Unmoored: America Adrift in Historical Forgetfulness and Finding Our Way Back

We do not fully grasp the uniqueness of the US civic system (we now see “Democracies” everywhere and we think “casual, normal”), and in doing so we devalue the factors that went into the creation. That creation, and the foundation as well as the issues we are facing, are of a spiritual nature, and that comes out in “who” are the principle participants in the struggle, in the causing of the unmooring. 

 Episode three further examines the context of what I perceive as a crisis in which USA society is in peril. It is my premise that there are two groups struggling at the center of the national tension, and both have incorrect grasp on history. That tension is one of worldview, and a passion for finding the best path forward for the nation. That is laudable, and yet due to the historical forgetfulness, I believe...

Following episode 3, we go deeper into the historical documents about the Christian past, looking at the connection of an earlier moment when “God’s people" were the majority culture but suddenly find themselves as ‘exiles’ and "the minority culture.” Last episode we got to this point after seeing the two groups at the center of the current US churn, and I think it accurate to suggest the “conservative Christia...

A key pressure point from Conservative Christians is a seeming call for “Christian Nationalism.” That idea suggests some version of domination and control by Christianity and Christian concepts. I understand that not everyone who is a Conservative politically feels this way, and even some who are Christians who are Conservatives would argue they don't mean "Christian Nationalism." However, as I have explained i...

After laying out the failures and challenges of "Christianity" (especially being critical of the idea of “Christian Nationalism”) as seen in history through the changes to the faith post-Constantine (the eventual Christendom), one could assume the next step is to admit Christianity is bad for society.

However, upon examination, though, the evidence is abundantly clear that Christianity is a massive net-positive for society. Going f...

Episode 7 is a continuation from the last episode in which we were examining the deep impact of the Christian faith on Western society. We started at the broad level of trends and concepts that were noted about the Christians, things that stood out to contemporary non-Christians, so much so, they wrote about these odd behaviors.

We noted in episode 6 the Christian contribution saying 'the human had worth' is the central, most vital...

In our first Bonus Episode, Dr. Sandy Shugart joins me for an indepth examination of the Enlightenment Project and my contention that the promises of such were really a myth, one that has left society disillusioned and bordering on cynicism due to discovery that they were misled. The humans are not improving, not really changing at all from what our species has been all along, certainly not changing when the only agency of change i...

We’ve seen that Christianity is vital to the type of society that everyone seems to want—individual rights, protections in liberty, etc… This vital need is both in acknowledging how Christianity brought these concepts to the West (and then others through “the West”) and how Christianity as guiding structure provided US culture the means for its success (that others strive to move here for). 

In trying to understand the unique concepts of the USA, we need to start with two key documents written in the heady days of the Second Continental Congress: The Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation.

We saw in the last episode, Christianity was one of the four core themes we can glean from the colonization efforts that formed the USA.  In case you missed it, the ot...

Episode 10 considers the creation of our second set of governing documents, what we today call “The Constitution,” in 1787, ratified in 1788, provides us our last bit of evidence to the larger point of the podcast–what did the Founders want to do with Christianity?

We have been examining what was necessary to sustain our unique foundation for the USA civic society. We’ve been seeking what w...

For our second Bonus Episode, I am returning to a historical point that I made in Episode 8.  In that episode, I first introduced my concept of “Four Founding Themes” that emerge from an examination of English colonization.  When I cover European colonization in my college classes on early US History, one thing that I do with my students is to look for larger patterns to help us understand what is going on. I do this with them as w...

We come to the end of our journey and its time to draw out conclusions, hopefully seeing possible solutions that will help us move into a safe harbor. Episodes 8-10 examined the core foundational documents of the USA and from those we have see how our "Founders" constructed the nation. From that, we discerned within the founding the vital element of the Christian spiritual ethos that they believed were central ...

Continuing the examination of solutions, we bring the podcast (at least season one) to its conclusion.  Here in part two, we return to the three crucial problems that I laid out in episode 1: our national addiction to ease and comfort, hyper-individuality leading to collapse of community, and postmodernism which enshrines a viewpoint that "the only thing that is true is whatever I deem true for me."  We spend time discussing these ...

Throughout the entire podcast, the audience was designed for both people of no spiritual religious faith claims and those who openly state that they are Christians. Matthew and I did our very best to keep the approach academic in nature, examining the primary sources, and simply seeking to uncover historical evidence that can guide us as a nation to a safe harbor, a place for flourishing for everyone.

If you listened to any of the ...

Surprise! I am so happy to share this fourth bonus episode with you in which my friend Kurt Powers joined me for a last examination of the argument of the podcast.  Kurt used to manage his own podcast called "The Powers Project." He examined a far-ranging set of issues including personal health, philosophical issues, and historical topics. I was privileged to be on the podcast 8 times, and you can hear those at this playlist on my ...