Special Episode: Series Release of ONE NATION, ALL BELIEFS
Today we are launching a new limited series called One Nation, All Beliefs. produced in partnership with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. This is the series intro.
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Produced by Brad Onishi, with help from Emma Hulbert and Isaiah Perkins, at Straight White American Jesus in partnership with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the series highlights the voices of reproductive rights organizers, education activists, queer Black clergy, trans pastors, and progressive politicos in order to show the ways a strong separation of church and state is the shield that protects everyone's right to live as themselves and believe as they choose — ensuring freedom without favor and equality without exception.
LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, protecting public schools, and freedom from religion - as well as freedom of religion - they all depend on a wall between church and state.
Because we want an America where:
religion does not dictate public policy;
the government does not tell Americans what to believe or how to practice their faith;
discrimination is not justified under the guise of religion.
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I want to welcome you to a special series by Straight White American Jesus in partnership with Americans United.
This series is called One Nation, All Beliefs, and it's about the separation of church and state.
I know the separation of church and state for many of you is a key issue, something that you fight for, something you think about a lot, and something you know has a significant impact on your personal and public life.
For others of you, you might be wondering, well, why separation of church and state?
There's so many things happening in this country that demand our attention.
Reproductive rights, protecting gender and sexual identities, thinking about school curricula, banned books, the takeover of school boards all over the place.
Well, one thing that Americans United and us here at Straight White American Jesus recognize is that the separation of church and state is the foundation for all of those issues.
Because unless we have the separation of church and state, we cannot have a fair government that works for all people.
There's a new pledge at Americans United, and the mantra for that pledge is one nation, all beliefs.
Meaning that we should have a government that is free from religion so that people of all beliefs, whether religious or not, are free to exercise them in equal ways. .
On this series you're going to hear clergy, you're going to hear activists, you're going to hear non-profit leaders, trans pastors, secular rabbis, queer black ministers, all talking about how the separation of church and state is the basis for protecting the things that we care about the most.
I conducted these interviews at the Summit for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C., which was hosted by Americans United.
I had a chance to sit down with 12 different people over the course of the weekend.
So as you listen, you may hear plates ringing in the background and conversations happening.
You're going to hear a conference that was in full swing.
It was a dynamic time when people from all backgrounds came together to recognize the need to fight for the separation of church and state in the face of ascending Christian nationalism.
The increased calls for a theocratic or theonomic state and the out-and-out attacks on trans folks, queer folks, kids, religious minorities, racial minorities, and the list goes on.
Our conversations inspired me to think about the ways that we can organize together and make a difference in a world that often feels like it's full of despair.
I'll tell you friends that the thing that I took away from these conversations is that the places that you might think are void of hope, are void of any light, In the darkness are the places where young people are organizing, the places where black churches and secular activists are working together to fight for equal representation and rights for all people.
They're the places that Americans are most determined not to let their democracy go by the wayside.
I also walked away thinking a lot about the stories we tell. - Okay.
I think that it's easy to concede narrative to the extreme right, the Christian Nationalists, the religious right.
They have a story.
I was once a Christian Nationalist, and I know that story.
It's a story that places each person in a cosmic battle for good and evil.
It's a story that gives each person a role to play and that's incredibly powerful.
And it's a role to play in a story that will not finish in your lifetime.
So even if your goals are not accomplished in your 60 or 70 or 80 years on earth, it doesn't matter.
The story moves on and you celebrate that no matter how far you get in the path to accomplish them.
The Summit for Religious Freedom reminded me of the story that we all have to tell, especially those of us who are determined to oppose Christian nationalism, determined to oppose Christian supremacy, religious supremacy, or the taking away of American rights and human rights in any form.
The story is this.
They say that we are not the real Americans, because we don't love their God.
They say that we're not the real Americans, because we don't believe like them.
And in response, we say, in fact, we are those who are continuing to try in this great American experiment.
We are continuing to try as hard as it may be to form a society, to form a government, to form a way of life that is based on liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness for every person.
We have a story that says, Whether you're a secular Jew, whether you are a Korean Presbyterian, whether you are a Black Baptist, whether you are an atheist from Seattle, or a Unitarian from New Mexico, we are those who are fighting for a vision of a world that says, regardless of your belief, regardless of your identity, you are included, protected, and cared for in this society.
Martin Luther King Jr.
once said that the arc of the universe bends towards justice.
And I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure if that's true.
Because I don't think that it's destiny.
But I think it could be true.
I think it could be true that the arc of the universe bends towards justice.
It just takes people willing to walk the path and bend it in that direction.
It takes those willing to participate in the story I just talked about.
To decide that they have time and money and energy for one thing, one issue, and willing to gather with others and fight for that issue.
It depends on those willing to say, we're going to walk as far as we can go, arm and arm, until the end of our lives.
And we'll know that even if we don't get to the end of where we want to be, we will have created a path for those after us to walk.
For those who come after us to follow.
For those after us to remember the battles that were fought, the persistence that was shown, and the refusal to give up in what often feels like a time of great hopelessness.
That's our story.
That's the way that we bend the arc of the universe in a small way, but in a way that's significant.
That's what I walked away thinking about.
after the Summer for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C.
I want to thank you all for listening to this new series.
I guarantee you that as you make your way through these short episodes, you're going to be inspired.
You're going to see the world in a different way.
And I hope that you'll find a means to get involved in Americans United or in any way you can on a local level when it comes to reproductive rights, when it comes to protecting trans kids, when it comes to protecting the vote, making sure that when it comes to protecting the vote, making sure that everyone has a right for their voice to be heard.
Whether that's standing up at a school board meeting, whether that is not allowing one of your local elections to go to a far-right Christian nationalist candidate simply because they ran unopposed.
You can find the link to the Americans United Pledge for One Nation All Beliefs and the Separation of Church and State in the show notes.
My name is Brad Onishi.
This is a special series, Straight White American Jesus in partnership with Americans United.
