Hi everyone, 

We know many of you remember the powerful conversation we had on Shake the Dust with Rev. Dr. Mika Edmondson (whose wife coincidentally appears below in Jonathan’s recommendations). Dr. Edmondson’s church just became independent from its planting congregation in order to serve its predominantly Black neighborhood with more agility and cultural competence. Please consider clicking here to give them a donation as they strike out on their own organizationally and financially. Let this congregation know there are people who have their back as they do what is typically underappreciated work.  

And now, let’s get to this week’s highlights. 

Jonathan’s recommendations: 

• The first time that White, Christian Nationalists organized, armed themselves, and plotted to overthrow the government was not on January 6, 2021. It happened in 1940 when prominent American Catholic leaders who supported Hitler proposed a theo-fascist regime in the USA for which elected officials and a radicalized national militia network were ready to fight. Before their plan could kick off, the FBI arrested those involved. But the men were set free because of the gush of public support for the insurrectionists. This eight-part podcast series lays out how the theology that pulpits and seminaries espouse to this day lays the amoral foundation for an anti-Christian revolution that pretends to be grounded in Jesus. But only the false Christ of White American Folk Religion buttresses these movements. The church in the United States must reckon with its history or it will continue to repeat it.