December 25 - Why American Christians Voted for a Serial Philanderer Who Owns Gambling Dens; Is Mike Pence a Theocrat or a Dominionist?

We begin on this Christmas holiday which, although heavily commercialized, is ostensibly a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and speak with Frank Schaeffer, a best-selling author whose parents Francis and Edith Schaeffer were world famous evangelical speakers and leaders of what became known as the Religious Right. Having worked with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, Frank felt increasingly alienated and experienced a crisis of faith which led him to depart from the evangelical movement. His book is “And God Said Billy” and we will discuss why American evangelicals and Christian fundamentalists voted overwhelmingly for a serial philanderer and owner of gambling dens who openly boasted about coveting his neighbor’s wife in a video in which he boasted about his exploits as a sexual predator who could grope women with impunity.

Part 2

Then we speak with Frederick Clarkson, a Senior Fellow at Political Research Associates who has been an analyst of the Religious Right for over 30 years. The author of “Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America” and “Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy”, he joins us to discuss the role of Vice President Mike Pence who appears to pretty much run the Trump Administration, and whether Pence, who has shown theocratic tendencies, is in fact a dominionist, who sees the Lord Jesus as the ultimate political authority and ruler and believes that God has called upon conservative Christians to exercise dominion over society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.