Jonathan Rauch and Pete Wehner both return to the TP&R pod. Only this time we get them together! For a little background, Jon and Pete have a number of fundamental differences (eg. Jon is an atheist and Pete is a devout Christian); yet, they also happen to be good friends. So the conversation was flowing before we even hit record. We were discussing Pete's recent essay in THE ATLANTIC "Morality Is for Trump What Colors Are to the Color-Blind." We discussed pervasive cognitive dissonance, specifically on the part of people of faith and their continued embrace of Donald Trump. We also talked about our own need to have epistemological humility. Then we explored a construct that Jon is fleshing out for an upcoming book. That is, the 4 existential questions of 1) Morality, 2) Mortality, 3) Malevolence, and 4) Miracles.
Pete Wehner is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum. His books include The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump, City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, which he co-wrote with Michael Gerson, and Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism. He was formerly a speechwriter for George W. Bush and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Peter is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and his work also appears in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Affairs.
JONATHAN RAUCH, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and many other publications including The New Republic, The Economist, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and interestingly Religion News Service among many others. His latest book is The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, which we discussed last time Jon joined us on TP&R. One of his earlier works, Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (published originally in 1993 and then expanded in 2013) defends free speech and robust criticism and remains a highly influential work. And of course, it must be mentioned that Jon is arguably most famous for not liking shrimp!
Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
www.democracygroup.org/shows/talkin-politics-religion
twitter.com/coreysnathan
www.theatlantic.com/author/peter-wehner/
jonathanrauch.typepad.com/
https://braverangels.org/
The Dark Knight clip - www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIYkhb2NjfE
The article on the "Need for Chaos" - royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0147
BONUS EPISODE: ”Bridge Building and Bipartisanship” on Village SquareCast featuring Liz Joyner, Pearce Godwin and Kristen Hansen
Wajahat Ali - GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM: AND, OTHER HELPFUL RECOMMENDATIONS ON BECOMING AMERICAN
What did we get right (and wrong) about the Midterms? What does it all mean for our Democratic Republic? And looking ahead with Lori Adams-Brown and Will Wright
Robert Draper - WEAPONS OF MASS DELUSION: WHEN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LOST ITS MIND
Decision Desk HQ Senior Data Scientist, Kiel Williams on the races to watch and how to process all the information around our elections
David Clary, Author of SOUL WINNERS: The Ascent of America’s Evangelical Entrepreneurs
Stuart Stevens, Senior Advisor at the Lincoln Project and Author of IT WAS ALL A LIE: HOW THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BECAME DONALD TRUMP
Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis - Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World
Joe Trippi and Mike Madrid, one of the best Democratic and one of the best Republican strategists on the state of our democracy, the 2022 Midterms and beyond
Catherine Manfre, author of the new book NOT THERE YET, joins ”the Voice of Freedom” while living through revolution in Egypt and seeing parallels in the U.S.
Reed Howard of the Millennial Action Project: Being a True Conservative in the Age of Trump and How to Create Space for Cross-partisan Conversations
Christy Smith is running for democracy and to unseat MAGA Republican Mike Garcia in U.S. House District CA27
BONUS EPISODE: Freedom Road Podcast with host, Lisa Sharon Harper and Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III - The Vote
Peter Wehner of the NEW YORK TIMES and THE ATLANTIC on ”How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump”
Danielle Moodie, host of Woke AF and democracy-ish on fighting for democracy, preserving your sanity and what it means to be woke
Timber Hawkeye, author of BUDDHIST BOOT CAMP; FAITHFULLY RELIGIONLESS; and the recently released THE OPPOSITE OF NAMASTE
Lori Adams-Brown: Courageous Candor about Spiritual Abuse
Dr. Paul D. Miller - THE RELIGION OF AMERICAN GREATNESS: WHAT’S WRONG WITH CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
Danny Cevallos, legal analyst for NBC on Dobbs, the Jan. 6th Hearings, deputizing the Texas citizenry, W. Va. vs. EPA and more!
Miles Taylor, aka ”Anonymous” writer of NYTimes OpEd, is helping Renew America
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