In this week’s conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent NPR article focusing on the common thread that's present in the midterm campaigns of multiple Democratic candidates. Several office-seekers have made their Christian faith central to their campaign, using it to either explain or justify their positions or postures, or in order to display how important their faith is to their public life. What is causing this rise in the Democratic candidates appealing to their faith, and how does this trend square with the rise of the “nones” in the U.S.?

Episode Links

As both Alexis and Dr. White noted, this is not the first time that our conversation on the podcast has turned to the world of politics. Here are a number of past episodes (some of which were referenced), that you may be interested in going back to listen to if you missed them:

CCP201: On Christian Nationalism (Summer Rerun)

CCP168: On Pastors Promoting Political Candidates

CCP129: On the 2024 Election Results

CCP112: On January 6 and the Fastest Growing Christian Movement in America

CCP83: On Christians and Government

CCP82: On Christians and Politics

Above we mentioned the rise of the “nones.” For those who may not know, Dr. White wrote an entire book on this demographic and their impact on our culture. You can find The Rise of the Nones on Amazon HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we’d love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News. We’d also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you’d like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week’s conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the culturally hot topic of polygamy. A new series on Netflix has been gaining a lot of attention. It’s called The Polygamist, and it follows the story of a woman named Joyce Gomora whose husband had three other wives and a mistress. While globally only ~2% of the population lives in a polygamous household, it’s most widely practiced in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, here in the U.S., we seem to have a fascination with this lifestyle, and there’s even been an increase in the number of people who view polygamy as morally acceptable.
Episode Links
As Alexis mentioned at the top of the podcast, we took a break the past two weeks to release two of the interviews from last year’s Church & Culture Conference. We hope that you enjoyed them, and we’d love to invite you to join us this year. You can get all the details and register HERE.
Dr. White noted early in the conversation that it’s difficult to have a conversation about polygamy without also discussing Mormonism. For a deeper dive into this topic, we’d suggest you check out a past podcast episode: CCP18: On Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. Another past episode that may be of interest on a related subject is: CCP93: On Polyamory.
Finally, there are several articles that are relevant to today’s conversation that we’d encourage you to take the time to read if you’re interested:
Emmanuel Nwachukwu, “Christians Debate Polygamy After Netflix Show Hits No. 1,” Christianity Today.
“Psychological impact of polygamous marriage on women and children: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” PubMedCentral of the National Library of Medicine.
Stephanie Kramer, “Polygamy is rare around the world and mostly confined to a few regions,” Pew Research Center.
Lindsay Whitehurst, “Utah lawmakers get tough on porn, ease up on polygamy,” Religion News Service.
For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we’d love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News. We’d also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you’d like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.