Just Liberty

A look at the contested legacy of Thomas Jefferson, religious liberty, and the way Christian nationalist arguments use—and misuse—the founding generation.
Today's guest is Warren Throckmorton.
Show Notes
Substack: @warrenthrockmortonFacebook: WarrenThrockmorton
Book | The Christian Past that Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths that Hijack History, by Warren Throckmorton.
Book | Getting Jefferson Right, by Michael Coulter and Warren Throckmorton.
Podcast | The Christian Past that Wasn't
Website | Getting Jefferson Right

Everyone wants a simple answer: Is America a Christian nation or a secular republic? One historian believes that America's history resists both slogans and suggests that the real story is messier than either side would like.
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/SvZHBy_KdWY  
Show Notes
Book | In God We Trust: Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? by John Fea.

When government speaks about God, who is included—and who is pushed aside? A conversation about official prayer, government religious speech, religious equality, and changing First Amendment jurisprudence.Article | "Why there are (and should be) constitutional restraints on government religious speech," by Alan Brownstein and Vikram Amar.

Former U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, knows better than most what happens when a government decides that faith itself is a threat. Join this conversation on China, surveillance, persecution, and the fight for freedom of conscience that has implications far beyond China's borders.
Show Notes
Book | China's War on Faith, by Sam Brownback with Michael Arkush - https://www.simonandschuster.com/book...
Website | The Brownback Group - https://brownbackgroup.org/ 
X: @SamuelBrownback

Charlie Kirk's book on the Sabbath, released posthumously, has created quite a stir. We explore the push for a national shared day of rest and why it’s more complicated than it sounds. We get into the religious meaning of Sabbath, the history of blue laws, and what happens when the government gets involved in something that isn’t just about taking a break.
Guest: Jonathan Cherne, author, attorney and "Of Counsel" to the Church State Council
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Show Notes
Book Review | "Should American 'Stop in the Name of God?' | Liberty Magazine, March/April 2026 - https://www.libertymagazine.org//article/should-america-stop-in-the-name-of-god

A straightforward look at dominionism—what people mean by it, how it shows up in our politics, and why it matters. We talk through how some Christians think about influence and power, what’s changing, and what it could mean for America's tradition of religious pluralism.
Guest: André Gagné, Professor and Chair, Theological Studies at Concordia University
Special Host: Stephen Allred, Church State Council
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Article | "Remaking the Kingdom: Why understanding dominionist theology is key to making sense of contemporary American politics" by André Gagné | Liberty Magazine March/April 2026 - https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/remaking-the-kingdom 

How does some Christian end-times thinking turn Jews and Israel into props, skew how people read conflicts like Iran, and blur the line between geopolitics and theological agendas? And, more importantly, what does a more biblically grounded approach look like?
Guest: Alexander Bolotnikov, biblical scholar and Director, Hebrew Bible Institute
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Show Notes
Website | Hebrew Bible Institute - https://www.learnhbi.com/home

In a country where blasphemy can carry a death sentence, Pakistani politician Shahbaz Bhatti understood the cost of defending religious minorities—and ultimately paid it. Fifteen years after his assassination, his story is being retold through a creative medium aimed at engaging a new generation in the fight for religious freedom.
Show Notes
Book | Matt Yocum, Jordan Holt, Blood and Water: The Life and Martyrdom of Shahbaz Bhatti (Ignatius Press: February 2026).
Article | Knox Thames, "A Pakistani Martyr for Religious Freedom," The Dispatch (March 1, 2026). 
Article | Forthcoming, Céleste Perrino, "A Candle in the Darkness: The Life of Shahbaz Bhatti," Liberty magazine (May-June 2026).
Website | www.mattyocum.com  
Website | www.knoxthames.com 

Religious freedom in America may be headed toward the edge of a cliff. Why? Because survey after survey shows that younger generations of Americans neither understand nor value the crucial role religious freedom plays in our democracy.
What's behind this worrying trend? And can anything be done to rehabilitate the reputation of religious freedom in the eyes of Gen-Zs and Millennials?
Interview with Jaziah B. Masters, Research Fellow, Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation, Baptist Joint Committee.
Note: This is a replay with our Oct 3, 2023 interview with Jaziah Masters. The video version of this episode can be found on Youtube:
Show Notes
Article |  "A Religious Freedom Wake-up Call" - by Jaziah Masters for Liberty magazine: https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/a-religious-freedom-wake-up-call

It's far more than simply charm, or rhetorical skill, or political savvy. Charisma is a powerful force that has shaped American public and religious life--for both good and ill--for more than four centuries. Could an undertanding of this phenomenon help us make better sense of our national story? And why does it seem that Americans of faith are particularly vulnerable to its allure?
Interview with Molly Worthen, author of Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Purtians to Donald Trump.
Note: This is a replay of our July 15, 2025 interview with Molly Worthen. The video version of this episode can be found on Youtube:
Show Notes
Book | Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump, by Molly Worthen - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746737/spellbound-by-molly-worthen/
Article | "Charisma Rules the World" by Molly Worthen, New York Times (June 16, 2025) -  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/opinion/charisma-history-trump.html