public schools, demonizing public school teachers, diverting public funding to private and religious institutions, deprives our kids — soon to be adults — of that power, and assigns to them less than first-class citizenship.To some highly-motivated (and well-funded) members of American society, that’s precisely what would make America great again. Thus, from local school boards to the highest court in the land, public education is under attack.What’s happening on the ground and in the courts, and what can we all do moving forward, to prevent a theocratic takeover of our secular schools? In our special Back To School episode we talk with Liz Cavell (Staff/Board member of the Freedom from Religion Foundation and co-host of the “We Dissent” podcast); Dan Mach (Director, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief); and, for a local perspective, Chris Ullery, Extremism and Social Justice Reporter for the USA Today Network in PA). Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah we talk with Paul Golin, executive director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, an organization which promotes the concept of being Jewish  absent a belief in God.But as with so much of Judaism, it's not that simple. Jews and their history are laden with baggage. For starters, is it a religion, a race, an ethnicity or a culture? Are Jews obligated to adhere strictly to biblical scripture or read the Talmud for interpretive guidance?Is marrying outside the faith a betrayal of those who died in the Holocaust?Is it even possible to be a Jew without God?Does being sympathetic to the Palestinian cause make you anti-Jewish? Does anti-Zionism equate with anti-semitism? If so, what are we to make of Jewish anti-Zionists?That's a lot to unpack. But we dive in. On this episode of Unreasonable.Thanks for listening! Now follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. And become a Patreon supporter at www.podcastunreasonable.com. It's a small price to pay to keep America from becoming a theocracy, dontchya think?