David Goa

Calum McCracken

My conversation with Calum began during his undergraduate studies. We talked about his interests in the political life of a number of countries, on international relations and issues of human rights as both a civil gift and a challenge for some cultural communities. We have also talked about the difficult issues often found in the public square and how we might deepen public understanding across the usual political silos.

Calum did a lovely piece of research exploring culture, pluralism and human rights focused on how this theme unfolded in Quebec and the work of Charles Taylor on this issue. He was also engaged by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and I had the pleasure of discussing some of his work and having larger conversations with him on international challenges we face given the legacy of colonialism.

We begin these three podcasts thinking about his own intellectual growth over the last few years. We explore the Civil Right Movement, the place of religion and religious ideas in the growth of this movement with particular emphasis on the prophetic tradition. We touch on the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, his drawing on the thinking of Reinhold Niebuhr and Gandhi, on Malcom X and Dorothy Day, and the political landscape in which they worked and which they sought to transform.

In our next podcast we will explore the policy changes in the United States that endeavoured to address racism and poverty.

Our third podcast digs into the roots of Christian Nationalism and its current rise in liberal democratic societies.

Welcome to our conversation.

Podcast
In Conversation with David Goa

 

This is my third conversation with Calum McCracken. We continue exploring the place of religion in shaping political movements and focus on the rise of Christian Reconstructionism and its current shape, Christian Nationalism.

My conversation with Calum began during his undergraduate studies. We talked about his interests in the political life of a number of countries, on international relations and issues of human rights as both a civil gift and a challenge for some cultural communities. We have also talked about the difficult issues often found in the public square and how we might deepen public understanding across the usual political silos.

In this, our third conversation, Calum walks into the origins of Christian Nationalism. Our reflection ranges from the origins of the United States and its puritan and Calvinist patrimony. We explore the legacy of Christian Dominionism under the leadership of R. J. Rushdoony, the seeds of contemporary movements of Christian Nationalism. What are the fears at work surfacing this movement? How does racism and patriarchy figure in how it has unfolded? Why is pluralism anathema to those who claim they want to restore biblical law in the public square? These and other questions shape our conversation together.  

 

This is my second conversation with Calum McCracken. We continue exploring the place of religion and public policy in the Civil Rights Movement Calum’s undergraduate studies focused on political philosophy. He is now off to graduate school and will be working on issues of human rights on the international stage.

My conversation with Calum began during his undergraduate studies. We talked about his interests in the political life of a number of countries, on international relations and issues of human rights as both a civil gift and a challenge for some cultural communities. We have also talked about the difficult issues often found in the public square and how we might deepen public understanding across the usual political silos.

In this, our second conversation, Calum walks into the legacy of the Jim Crow laws and how the legislatures in the American South pushed back against Reconstruction. He explores the three pivotal pieces of legislation under President Lydon Johnson: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. 

Calum brings this story into what is unfolding in the United States currently: the work of various state legislatures to deprive many, particularly Black Americans, of the franchise and the ongoing work of “making a more perfect union.” 

 

My conversation with Calum began during his undergraduate studies. We talked about his interests in the political life of a number of countries, on international relations and issues of human rights as both a civil gift and a challenge for some cultural communities. We have also talked about the difficult issues often found in the public square and how we might deepen public understanding across the usual political silos.

Calum did a lovely piece of research exploring culture, pluralism and human rights focused on how this theme unfolded in Quebec and the work of Charles Taylor on this issue. He was also engaged by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and I had the pleasure of discussing some of his work and having larger conversations with him on international challenges we face given the legacy of colonialism. 

We begin these three podcasts thinking about his own intellectual growth over the last few years. We explore the Civil Right Movement, the place of religion and religious ideas in the growth of this movement with particular emphasis on the prophetic tradition. We touch on the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, his drawing on the thinking of Reinhold Niebuhr and Gandhi, on Malcom X and Dorothy Day, and the political landscape in which they worked and which they sought to transform.  

In our next podcast we will explore the policy changes in the United States that endeavoured to address racism and poverty. 

Our third podcast digs into the roots of Christian Nationalism and its current rise in liberal democratic societies.