Episodes
Wednesday Jul 05, 2017
Episode 12: The Religious Left (Revisited)
Wednesday Jul 05, 2017
Wednesday Jul 05, 2017
Juhem and Luciano revisit a topic from their very first episode. The New York Times recently revived discussion of the religious left with a long and in-depth piece about the problems getting the movement going. Juhem and Luciano discuss the article and some other pieces reacting to it. They also offer their opinion about the limits of the religious left, and why those limitations can help the secular left carve its own political space.
Links:
The LatiNone on evangelicals for Trump
Wednesday Jun 28, 2017
Episode 11: Washington vs. Managua
Wednesday Jun 28, 2017
Wednesday Jun 28, 2017
In the second part of our Paris Accord episode Luciano explains why Nicaragua was not among the countries that signed the agreement and why the USA leaving is not a comparable action. Juhem discusses Latinx public opinion on climate change and theorizes about how transnational ties influence Latinx perspectives on this issue.
Related links:
Juhem's piece: "Latino/as are Key to the Future of Climate Change Policies"
Juhem & Dan Cox piece: "Are Transnational Ties Leading Latinos to Express Greater Concern about Climate Change?"
North Korea blasts Trump as 'silly,' 'ignorant' over Paris Accord withdrawal
US joins only Syria and Nicaragua on climate accord 'no' list
Cover image source: NASA
Wednesday Jun 21, 2017
Episode 10: Pittsburgh > Paris
Wednesday Jun 21, 2017
Wednesday Jun 21, 2017
President Trump got the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord(s) earlier this month. This week, in the first of two episodes dedicated to analyze this event, Luciano explains what is the Paris Climate Accord, why it is important, and the limits of this international agreement. Juhem discusses the public opinion on climate change and introduces the concept of "Trumpslating": the art of translating the President's statements into something that makes sense.
Related links:
PRRI/AAR Religion, Values and Climate Change Survey
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
President Trump's speech on Paris Climate Agreement (annotated by NPR)
Cover image source: NASA
Wednesday Jun 07, 2017
Episode 8: The War on Public Schools in North Carolina
Wednesday Jun 07, 2017
Wednesday Jun 07, 2017
Recently, the Republican-controlled legislature in North Carolina removed
funding for schools in districts represented by Democratic Party legislators.
Luciano discusses the politics behind this move and the consequences of
these actions while Juhem places these events in the larger national contexts of partisan polarization and the role of public education in society.
Links
Luciano on "North Carolina’s Highly Problematic General Assembly Republicans."
Image source: North Carolina GOP
Wednesday May 24, 2017
Episode 6: 40 Days of Johnny Mendez
Wednesday May 24, 2017
Wednesday May 24, 2017
Puerto Rico Speaker of the House Carlos "Johnny" Méndez led 40 days of prayer and fasting to "help" the island get out of its current crises despite obvious legal concerns regarding church-state separation (and the fact that prayer doesn't solve anything). Luciano tells the story of what happened and who opposed the government-led religious activity. Juhem provides some historical and anecdotal evidence of why these acts by politicians are commonplace in Puerto Rico.
Resources:
Luciano's blog post "Secular Humanists Of Puerto Rico Move To Challenge Carlos “Johnny” Mendez." at Sin/God.
Fox News article
India.com article
Pasquines.us article
IHEU article
Metro Puerto Rico article (en español)
Johnny Mendez image source: Twitter
Wednesday May 03, 2017
Episode 3: The Johnson Amendment Pt 2
Wednesday May 03, 2017
Wednesday May 03, 2017
Luciano and Juhem talk about the Johnson Amendment, the law regulating political spending by churches and other nonprofit organizations. President Trump promised to "destroy" the law to please his religious conservative base. In Part 2, Luciano and Juhem discuss how churches get involved in other countries and views about separation of church and state.
Links of interest:
Survey about support of Johnson Amendment
NPR pimer on Johnson Amendment
Wednesday Apr 26, 2017
Episode 2: The Johnson Amendment Part 1
Wednesday Apr 26, 2017
Wednesday Apr 26, 2017
Luciano and Juhem talk about the Johnson Amendment, the law regulating political spending by churches and other nonprofit organizations. President Trump promised to "destroy" the law to please his religious conservative base. In Part 1, Luciano and Juhem focus on what is the Johnson Amendment and its role in the separation of church and state.
Links of interest:
Survey about support of Johnson Amendment
NPR pimer on Johnson Amendment
Wednesday Apr 19, 2017
Episode 1: The Benito Juarez Experience/The Secular Left
Wednesday Apr 19, 2017
Wednesday Apr 19, 2017
In the first episode of The Benito Juárez Experience Juhem and Luciano discuss their paths to atheism and activism, why we named the podcast "The Benito Juárez Experience." We also talk about how the American religious left gets too much attention compared to the nascent secular left, and the racial bias in the discussion of the religious left.
Links of interest:
'Religious left' emerging as U.S. political force in Trump era (Scott Malone, Reuters.com)