Just Liberty

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

Replay: An investigative journalist spent years exploring the politicization of American Christianity. Her work resulted in not just two best-selling books, but also a documentary, God & Country, which was produced by Hollywood actor and producer Rob Reiner.
What first sparked her interest in this topic, and what lessons has she learned about the dangers of Christian nationalism?
Interview originally recorded Feb 12, 2024, and released in Episode 13: Power Worshipping and Christian Nationalism on May 28, 2024.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/RQSPE4QfAD4
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Guest: Katherine Stewart, investigative journalist and author of The Power Worshippers and Money, Lies and God
X: @kathsstewart
Katherine Stewart's website: https://katherinestewart.me/
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Show Notes
Book | The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, by Katherine Stewart - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-power-worshippers-inside-the-dangerous-rise-of-religious-nationalism-katherine-stewart/f312e6c8c600777e?ean=9781635577877&next=t
Book | Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy by Katherine Stewart - https://bookshop.org/p/books/money-lies-and-god-inside-the-movement-to-destroy-american-democracy-katherine-stewart/af9fba08518c5c37?ean=9781635578546&next=t
Documentary Film | God and Country, based on The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart - https://godandcountrythemovie.com

How can we make sense of competing visions for the role of religion in American governance? We can start by following the paper trail left by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Interview originally recorded March 27, 2025, and released in Episode 46: Skeptics of church-state separation versus the historical record" on April 29, 2025.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/2DWjEjg5vrg
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Guest: Steven K. Green, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Religion, Law & Democracy, Willamette University
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Show Notes
Book | The Grand Collaboration: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Invention of American Religious Freedom by Steven K. Green https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10018/ 
 

Replay: No--"In God We Trust" wasn't inscribed on our currency during the founding era. And the motto "One Nation Under God" has a more recent origin than many might suspect. 
We take a fascinating journey into a little-known era of American history; a time when the government was in the business of creating an "American religion."
Guest: Andrew R. Polk, Associate Professor and Director of History Education, Middle Tennessee State University.
Originally recorded on Nov 13, 2023 and released on May 23, 2024 in Episode 10: American propaganda and the making of a civil religion.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/8VpDfMgQtqA
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Show Notes
Book: Faith in Freedom: Propaganda, Presidential Politics, and the Making of an American Religion by Andrew Polk - https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501759222/faith-in-freedom/
Liberty magazine article by Andrew Polk - https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/religious-propaganda-and-the-making-of-an-american-religion;

Many Christians are exhausted by politics—caught between culture wars, partisan pressure, and a sense that something vital has been lost. This episode explores a healthier vision of public faith, drawing on the Black church’s tradition to ask how moral clarity, spiritual depth, and faithful witness can take us beyond "politics as usual."
This episode was recorded on January 14, 2026.
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Guest: Justin Giboney, Founder and President, AND Campaign
Social media: @JustinEGiboney
Explore More
Book | Justin E. Giboney, Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church's Public Witness Leads Us out of the Culture War, Intervarsity Press, 2025). https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Let-Nobody-Turn-Around/dp/1514008424
Website | The AND Campaign https://www.andcampaign.org/about-us