You Tube Theology

As the nation looks back on the first official federal commemoration of Juneteenth and looks forward to the Fourth of July, it is clear that the new battle lines in the culture wars are less about social issues and more about American identity itself. Competing conceptions of American history—the 1619 project vs. the 1776 project—have become markers of political and religious identity. At its heart, this struggle is between two incompatible visions of America: one forwarding a myth of white racial innocence and the norm of a white Christian nation vs. another committed to a more critical history in the service of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious democracy.

In this conversation, recorded July 1, 2021, authors and scholars Robert P. Jones and Kristin Kobes Du Mez—each of whom grew up in the white conservative Christian world—discuss the role white Christianity is playing in these battles, why they are erupting at this moment in our nation’s history, and what’s at stake for the future of religion and the country. Jones and Du Mez are joined by Amanda Tyler, the Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The event was co-sponsored by PRRI and BJC.