Part Two: How The Rich Ate Christianity

Robert is joined again by Dan and Jordan from knowledge fight to continue to discuss the plot to make Christianity capitalist.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh yeah, I hate when you open the episode like that.
I really do. I love it, Sophie. It makes me
feel just missing shrieking. To be honest, No, I like
an almost an almost sexual expression of satisfaction. That's how
you start a podcast. So that's how you start a podcast.

(00:24):
And to be almost sexual with me. My guests today,
Dan and Jordan of Knowledge fight Dan and Jordan's on
a scale how uncomfortable? Oh wow, Wow, you're just buying
in excellent. I was doing macho and Randy seven, Yes
he was. I was doing straight up. That's what I
sound like during sex. Yeah. That that's gonna be very

(00:46):
polarizing among the audience. Uh, people who have opinions. People
will have opinions. I'm not going to read those opinions
from my own mental health. I don't do that very often.
Less polarizing, though, the gracefulness with which Randy Macho Man
says will drop an elbow off the top of rope.

(01:09):
That's something everyone can appreciate. UM On the next episode,
will we'll we'll have me and the guests all slowly
eat cereal in front of the mic, so we'll see
what people hate more, the sex or the cereal cereal.
You could have the name the Cereals. People might be
constantly become the cereal that I'm eating this capa and

(01:32):
crunch is this crunch show, Sophie, that the whole show.
There's not enough money in the world to get but
there is enough cereal. We can do this. So you
know part two, right, we should probably get back into

(01:52):
the story. So by by February of ninety seven h five,
Field has built this list of minister representatives. Right, that's
what he calls the members of Spiritual Mobilization because he's
he's it's specifically an organization for religious leaders. And he
calls these kind of you know, you might call them
foot soldiers or whatnot. In his war to make Christianity capitalism,

(02:14):
he calls them minister representatives, yeah, repristers, and in night
he starts doing this in nineteen forty four, he has
about four hundred minister representatives in forty four. By ninety seven,
there's more than ten thousand of them. Within a m
money behind him, he's able to get out his message
and keep Spiritual Mobilization together despite its meteoric rise. He
finds great success in arguing against the Pagan statism of

(02:37):
socialist politics rather than against a social safety net, and
for the dignity of individual man as a child of
God rather than against the responsibility of rich people to
pay taxes. Clergy begin to flood five Fields, Los Angeles office.
His phone rings off the hook for weird like and
it's usually people like when people call um, it's citizens

(02:58):
who have like come across his organization somewhere and they're
they're writing him because they want to get sent political tracts. Um.
That's a big part of what spiritual mobilization does, is it?
Since out these right wing zines and books from authors
like Garrett Garrett UM and Garrett Garrett is g A
R E. T is his first name and then his
last name is spelled the right way. Have you heard

(03:19):
of this guy? I don't know. No, I have not.
I've never heard of anyone being named Garrett twice decision
obviously twice as many times is the wrong number of times?
But Barbart is it a typo? Or is its spelled
the first name spelled differently than the last name? It is?
It is the first name spelled differently? Is he and

(03:41):
peel bit? Actually kind of I kind of like the
different spellings. Yeah, the first name. The first name has
one R, one T, the last name has two rs
to two rs. To tease Garrett or is it like
to Garrett? Yeah, I like it. You're gonna give him that.
I have questions. He is an so he Garrett Garrett

(04:02):
is like an Iron Rand type figure. Like he's a
libertarian fiction Yes, I mean based as hell, so he writes.
He writes some of the most insufferable sounding literary libertarian
fiction I've ever heard of. You can find all of
his books today, hosted online for free by the miss Institute.
If you if you want to read Garrett Garrett. Uh,

(04:24):
he was big in the twenties and thirties. And if
the summaries I'm reading or anything to judge by like
it is some of the most insufferable shit ever. One
of his books is called Satan's Bushel. And here's how
the Micis Institute describes Satan's Bushell. What is Satan's Bushell?
It is the last bushel that the farmer puts on
the market that breaks the price, that is, reduces it
to the point that wheat farming is no longer profitable.

(04:45):
The puzzle that afflicts the wheat farmers is that they
sell their goods when the price is low and have
no goods to sell when the price is high. Withholding
goods from the market is one answer, But why should
any farmer do that? What is the answer to this problem?
Working from this premise then, as implausa well as it
may sound, but the central figure in this book is
the price of wheat. It is the main source of drama.

(05:06):
The settings are the wheat expit at the Chicago Exchange
and the Kansas wheat fields. Yes, he wrote a book
where the protagonist is the concept of wheat as a commodity.
I fucking love how bored Satan has to be all
the time, where he's like, listen, guys, we've got nothing
going on today. I don't know. Let's funk with the

(05:26):
price of wheat. Yeah, there's no more relatable protagonist the
price of wheat. The hero's journey of Wheat Wheat we
initially rejects the call to adventure, but then accepts it
after finding a mentor, and the resolution, of course is subsidies. Yes,

(05:48):
it all works out. It's perfect. Um. It is also
just weird. Of Darkness was my favorite book, very telling
because Garrett. Garrett is huge. He's one of the most
popular off the authors that five Fields distributing. It's very
telling of these guys ideology that like you hear, hey,
we've gotten so good at farming wheat that it's it's
basically free. And instead of being like, oh good, no

(06:09):
one will ever not have bread again, the dream of
human beings for thousands of years finally realized, it's oh
my god, that we won't make money. It's it's it's
unfortunate the way that the system works, so that a
lot of drama in the book hinges upon someone who's

(06:29):
apparently poisoning all of the wheat as a favor to
the farmers, like poisoning the wheat to kill it so
that it will make wheat more valuable to help the farmers.
Like this guy sounds like the name was mon Santo.
This is crazy. This is the most amazing book I've
ever heard of predicting programming, if I understand correctly, does
is the person who's poisoning the wheat heroic character? I think,
so I have that kind. I'm gonna be honest with you, guys.

(06:51):
I didn't read this book. Absolutely did not read this
fucking book. Um. I read a summary of the book
by the Masa's Institute, which, by the way, this is
y'all will enjoy this. In its biography of Garrett Garrett,
the Misas Institute notes that he was quote as noted
for his critiques of the New Deal and US involvement
in the Second World War. Now right, you hear that

(07:15):
m the only war for him being against is inherently suspicious. No, no, no,
it's not that they're against World War two, is that
they're against the concept. If you look against World War two,
I had better see a Quaker somewhere in your biography
or I am making some dire assumptions. You know, the
Mesa Institute is the insufferable fox that run across Like

(07:41):
they they've come up in some of our stuff before.
And yeah, one of the things I note, uh in particular,
is like they're like they have a long argument on
their website about why you don't have a positive obligation
to feed your children. Like they're good ship. That's the
good ship. That's the libertarian stuff I love. Right, they're
fucking when you've got like Fred Coke arguing about the

(08:04):
fact that people should be able to sell themselves into
slavery and fucking yes, that's the good ship. If you can't,
then do you really own yourselves? Yeah, it's really funny too,
Like it's it's shameful that you've got something as batshit
wacko as that is, like slavery is good because otherwise
you don't own yourself. And this guy decides to write

(08:24):
a book about fucking wheat prices, like, come on, man,
there's so many cooler places to take this. I mean,
what's trading places about? But orange prices? It's the same. No, No,
it's the main character, right, I feel like I also
there was a gorilla that's not Is this wheat book
available on tape? I don't know about that, but it

(08:45):
is in public domain. Dan, you could do a free
audio book of the week Satan's Bookshel oh Man. That
is an MST three K movie waiting to happen. I
had to note we're going on a bit of a
tangent with Garrett Garrett, but it is important to get
some some some texture as to like the kind of

(09:06):
material that Spiritual Mobilization is putting out. And when I
saw that Garrett Garrett had been an opponent of us,
involvement in the Second World War. I did a little
bit more digging and I found an article from Garrett
Garrett titled War has Lost its Pockets from the Saturday
Evening Post in nineteen forty, where Garrett argues He argues
a lot in this article. One of the things he

(09:26):
says is that it wouldn't make sense for the Nazis
to use forced labor because that's bad for business. Sure,
Nazis that wouldn't use forced labor. That's not very efficient.
I'm gonna be I'm gonna be straight with you. Indisputable. Yeah,
it's beautiful, nailed it. Get I've heard that same sort
of like tone from libertarians about slavery in America as well,

(09:47):
like that people wouldn't mistreat their slaves. That doesn't make
economic sense. Yeah, okay, guys. Anyways, my favorite book of
the Bible is Exodus. I don't know why. So Spiritual
Mobilization sells this guy's books like hotcakes. Now flush with cash,
Fivefield decides to draw in new ministers by making the

(10:08):
gospel of free enterprise profitable. In October of ninety seven,
he holds a national sermon competition with the Perils to
Freedom as a theme, and he offers five thousand dollars
in prize money. More than twenty thousand ministers submit entries,
which is fifteen percent of all clergymen in the nation.
So this is now, This isn't just I sent a

(10:28):
letter to a bunch of people. This is I have
made a connection. They are engaging directly with the and
making propaganda of their own now, which is a really
smart way to do this, right. Can I ask you
a question, Yeah, has has part of that been like,
because because everything that we're talking about now is purely
economic and currently in the present day, all of that

(10:49):
is tied in with a real blood thirst. So in
this time period, was that separate? Was there still that
undercurrent of like and you're to have to kill infidels
like that kind of thing, or yeah, that's there. I mean,
these guys are very we'll talk. The Korean War comes
into this a little bit um you know there there,
this is this immediate post war period. There's not quite

(11:12):
as much of that just because everyone's kind of tired
of fighting for a little byone's already fought out, but
we know several million died whatever. Once we start getting
into these wars, and Korea in Vietnam. Yes, these guys
get very pro killing the communists, and you know that
this is cool. This gives birth to the to the
chunks of the conservative movement that are pro Rhodesia and
all that. Yes, so Pugh and the n A M

(11:35):
are so happy with this, this thing that Fifield carries
out getting all these ministers to engage with this propaganda,
that they double his annual budget. Pugh generally takes a
lead here in soliciting donations from his rich friends. He
he sees this as a success, and he wants to
like a crack has been made in this wall of
leftism in in the clergy in America, and he wants

(11:56):
to shoot as much fucking water into that crack as possible,
try to expand it. Um. So he tells his fellow
rich guy friends it is hot that spiritual mobilization should
be at the top of the list for all their donations,
citing the polls that he paid for that showed ministers
as the most influential molders of public opinion. But as
this experiment rolled forward, there were some on the left

(12:17):
who could see the shape of was starting to take form.
I'm gonna quote now from Kevin Cruz's book One Nation
Under God, How Corporate America invented Christian America. Quote. In February,
journalist Kerry McWilliams wrote in a cidic cover story on
It for the Nation, with save Christianity and the save
Western Capitalism chance becoming almost indistinguishable, A major battle for

(12:38):
the minds of the clergy, particularly those of the Protestant persuasion,
is now being waged in America, he began. For the
most part, the battle lines are honestly drawn and represent
a sharp clash in ideologies. But now and then the
reactionary side tries to fudge a bit by backing movements
which mask their true character and real sponsors. Such a
movement as Spiritual Mobilization. McWilliams explained to his readers the

(12:58):
scope of its operations, note that it now had nine
organizers working in high rent offices in New York, Chicago,
and Los Angeles, and had distributed hundreds of thousands of
pamphlets to prob by pro business authors for free, but
no one knew who was funding the operation. McWilliams warned
there had only been vague statements from Fifield that non
ministers who have a common stake in the America and
Christian traditions cannot contribute service, and that it was only

(13:21):
natural that they give substance instead. And mc williams's withering account,
Fifield came off as a charlatan who prostrated himself before
the apostles of rugged individualism to secure his own fame
and fortune, and in return prostituted himself for their needs.
So and this is how it's framed at the time
because they don't have access to like the letters and
stuff I've been reading. They don't know that this is
all funded by the n A. M. Right, that's not

(13:43):
super obvious to any to anyone writing it, but that
he can tell from what Fifield saying that like there
is some shady business interest in spiritual pobalization, like he's
speaking about it. I always love more than anything whenever
people use adjectives that are thoroughly inadequate for the job
of like you know, he's fudging things, like no, there's

(14:04):
a multimillion dollar campaign behind a lie, Like this is
not fudging things. He's not Like, oh it's not it's
not fifty dollars, it's a hundred dollars. It's this motherfucker
is killing everyone. Yeah, I mean obviously at the time
to like McWilliams doesn't have all that data. There's only
so much you can say in an article without being sued.
But you can see he's like he's he knows what's happening,

(14:27):
he just doesn't have the proof of it, right, Like
he's trying to like put that out as clearly as
he can. Something's rotten in Denmark. And yeah, this scares
the hell out of the n A M right that
that like this guy is kind of onto them um
and that he's attacking fifield is like a charlatan. So
they mobilize a bunch of rich guys, including the president

(14:49):
of the Republic Steel Corporation, to send out mass mailers
to other business owners and executives defending Fifield Um. And
as a fun fact, the guy who sends out this
mass letter is the Charles White, the president of Republic Steel.
Charles White presided over the nineteen thirty seven Memorial Day
massacre when ten Republic Steel union workers were gunned down

(15:10):
by policemen for striking. So that's the guy. He sends
out a letter to a bunch of rich guys calling
Fivefield one of my personal friends, to solicit donations for
it's literally about to say republic steel sounds like a
dystopian future for like the overarching And then the next
thing you said, murdered ten people. And I'm like, well,
you know what there are quote from this letter that

(15:34):
White writes defending Fivefield. Our company has supported this crusade
generously for some years, and we believe in it deeply,
the more so since I have read this irresponsible article
and see how the opposition feels about spiritual mobilization. White
then went on to ask the people you'd written this
letter to, why don't you send a check at once?
And in short order, more than a hundred thousand dollars

(15:55):
had been donated by business owners to spiritual mobilization And
like a couple of days, Um, it's great, Like he's
doing the whole. They're trying to cancel us, like the
liberal media is trying to cancel us. You need to
send us money very ahead of his time, you know, Trailblazer,
just such a like you're getting money from people. If
you get a hundred thousand dollars from people, it's people

(16:16):
who do not give us shit about money, you know,
like in two days that's crazy. Yeah, and that's like
a millionaire. Two that's like a couple of million bucks.
Then yeah. So spiritual mobilization itself responded to this criticism
in the nation, and that time honored tradition of smart
ship heads. It got bigger and louder. It launched The
Freedom Story, a fifteen minute radio program presented by Fifield,

(16:40):
and here's CRUs in Politico describing this. In the original scripts,
Fifield made direct attacks on democratic programs at home, but
his lawyer warned him they would lose the public service
designation that gave them free air time if he were
two plane spoken with partisan attacks. In Stay, you're gonna
go down the Mike Lindell route. You gotta stop, you
gotta stop. I can see the future. You gotta become

(17:01):
Mark with Lindell. No, that's not even what he's worried about.
He's finder than becoming Mike Lindell. He doesn't want him
to have to pay for this ad by it being right,
so he advises instead that Fifield should basically, instead of
don't talk about democratic policies in the US, that's not
allowed you you'll get you know we'll have to pay
for it then, But if you talk about foreign examples

(17:21):
of the minister being socialism, then that's not political. Hey,
why don't we own why don't we own Venezuela? Like,
I mean honestly, like look into your heart. Okay, So
anything outside the United States not politics, not politics, can't
be politicize. Not exactly. We we just talked about how

(17:43):
nonpart is in the Crusades were good times. So since
fifields nambackers had lost a lot of friends in me
or had a lot of friends in media, it was
child's play to ensure that this freedom story got free
airtime in over five hundred stations. So this this thing again,
and they're like, your motherfucker's could pay for this. But
you know, it also sounds better if it's not political, right,

(18:05):
It doesn't sound like I'm a guy making a right
wing like ad. If I'm just talking about the history
and the dangers of creeping socialism to freedom in these
other countries. You know, it's it's it's a smarter way
to do it. Um. So this is a big hit
gets out to a lot of earbuds, and five fields
next big move is a four day conference in nineteen fifty,
with twenty five of the most popular ministers in the

(18:27):
United States and an assortment of big business leaders, including
Crane and Pew. A pair of economists, Friedrich von Hayek
and Ludwig von mess were also present. Yeah, but they're great.
The Austrians are here. Stop y back in the fix
in between writing articles about how you don't have to
feed your kids and how what are you doing feeding

(18:50):
your kids? You're wasting here yet for him, he sits up,
Perhaps children should starve, and rounds of applause come from
the minute. Steers and business leaders in the audience. Listen,
when I when I went to and took my dog
Jake to basic dog training, the dog trainer was very specific.
She said, you have to work for your paycheck. And

(19:12):
now it makes perfect sense to me. People are dogs,
is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, Um, that's that's
what that's That's a big part of what's happening at
this conference. So Fifield describes the goal of this like
Uh Symposium as to quote, defined the conflicts in this
critical period of civilization and to establish freedom's answers to

(19:33):
these problems. Tentatively, the agenda will cover such subjects as
the relationship of liberty to Christianity, equality and morality, competition, incorporation,
and the application of true Christian principles to present day problems.
So this is a big hit. It gets the most
popular preachers in the world in the country together with
all of the richest people in the country and a

(19:55):
bunch of libertarian economists, and they all start being buddies
with each other, and they start like spreading their ideas around.
And these ministers go back to their gigantic churches and
like start talking about some of the things they've encountered. Uh.
Social Mobilization launches a magazine called Faith and Freedom, which
was built as a place where ministers could write in
and express their views freely, debating with one another over

(20:15):
the issues of the day. But almost all of those
debates where really just screeds against social welfare. Right, there's
not like a left wing right wing debate. It's like
how much should we stop feeding people? Rum and And
this is actually where we get into one of the
precursors of the modern right wing. Like bugbear that Satanists
are secretly behind socialism, I think this is the start

(20:36):
of that. And I want to read a quote here.
This is from one of the ministers who wrote for
Faith in Freedom and an essay he did called Pagan
Origin of the Social Gospel um which in which he
argues that pagan influenced strands of Christianity and he includes
Unitarianism here, sure had led to a quote shift in
faith from God to man, from eternity to time, from

(20:57):
the individual to the group, from individual conversion to social coercion,
and from the church to the state. That like Pagan
origin of the Social Gospel, that like the idea of
a social welfare state in anyway, um is he's not
calling it Satanist, but it's it's not Christian. It's fundamentally
anti Christian, is don't I think it's a transition towards Satanism.

(21:19):
It's God, then humans, then Satan's next. Yeah, yeah, totally.
You know, I I feel I feel for the for
these people, right because you used to be able to
just call someone a witch and people would believe you.
But now you have to do this whole dog and
pony show with all these lies. You have to do
all this pagan ship. You can't just say people who

(21:40):
like socialism or which people, but to be fair, they
did do empirical tests about whether or not people were witches.
Well they were heavy, yeah yeah, or or they were
able to be crushed by rocks cultures like there were things.
You would feed them and if they die, they're not
a witch. But if they survived, they're a witch. It
works both ways. Get a job or have a giant

(22:02):
rock tossed on you. I feel like this is very simple.
So in nineteen fifty, the Republicans, you know, after this
is after several years of an a M and five
Field working together. In nineteen fifty the Republicans have a
huge win at the midterm elections. Right, and this is
taken by Pew and the others in an a M
as evidence that what they're doing is working. Right Like this,
this ship is paying big political dividends. More funds poured

(22:24):
into spiritual mobilization. Fivefield celebrated in a letter to the
head of General Motors, writing quote, we are having quite
a delusive letters from across the country indicating the feeling
that spiritual mobilization has had some part in the awakening,
which was evidenced by the elections. Of course, we are
a little proud and very happy for whatever good we
have been able to do in waking people up to
the peril of collectivism and the importance of freedom under God. Meaning,

(22:49):
now that the Nazis have been gone for a little while,
fascism can totally be popular. Let's back in back freedom
under God because there is a tiny number of people
owning everything, and that's like it's under God because that's
what God wants, you know. And also definitely not paying taxes,

(23:10):
that's well for sure, God does not want you paying taxes. Yeah,
having surfs if you have to pay taxes to help
them when they work, yeah, I bet they have more
than one that we did get there eventually. Do you
have a positive responsibility to help people who are dying?
Mysa says no, no, no, of course not. And in fact,

(23:34):
you have a responsibility to maximize your own profit by
letting people die sometimes, because that's what. Yeah. So, now
empowered and properly organized, Fivefield decides to lead his most
ambitious charge ever. He's going to change the fourth of
July forever. And this is the thing people don't often get.
Didn't he used to be like a big, big thing

(23:56):
like we didn't always It wasn't always like the hugest
deal in the world the fourth of July. Um, it
has become that in recent decades, and a big part
of why it is what it is, especially on the right,
why it is like such an almost a holy day. Um,
it is kind of a holy day to millions of Americans.
That really starts in this period. But you know what's
starting in this period right now? Good services. That's right,

(24:19):
that's right, and it's never gonna stop. Baby. Ah, we're back,
and I have just learned the news that Build a
Bear Workshop launched an after dark series of erotic teddy bears.

(24:39):
Yeah great, yeah, I uh, this is my whole world now. Um,
so cancel our next tin podcast recordings. I have a
new thing to do. Yeah. Oh, they seem to mostly
just be buildings. I wouldn't openly say that on the internet.
Robert to that. What what I have a new thing

(25:01):
to do talking about bears? Yeah? Absolutely? You know, Dan
and Jordan, you guys can you guys can bounce. I
got I gotta deal with this bear situation. That's fair.
That's a fair bear situation. More a fair bear situation.
Horny horny teddy bears. I want a teddy bear. That's

(25:24):
ready to netflix and chill. We'll see this is this
is just society maintaining balance. The eminem's be called less sexy.
Build bears have to get have to get more fable.
Do you know what's crazy? The care bear that had
a volva on its stomach got cut real quick. Yeah,
it's weird. There's a there's Oh, now I'm in trouble.

(25:50):
I mean that is that would basically just be a
fleshlight that, you know, build a Bear could make some
money with a fleshlight build a Bear. Hey, I think
builder Bear has already made a bit of money. Look,
this is this is free cash we are leaving on
the ground. We need a more fuckable teddy bear. Look,

(26:11):
this has been the problem since time immemorial. The problem
with this riff is that it hasn't gone long enough.
And once again the furries have been on the cutting
edge of a well they a sponsor. Yes, yeah, we are,
we are. We are sponsored by the concept of having
sex with anthropomorphized bears. Adam and dot com that that

(26:36):
is really the primary reason this podcast exists. Big fuck Bear,
that's that's our sponsor. Sophie. Really stay in quiet here.
So when we last left our actual episode. Uh, our
our buddy, Mr Fifield has decided he's going to change
the Fourth of July, and to explain what his plan is,
I'm gonna quote from Kevin Cruz again. To mark the

(26:58):
hundred and seventy anniversary if the signing of the Declaration
of Independence, they proposed for the week surrounding the Fourth
of July a massive series of events devoted to the
theme of freedom under God. To that end, in June one,
the leaders of Spiritual Mobilization announced the formation of a
new Committee to Proclaim Liberty the CPL to coordinate their
Fourth of July Freedom under God's celebrations. Despite its apparent

(27:21):
spiritual emphasis, the true goal of the committee was advancing
political conservatisms. It's two most prominent members had been brought
low by Democratic administrations. Hoover driven from the White House
two decades earlier by Franklin Roosevelt from the driven from
the right, stones and chains and whims kept Pennsylvania. You

(27:43):
want to guess who who Hoover's partner was in this?
Who are you gonna put up next to Herbert Hoover
in this? Douglas MacArthur, Yeah, baby, because he had just
gotten fired by Harry Truman for wanting to nuke all
of China in Russia basically during the war, he was like,

(28:04):
why don't we start a nuclear war that kills tens
of millions of people in order to win in Korea?
And Truman was like, oh God, you're out of your mind.
You should not be in charge of fighting men anymore.
And then MacArthur said, what about freedom? Yeah, and that's
what he spends the rest of his life doing. In
his defense, at the time, the military was just firing
nuclear bombs into Arizona and forcing troops to walk through

(28:27):
it in case it gave We look, we should at
least knuke the enemy as much as we're knuking ourselves. Right, absolutely,
that's just fair. That's Doug MacArthur's attitude. So he had
gotten fired two months ago when he gets put in
this committee, right like, he has just gotten out of
the Korean War business. Um So he immediately goes into

(28:47):
let's make Christianity capitalism by subverting the fourth of July
to our own purposes. Um So, these guys get joined
by a bunch of different legal like conservative right wing
media figures, entertainment industry figures who are like very right wing.
Bing Crosby is a member of this committee, right, Bingo,
James O'Keefe. Um, no, but ci so every time I've

(29:09):
watched White Christmas, I've supported a fucking Nazi. Goddamnit. Little
I mean, yeah, old Blue Eyes wasn't a good man.
Can't imagine you not just assuming that Cecil is on
the committee to proclaim liberty. Yeah, but of course he is.
Walt Disney is on the committee to proclaim that bing

(29:29):
Crosby was a Nazi. Yeah, he's been pretty far right.
And of course our buddy Ronald Reagan is on the committee.
And then you've got a bunch of big business types.
There's j. Howard Pugh obviously, Harvey Firestone, Conrad Hilton, James Craft,
Harvey Firesteam, No Firestone, very different, very different. I was

(29:53):
living in Independence day. I was like, oh my god,
Man Craft, Henry Us, Fred Maytag and J. C. Penney, Um,
all of these guys are are are part of the committee,
are hanging out with Bingo, you know, trying to do
a kill democracy. Every time you learn the history of

(30:13):
where you shop, if it's been around for longer than
fifty years, you're like, why why aren't I burning this
down right now? Why aren't I just lighting it on fire? Question,
everyone briefly asked. And there's zero reason. There's zero reason
for a hobby lobby hobby lobby to still standing, like
zero reason they got a house those stolen artifacts, that

(30:34):
is true. And now we're back to Indiana Jones. So
you wouldn't think a group of luminaries and brands with
that kind of star power. You got all the big
bing Crosby and Walt Disney together finally with with Douglas MacArthur.
It is a dream team of dudes who sucked um,

(30:55):
But you wouldn't think like with that kind of they're
also dudes who are pretty good at being famous. You
wouldn't think they would have needed to advertise for this
sort of thing, but by god they do. Disney, Firestone,
all of these big corporate like Motherfucker's take out a
series of full page newspaper ads advertising all these events
around the fourth of July, this like week of right

(31:16):
wing you know, uh, speeches and radio programs and whatnot. Um.
Each of these full page ads focuses primarily on the
preamble to the Declaration of Independence. A lot of them
are just the preamble being printed. Now, you might wonder, well,
that doesn't sound super right wing, right, that's just like
a historical thing about the United States printing. There's nothing
particularly right wing about printing the Declaration of It. No, No,

(31:40):
you have to read it for it not to be
right wing. If you print it and you don't read it,
it's a little I'm saying, Yeah, that's that is essentially
what they're doing because they want people to read the preamble.
They don't want people to read the Declaration of Independence.
If you read the Declaration of Independence, a lot of
it is very specific critiques about shortcomings of the British government.

(32:02):
Right they are their problem is a lack of good
government there as as you might guess by the fact
that they made a government. They're not anti government. Um.
And again evidence of this is that when the revolution
was one, a lot of people who had signed that
declaration went on to crush a libertarian uprising in their
own country with cannons, you know, like they were not.

(32:22):
But I mean, you know, reasonably speaking, only two people
have actually read the declaration, and that's King George and
Nick Cage, and those are the only two to be fair.
Nicolas Cage read at the back of it. He did,
he did not, not even the front of it. Yeah. So,
quoteing just the preamble of the Declaration of Independence allows
these guys to turn the declaration from what it is,

(32:43):
which is a list of political grievances rooted in a
specific place in time, and the solution of those grievances
was a kind of government. It allows them to ignore
that and just turned through the using only the preamble,
turned the Declaration into a manifesto of Christian libertarianism. Were
the only focus is in the Founding Fathers wanting to
remove government. Right, That's not the declaration. Isn't the Founding

(33:05):
Fathers saying we don't want to have government because free
enterprise is best. It's them saying this government is ship
and we want to do a better job. Right, Um,
you don't want that thought to go into people's head.
In his book One Nation Under God, Cruise quotes one
version of this ad paid for by a by the
San Diego Gas and Electric Company. It told its readers, quote,
these words are the stones upon which man built history's

(33:27):
greatest work. The United States of America, remember them well,
and the words of the preamble were accompanied by helpful
analysis by the good people at the Committee to Preserve Liberty.
All men are created equal. That means you are as
important in the eyes of God as any man brought
into this world. You are made in His image and likeness.
There is no superior man anyway. All right, so we're

(33:48):
anywhere the period. Fine, Fine, we're all gonna go home,
end of show. That guy was great. Let's get out
of here. They are endowed by their creator with certain
and alienable rights. Here's your birthright. Theed them to live, work, worship,
and vote as you choose. These are rights no government
on earth may take from you, except for the government
established by this declaration, which didn't let most people vote.

(34:08):
But like whatever, more rights than those that to secure
these rights. Governments are instituted among men. Here is the
reason for and the purpose of government. Government is but
a servant, not a master, not a giver of anything.
Right now, we get into the right wing propaganda um
deriving their just powers from the consent of the government.

(34:28):
In America, the government it may assume only the powers
you allow it to have. It may assume no others.
This is a subtle piece of propaganda, though this is
very smart. What they are doing here is re contextualizing
and repurposing history into something very different than what it
was UM in order to inculcate a specific political ideology

(34:51):
in the population UM. And this works pretty fucking good.
If you want to talk about how successful replacing the
real get the world today, what are you fucking talking about?
All we need evidence? I am. Do you know how
obvious it is you use the word inculcate? I did um?

(35:15):
I I want to quote to talk about like how
successful specifically that this word is. Both of us have podcasts.
Both of us have podcasts. Yeah. But also it's interesting
to me that the preamble remains a really common piece
of right wing propaganda in a lot of ship that's
been happening very recently. I'm gonna quote from Jacqueline Keeler's

(35:37):
book Standoff, which is about the Bundy occupation of the
Malhair Wildlife Refuge. Quote. On January nineteen, Ryan Payne, a
mal Heir occupier and founder of Operation Mutual Aid, a
militia coalition based in Montana, read the preamble of the
declaration of independence at a community meeting held at the refuge.
Political instruction in the philosophical beliefs that brought anti government

(35:57):
activists together and armed rebellion against the fence was common
at both the refuge and during Clive and Bundy standoff
and Bunkerville, Nevada two years earlier. And that's this is
interesting because it's not just the preamble. A lot of
these militiamen carry pocket constitutions, right. That is a huge
thing among chunks of the libertarian right. Um. And the
specific pocket constitutions that are everyone at fucking malhair has

(36:20):
are produced by the National Center for Constitutional Studies, which
was founded by a Mormon elder named w Cleon Skousen. Yeah, baby,
scousands in the Housen h was a founder of the
John Birch Society, who are directly talking with five Field
and with n a M. They are working with n

(36:41):
a M right now. Welch is a member like Yeah,
Scousen got sort of yet to remove himself from the
Birch Society because he was too extremes. This is the
guy who was too shitty for the worst people ever. Yeah. Um.
But it is important to note that Scausen is very
much copying Fifield and his organization in handing out these

(37:02):
pocket constitutions. He this is where this idea comes from,
that we can repurpose pieces of American history for this
specific end without like like that that's um like a
great thing for us is going to be taking these
historical documents, adding our own context to them, adding essays
to them, explaining them in a way that makes our

(37:23):
ideology seem like the only possible American thing. That starts
here with the Committee to Preserve Liberty and their effort
to re contextualize the Fourth of July. UM, and obviously
we've talked about it has been a tremendously successful thing.
So basically what you're saying is that we need a
fucking time machine. I look, if I had a time machine, Uh,

(37:47):
I would I would? I would get up to some ship. Yeah. Yeah,
there'd be a lot of folks just missing. Boy howdy
um starting. No, that's not a good joke to tell.
Back to the Fourth of July. In the lead up

(38:07):
to the day itself, Reverend Fifield gave a big radio
service wherein he introduced the people of the United States
to the Committee to Proclaim Liberty. He told them its
purpose was to quote revive a custom long forgotten in
America spiritual emphasis. On the fourth of July, they held
another big essay contest, soliciting sermons on the theme Freedom
under God. Fifield encouraged ministers to read the sermons they

(38:29):
wrote to their own congregations on independent Sunday, July one.
Now I want to hone in on this a bit
because it's brilliant. Earlier, Pew had criticized five Field for
not directly controlling what ministers wrote and said in their sermons.
But data had told me at am that that handing
out all right, that's just a sad criticism. It's like, hey, listen,

(38:51):
you're not controlling what everyone's saying. You get your pastors
on a hip. Yeah. But at the same time, while
like p was frustrated by this in a MS, data
shows that the pre written sermons and stuff that like
that they're handing out don't work. They sound too much. Yeah.
So Fiefield gets the brothers are right, they're man was

(39:15):
found exactly. Yeah, Fiefield gets seventeen thousand ministers to write
their own sermons on a theme that he's chosen. Um
and like ties that to the fourth of July. Right,
has all of the all of these ministers, thousands of
them around the country, giving variations of the same speech

(39:37):
on the thing he's picked all the July. Yeah, that
will put it in your own words kind of, Yeah, exactly,
that's how you copy. Well, it's like, yeah, it's like
a high school essay context. Yeah, it's like the winner
gets to go to fucking d C. Yeah, gets to
help overthrow democracy and institute an oligarchic dictatorship. Yeah. I

(40:00):
mean you put it like that's a bad thing, but
that is an accomplishment. It is an accomplishment. Look, I
mean you got to get him taken anything from these dudes.
They're good at what they're doing. So I'm gonna quote
next from Kevin Cruz again. These sermons were amplified by
a program broadcast that same evening over CBSS National Radio Network.
Cecil Bata Mill worked with his old friend Fifield to

(40:21):
plan the production, giving it a professional tone and attracting
an impressive array of Hollywood stars. Jimmy Stewart served as
master of ceremonies, while Bing Crosby and Glorious Swanson offered
short messages of their own. The preamble to the declaration
was led by Lionel Barrymore, who had gonna be Mickey Mouse.
This is this is what happens when you make a

(40:43):
banker the protagonist of one of the most famous movies
of all time. That's entirely that's all. I know. You've
got very good points about all of these people. I mean,
but I'm gonna blame Jimmy Stewart alone. It's it's it's him,
not just a banker, but a banker who, to his credit, bombed,
flew a bunch of bombing missions over Jermy and World
War two, and then, to less of his credit, was

(41:04):
an active general during the Korean War of the Air Force.
Don't don't get me started on Mickey's history. And Mickey
Mouse has killed a lot of people. But you know what,
Mickey doesn't get up in the sky to do it.
Mickey Mickey uses a knife. That's true. Um, yeah, so
Lionel Barrymore, Drew Barrymore is either father or grandfather I

(41:24):
forget right now, but stop it. Yeah, ten people alive.
I'm sick of this spot about it. He poses to
like help advertise this event where he's, you know, all
these famous people are giving speeches and he's reading the
pre embl He poses holding a giant quill and looking
at a piece apartment a parchment with the words freedom

(41:45):
under God will save our country. Again, this is we
don't think about what under God means so much, but
like this is a very specific political line because freedom
under God, they have made mean a very specific thing.
Right that you have the freedom to be poor. That's
what it means freedom under God to these guys is

(42:06):
you have the freedom to be poor, and you're not
free if there aren't poor people. That's it sounds like
you are not thankful for your freedom. Sir. Yeah, I
mean yeah, that's that's that's where all this get started.
So the broadcast featured choral performances of the America as
well as heritage, an epic poem composed by the former

(42:28):
leader of the US Chamber of Congress, General Matthew Ridgeway.
Yeah whites are great. Yeah, whites are great. Everybody knows
it's fun. The guy who takes over commanding American forces
in Korea. Uh, Lionel Barrymore's great uncle to Drew Barrymore.
Thank you, Sophie. Uh somewhere in there, um so, Matthew Ridgeway,

(42:50):
who's the commander of American forces in Korea, the guy
who replaces uh fucking famous right wing ship head Douglas MacArthur. Um,
he's also a right wing ship head. And he gives
a keynote address from Tokyo as part of this like
big fucking Fourth of July brew haha. And he tells
America that the Founding Fathers were motivated to do what
they did by their Christianity. Um, you know, don't read

(43:12):
Thomas Paine in the whole book he wrote about how
he doesn't like Christianity. They did it all for Jesus.
You know, that was the genesis of America. So this
is the kind of propaganda that sticks in people's hearts
and souls and it becomes central to their being the
genius here. And this is where Pew and the n
a M come into It. Was that wrangling beloved celebrities

(43:32):
like Jimmy Stewart and Bing Crosby Like that's they're They're like,
Fifield doesn't have that kind of power on his own,
but the n a M does. They've got all these
fucking in roads everywhere. And this, this whole gigantic event
solidifies the Fourth of July as the most Sacred Day
in the right wing religious calendar right Um and as
a site benefit to the corporations who sponsored the show,
the Christian libertarian ideology FI Field five Field expands upon

(43:56):
over the airwaves also gets to hit your ride into
people's souls. It becomes part of the Fourth of July
and part of the celebration of the Fourth of July,
and part of the lexicon we used to talk about.
Freedom gets infected with this thing that he's invented. One
of the things that I absolutely despise most more than
anything else, is finding out some horrific tradition is only

(44:17):
like like my dad could have not dealt with it,
you know, like like every time I go to a
baseball game and there's a fly by by ship, I'm like,
the war's over, man, Like I want to start a war.
Like it's that kind of fury at like we're past this, man,
Why we still? Why are we doing this? Why are
we doing this? We do this for a long time.

(44:38):
The information that you have just provided Jordan will make
it so he can't watch the hot dog eating contest?
Will you ever watch that hot dog eating contest? I
will watch? Yeah, I mean I've never watched one and
never will again, but certainly extra not now. And you
can tell Jamie Loft as I said that, Yeah, you
better fucking do it. Yeah, anyways, I will. So the

(45:01):
celebrations all of this ship we've talked about is the
days leading up to the fourth of July. Um. On
the fourth itself, the Committee to Proclaim Liberty coordinates Americans
in nearly every state to all ring their church bells
simultaneously for ten minutes. I don't like that. I don't
like No, that's great, it's great. In Los Angeles, the

(45:23):
city government uses the air raid sirens like to do this,
like they joined in with l A's air raids. This
is the first time Los Angeles air raid sirens are used.
Um scare people who didn't know. Yeah, why what did
you do this? There's a cold bar on what we
are fighting in Korea. Everyone has nukes now, um one.
That's one of the That's one of the things that

(45:44):
is like changed so much from growing up in small
town Middle America. Is like, when I was young, a
large group of people chanting the same thing was good.
Now that we're where we are, if a large group
of people chant the same thing, I'm running in the
opposite direction. I don't care if it's USA or like
fucking Sylvan Esso is great. I'm out of here because

(46:07):
there's Nazis there. Um. Sophie also just muted me for
a second. That's when everyone I knows she's trying to
steal my my my voice, and my free speech. I'm
being canceled by the radical left. So uh one if so.
The fucking Los Angeles uses their air raid sirens to

(46:28):
celebrate the Fourth of July, and a newspaper writer describes
it as in the most fascist line I have ever
heard in a newspaper, A scream as wild and proud
as that of the American Eagle. Yeah, you love to
hear it, Daniel, Can we get an air raid sirens
so everyone can hear a scream as loud and proud
as the American Eagle? I was a good air raid siren,

(46:57):
not Daniel, Chris, sorry, beautiful Chris. Just so, the whole
thing was a big hit. The Committee to Proclaim Liberty
organizers wrote in a later analysis that quote the very
words freedom under God have added to the vocabulary of
freedom a new term. It is a significant phrase to
people who know that everybody from Stalin on down is
paying lip service to freedom until its root meeting is

(47:18):
no longer a parent. The term freedom under God provides
a means of identifying and separating conditions which indicate pseudo
freedom or actual slavery from those of true freedom. So
if you think freedom is not having to worry about
going broke because you can't pay for healthcare, or if
you think freedom is not starving to death, you're a slave,

(47:39):
that's slavery. That's a really good point that I hadn't
thought of it in that way before, but since you
just said it, I'm convinced. Yeah, yess, I'm going to
go on to vote for Ronald Reagan in a couple
of days. It's it's really weird. It's really weird how
you convinced me of a point that you were in
opposition to. So things start to move very quickly after

(48:03):
this point. This is a huge hit. So in nineteen
fifty three, the US has its first ever National Prayer Breakfast. Um,
we can talk a lot about the family here, but
you know what, the theme of the first Prayer Breakfast
is contest almost basic government under God. There's that term
under God again. In nineteen fifty four, the Pledge of

(48:24):
Allegiance has the words under God added to it. Congress
adds in God we Trust to our stamps in nineteen
fifty four and to paper money in nineteen fifty five.
In nineteen fifty six, in God we Trust becomes the
first official motto of the United States. All of this
happens right after this Fourth July events. Fairly, I know,
it's really not fair. That's fucked up. Like if if

(48:46):
my dad didn't have to say under God, I should
retroactively not have to have said it when I said
the president, And if you and if someone suggests that
you shouldn't have to say your dad's gonna be pissed.
You know who else is going to be will be
furious the hot dog you didn't contest people. Oh yeah,

(49:06):
but they're always angry. No, who's gonna be piste is
the products and services that support this podcast because they're
such good deals that ley're losing money on every sale.
You know, they're really because of the deals that we're
giving you. It's really hurting them. So they don't they
do have that freedom, they have that freedom to be poor,
you know. Ah, and we're back. We are you and

(49:39):
I me us all here together talking. I just want
to say now that now that we're back, you're doing
a great job. Thank you, thank you, Yeah, thank you, Jordan,
thank you. I'm sorry for all the mean things I
said about you all fair to your face. That's that's
that's okay. I cried through it. Sophie says most of
stuff to me every morning. That's how I wake up

(49:59):
every And also, also, I'd like to apologize that I
kept telling you that Hoover won Pennsylvania during the you
you did say that about a hundred and thirty times
when Jordan was just cursing at me in an unbroken stream.
I don't know what came over me, but yeah, it's
good stuff. We'll just make that be the ad break
next time. So, Reverend James Fifield has accomplished something amazing

(50:22):
here right like under God is fucking everywhere, and now
we all know the horrible, fucked up ideological reasons behind
those words. In his write up on this whole fucking thing,
Ecker Toy Junior notes quote many of Fifield's letters, both
to Pew and Crane, ended with the request for funding.
Fifield continuously presented himself as selfless and living a simple life,
even though both his church and his Spiritual Mobilization were

(50:45):
perpetually in a state of need. As Fifield asked for
donations and monetary interventions to save himself financially, he and
his staff directed, very few funds are outreach initiatives to
the poor. They are spending it. Also were very We're
very we're the tip of the spear. I just want
to let you, but we need your money to continue
fighting the good, fights, pioneering it. Yeah. Yeah, but he's

(51:09):
just talking directly to rich guys now. Toy quotes from
a letter an employee of Spiritual Mobilization sent to Crane
of the n A. M. And nineteen fifty three quote.
Basic to your thought in this area is the concept
of vast majorities who cannot take care of themselves. They're
too foolish, too week two gullible, You and a few
others who really care feel the need to scurry around
and get government to force somebody else to do something

(51:31):
for these poor folk. Tolstoy made an observation that bears
directly on your little crusade. He said, people will do
everything for the poor except get off their backs. This
is the job for the government and libertarian thought to
destroy parasitism by pulling people off their victims back. For this,
we need a strong government, strong enough to do the
job so you might do good stuff that you might

(51:52):
that incoherent like we need the government. Yea, sir, sir,
one more time. What it's very funny. It's also funny
because Fifield himself is absolutely a parasite on the rich.
Like he's just sucking money away from them and they
get a lot for it early on, um, but it

(52:13):
starts it doesn't work as well after this big Fourth
of July thing that's kind of like his his high point. Yeah,
fifields high. He did his part. He did his part,
and it's not necessary after that. That's exactly right. Oh
my god, you are really getting into a tribe called quests,
aren't you sure? Come on now, come on, I didn't

(52:35):
catch that. Am I a monster? Am I a bad?
It just wasn't a good joke. I'm glad you said it,
Dan fair point being a hero once again. I have
the freedom of expression. Well, and we you also have
the freedom to go broke when you get cancer. We
have glorious freedom here, all of us, Um. So the

(52:57):
Reverend Fifield. One of the funny things about him is
that for all his left of capitalism and ship um,
every time he tries to do with capitalism, he's terrible
at it. He he launches a television show based on
his you know, ramblings that does not do well. People
do not like the referend five field hour um. But

(53:19):
um no that he doesn't try doing that, but he does,
like he has like this land Deally Trade's like a
couple of different business deals that all fall through that
he uses the money his foundations getting from rich guys
to try to fund right um. And they start to
get angry because they're like, well, he's just using our
money to try to get rich himself and he's bad
at it. And that's the real unforgivable. Two rich guys,
He's gonna say, you do not have the freedom to

(53:41):
be bad at getting rich. You can you can take
our money and get rich. You cannot take our money
and not get rich. Now, the good news is that
spiritual mobilization had already done the one thing that it
had meant to do, which is kick open the doors
of religious politicization and tie Christianity to the free market
and the hearts of millions of Americans. Just a few
years after that famous Fourth of July, his work had

(54:02):
gone so far beyond him that he had been marginalized.
His final straw with the Pew Brothers was a propaganda film,
which they considered weak. In nineteen fifty seven, five Field
quit Spiritual Mobilization altogether, and it drifted along on fumes
for a few years before it died out. The cause
it had birthed, however, sailed right ahead. Pew and Crane
found a new minister to invest in, one who was

(54:24):
much better with money. Do you want to guess what
this guy's name was? Uh? Yeah, not Joe, Like, it's
not quite I do love Marjoe, kind of love margin
because he's very charming. Now it's Billy Graham, Yes, of course,
Billy Graham. Baby. So we could have just gone back

(54:45):
in time and just slapped that guy in the face
and it would all been fine, and we'd have to
go back further. There's actually three boats. If I could
go back in time with a chain gun, there's three
boats I'm taken care of. You know that sounds like
that sounds like a Owen Brothers movie. Yeah, three boats
sunk in the middle of the ocean by a time
traveler with a gatling gun. Yeah, um so yeah. Billy Graham,

(55:10):
Um Pew and Crane decided to back him next after
they kind of abandoned Fifield. You know, he has to
leave spiritual mobilization. YadA, YadA. Had a very sad story
for the asshole. Here's Eckert Toy again. The mission was
to spread the free market conservative message through religion had
only just begun, and in many ways Graham further nuanced
its delivery. As Graham himself put it to J. Howard Pugh,

(55:30):
God has given me the ear of millions. He has
given to you large sums of money. It seems to
me that if we can put these two gifts of
God together, we could reach the world with a message
of Christ. Billy Graham much smarter guy. As a business proposition,
supporting Graham was a win win. Graham's ministry would flourish,
business interests would be advanced by a key opinion shape,
and unlike Fifield, Graham would not continually pest your Pew

(55:53):
about his dial or dire financial situation and the need
for more funds. Graham was a public figure who ingratiated
himself into the Paul Takes of America, promoting political involvement
at his revival meetings. He had preached from the steps
of the US Capital in nineteen fifty two, and he
also had a close relationship with President Eisenhower. So yes,

(56:14):
the fame famous communist agent Eisenhower be like communism. Well,
and that's also too because the very early on n A. M.
There's a lot of ties with the John Birch Society.
But that's not the best way to get your message
out to a lot of people. Billy Graham's a much
cuddlier figure. He's got a lot more people are gonna
like Billy Graham than than fucking Welch, you know well,

(56:34):
and his steaks are more real to most people, like
your eternal souls and bones he's got sure. Yeah. Yeah.
The first big collaboration between you and Graham was a
little publication. You might have heard about, Jordan, you might
you might know about this Christianity today, Oh I've heard
of Yeah, yeah, that's this is how it starts. And

(56:56):
my family was more focused on the family by the Dobsons,
but christian it's it's a different magazine now. But It
was originally number one, It was originally just for ministers,
and it was founded by Graham and Pew to solidify
ties between the right wing and organized Christianity. Pew explained, quote,
Christianity today is a magazine conservative and its theology and

(57:17):
beamed directly to the ministerial mind mind. Those of us
who have given years of study to this problem realized
that it is just as important to have conservatism and
theology as it is to have conservatism and economics and
sociology if America is to remain great. And that was true.
It was they were. They just nailed it. You know.
Sometimes sometimes a lot of people are like, ah, they're

(57:40):
bad people. But I'm telling you they nailed it. And
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Ministers only
dot Com, their dating website that they had underneath it,
that really nailed it. Yeah, Minister Ministers dot Com and
Priest Fuck, which was its slightly slightly trashy or cousin.
That was their equivalent of the then Bear Workshop, the

(58:02):
Catholic funka Bear Workshop. We don't need to get into that.
That's going to get unsettling quickly. So from the beginning,
both Graham and especially Pew, took pains to ensure they
could not be tied too closely to the magazine. They
didn't want it to be seen as an overtly political look,
even though it was. Despite claiming a hands off attitude,
Peugh constantly complained about the editorial direction chosen by the

(58:22):
man they picked to run the magazine, dr Bell. In
ninety eight, Pew hired the Opinion Research Bureau to conduct
one of the first Pew surveys, although it was not
yet called a Pew Survey, carried out on the readers
of Christianity Today. It found that nearly thirty percent of
ministers still described themselves as something besides fundamentalist or conservatives.
Fourteen percent even called themselves liberal. Now, this might be

(58:44):
due to the fact that Christianity Today was blatant right
wing propaganda, so only a few progressive to Reddit. Billy
Graham probably knew this, but he was savvy enough to
see how this data could be used to peer pressure
more ministers into moving right. He wrote, I believe this
poll should be widely publicized. So many of our ministers
are liberal only because they think it's the popular thing

(59:04):
to be. If they could understand that the vast majority
of American clergy are conservative, it could swing hundreds of
others over to the conservative position. It would also probably
have a great impact on our seminaries if properly distributed.
This isn't the point, but again, your character fell apart.
I know, I'm not I'm starting, but it just went
just I mean, I just kept thinking, like what if

(59:28):
the DARE program was more oriented around Christian nationalism, Like
if all of these pastors had peer pressured each other
into doing drugs, I feel like we would have all
had a little bit in an incredible place as a
country is being discovered around this time around back, Christianity

(59:52):
today is literally just sheets of acid inside of a magazine. UM.
And obviously today it is a different thing. In fact,
Christianity today is such a centrist magazine now that Donald
Trump called it far left. UM. Obviously getting good data overall,
and where priests, ministers, and reverends are politically as complicated,

(01:00:13):
it's not an easy group to just certifice, like survey
all of them. But it's worth noting that while roughly
eighteen percent of Americans are white Evangelical Protestants, they make
more up more than forty three percent of what Yes
Pew Research calls staunch conservatives and thirty nine percent of
so called mainstream Republicans. So there's a debate to be
had as to like whether or not it's broadened or

(01:00:34):
narrowed the electoral kind of possibilities of conservatives in America.
But as a result of everything we've talked about this week,
the center of the of organized conservatism in the US
are white evangelical Protestants, the most reliable voting block, the
most organized one. And it all started here. Good time

(01:00:57):
refuse rewrite a story and make it less sad, make
it fun. Um Yeah, yeah, if I get a time machine,
I can do the fun version of this story. That's
you know that that makes sense. I mean it is.
There's a lot of people not wanting to. Uh. I

(01:01:20):
just I just hate that when stuff isn't old enough.
It's kind of a period. Yeah. I can't. I can't
like walk over to my grandfather and be like, hey,
you remember when things weren't ship Like that's not fair,
Like I should have to go way further back in time.
This thing seems so trenched. Yeah, but it's not like

(01:01:43):
from the heartening thing about that is is because it's
not that old. We could we could do different stuff,
like we could make it be different as a country.
We had at a certain point of time, Christianity wasn't
that old, and now it's fucking old, you know what
I mean. But as Robert's also, what could happen Robert
to your point though, to like, you know, if your

(01:02:06):
story has taught me anything. If we're going to shift
this back, we need billionaires and we need charismatic preachers.
Those are things that I don't think we have access to.
I will accept being both at any time, as long
as everybody else takes care of I know. George Soros
listens to the podcast. George, Buddy, we got an idea.

(01:02:28):
We're gonna we're gonna recontextualize what what holiday can we
take over day? Yeah, we're gonna. We're gonna We're gonna
your Riper Day is not our take over. We're gonna
make Memorial Day about I was gonna say, well, that's
what these guys who do We're gonna Okay, sorry, I

(01:02:50):
thought that was President saying. I thought we were branching
out if we made Memorial Day the center of celebration.
Breaking into the House of the Alex Asar the former
Health and Human Services secretary, and taking all the ill
gotten gains he made from jacking up the price of insulin.
That could be the new the memorial to the dead
of the insulin crisis. All we need is a couple

(01:03:10):
hundred million dollars to really get this going, and we
can do a deep fake of Bing Crosby and uh
and Jimmy Stewart, we can recontext. Listen, Jimmy, both of
us were kind of milk toast before you say Bing
Crosby a man. I don't see why we shouldn't go
to Aleck's alex He's os house and and take his

(01:03:33):
and take his cars and his nice golden things. I'm
James Stewart. Yeah, that was a character than I do
my best there. I can't. I can't well, I'm Bing Crosby,
and I think you should go to alex as Our's
house and take his car. Every every time I take
about doing a car, every time I think about doing

(01:03:57):
a Bing Crosby, it transfers in to Yogi Bear instantaneously,
just that constant like hey, we're gonna hey booboo. Like
it's so fast. There's not a lot of the Sackler
family toad into the middle of the ocean on a
barge basket. Hey, boo boo, we gotta take down the state. Yeah,

(01:04:23):
Bing Crosby and fucking uh the bear. Goddamn it, I
spaced on the name. I ruined the joke. Now it's over. Well,
now you're great. You guys got any pluggables to plug?
I just you know, we have our our podcast to
Knowledge Fight dot com. Where where that lives? Yeah, I
just want to aggressively promote my book on this one.

(01:04:45):
It's called the Quiet Part Loud. You can download it
for free at the Quiet Part anything you want, just
read it or don't. I really just put it out
there and it was great. Anyways, it's the Quiet Part
Loud dot Com. It's a passive aggressive club. Just want
to aggressively promote my book. There you go and see.

(01:05:08):
That's how you do it. That's how you plug your learning.
I'm trying. You're learning. Soon you'll be as good a
pitchman as the reincarnated digital ghosts of Jimmy Stewart and
Bing Crossby. I'm just looking for them level of cells. Yeah, which,
by the way, soon coming soon. Lionel Barrymore comes back

(01:05:29):
and tell people to rob Bank of America locations. Mickey Mouse,
Mickey Mouse and fighting in the mountains to make a
Zapatista like colony in Appalachia. I'll be back over the

(01:05:50):
war is fish. Um. We could do it, everybody, we
could do it. All we need is a couple hundred
million dollars. So now I'm now, I'm in my head
reading of a war letters in Mickey Mouse's voice, and
the caravan hanging in. An addition to the government troops,
ri sl my love for you, burn says every night.

(01:06:16):
All right, well that should get us some fun fan art. Okay,
that's the episode. Have a good week, everybody,