News with Nuance: Feb. 28, 2025

Your Friday dose of News with Nuance: the week's biggest stories, unpacked + more ..

Hi Readers,

Well, I almost broke my computer preparing this post. I currently have likely more than a hundred tabs open, which is like a terrifying look inside my brain right now.

I’ve gotten the spinning circle of death a few times on my computer screen, during which I occupied myself by maniacally writing down quotes from George Orwell, if for no other reason than posterity.

War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Truth

Remember to trust first the evidence of your own eyes, right in front of you.

As we watch the Trump Administration’s Christian nationalists and religious fundamentalists etch their cruel, exclusionary, and hate-filled policies into law - those of us who’ve been warning of this for years find ourselves waking each day to a grim sense of resignation, papering over an embittered and somehow undying hope.

As I prepare for the launch of my new book, I’ve been fielding more calls and media requests, which is great. Sometimes I overbook myself. And sometimes, like today, I find myself on a call with journalists from around the country, ostensibly to share advice and ideas about how to cover Christian Nationalism. It’s me and two men on a panel. I’m the only one who is theologically trained, who has studied and written about Christian Nationalism in books and newspapers extensively. But they won’t let me talk, so I have to force myself into the conversation, even as one of them makes horrific statements about abortion and women’s bodies. It’s a terrible feeling.

They show slides from a right-wing Christian media organization founded in part to defend the practice of excluding women from pastoral ministry and leadership roles in the church, in support of defending a hierarchy with men at the top: in families and in the workplace. Then, the video call is over suddenly, and I’m alone. I take a walk and get a phone call from a colleague. A parishioner is dying. Later, I pray with the family. I breathe and try to pray myself.

When I walk, desperately seeking some kind of clarity, I see kids running home from school. I imagine teaching elementary school gym. Remember writing about sports. Remember Vacation Bible School and sermon series and worship attendance metrics.

I think of how much simpler life used to seem to be.

I think about saying I can’t write this newsletter tonight. My work is more and more relevant by the day, but I’m scared of the two things that always scare me: 1) that those who know its power will act out against me in violent ways and 2) that those who don’t know its power (mostly in media and in the church) will ignore it and dismiss it at the very same time I’m facing threats for the truth I’m desperately proclaiming.

Of course I realized that both of those two ideas miss something really important: the nearly 5,000 of you who have chosen to subscribe to this newsletter. From all different sorts of perspectives and experiences, from different backgrounds, faiths, professions, ages, ethnicities, countries: you’ve reminded me that there are so very many of us who want to find the truth, and to push back both against the hatred and dehumanization of fundamentalism and authoritarianism - and also the lie that what we see before our very eyes isn’t happening, or somehow won’t touch us because of our money or our privilege or our education or our bubbles. First they came for …

My realization is that while I’m so very tired of being talked down to, or having my own work and expertise explained to me and for me - that doesn’t actually mean it’s time to turn away from the work. Instead, I want to take my own advice and lean into the places where it matters: where I am heard and where we can share together in community and support and conversation. Like right here.

Let’s get to the news … with nuance (buckle up - this is a big one)

The Headline: Lost cities of the Amazon: how science is revealing ancient garden towns hidden in the rainforest

A Tequinho geoglyph in Brazil’s Acre state. These ritual centres had straight roads running for 50 miles through the forest, linking communities. The 16th-century friar Gaspar de Carvajal describes Spanish explorers being frightened by such grandiose engineering work

Photo by Diego Gurgel, The Guardian

I loved this story about the ways that scientists and researchers are finding hidden towns and even engineering work in what’s today the jungle of the Amazon rainforest. I loved the story because it exposes our audacity and hubris: so often we (especially white European Americans) think of ourselves as the first, the best, the only. We claim in so many ways to have “conquered” the “New World,” and we erect monuments and idols to ourselves (a la Trump’s recent image of a golden statue) … we assume we know everything about what has been before.

But we are wrong. The world, the universe, is an ancient place. To know our history is to understand the minuscule size of our existence. We approach the land and the soil as though it exists to serve us. But maybe it is the other way around.

The Quote:

For decades, archaeologists have believed that human occupation of the Amazon basin was far older, vaster and more urbanised than the textbooks suggested. But hard evidence was scant, artefacts were scattered, and there were too few people on the ground to fully assess the magnitude of what lay cached in the dense forest. Then they found a shortcut – lidar.

Lidar (light detection and ranging) scans use pulses of light to create a 3D map of terrain in a fraction of the time it would take to survey from the ground. One of those making the most of the technology is a team of experts led by Vinícius Peripato, an analyst with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research.

By combining lidar datasets, they are discovering traces of a lost world: evidence that between 10,000 and 24,000 pre-Columbian “earthworks” exist across the Amazon River basin.

While the remote scans still need to be verified on-site, Peripato says the findings so far make a compelling case that ancestral Amazonians systematically built up large urban centres and engineered the habitat to their needs and appetites with composted gardens, fisheries, and forests groomed into orchards in complex, sustainably run systems – which could offer lessons for modern cities.

Story by Mac Margolis, The Guardian

The Headline: Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong.

This right here is a hugely important story, with the power to shed light on why so many of our narratives about the 2024 Presidential Election were wrong - and why so many Democrats still seem unable to grasp American voter behavior or attitudes.

Unfortunately, like so many hugely important stories, it seems like the news cycle buzzed right past this one.

So let’s dive in to it here. You can read it in the piece, but basically this story explains that journalists and researchers have - for a long time - over-relied on economic indicators and data that had very little relationship to the economic realities of most Americans’ lives. It was as though journalists, academics, and politicians were speaking a wholly different language than most Americans (and this is still happening!)

Something else super important that this illustrates for us is that we ought to be really cautious about the ongoing overreliance on numerical and statistical data when it comes to understanding this current cultural moment.

I get really frustrated sometimes when people read my books, which are full of qualitative data, meticulously researched interviews, narratives, experiences - and then they’ll say: OK, but do you have data to support your conclusions? (And yes … I do!) But also … this privileging of statistical data betrays a certain level of sexism in our current cultural and media discourse (because we generally consider men to have a better grasp of “hard data” while women understand “soft data” like relationships, emotions, and communication - in a better way). But as this article demonstrates, neither form of data is foolproof! In fact, statistics and numbers and charts are every bit as likely to be manipulated and used for propaganda purposes as stories, emotions, and qualitative data! In fact - they might even be more likely to be manipulated and used for propaganda purposes.

All you have to do is look at Elon Musk and DOGE to conclude that - hey - maybe turning over all of our important cultural and economic decision-making to relationally dysfunctional and inept software engineers (speaking generally here, my dear software engineers reading this!) was not a great idea! Maybe we should not have abandoned our teaching of the humanities! Maybe it’s all important: and we need to help people think critically about all of it!

The Quote:

The bottom line is that, for 20 years or more, including the months prior to the election, voter perception was more reflective of reality than the incumbent statistics. Our research revealed that the data collected by the various agencies is largely accurate. Moreover, the people staffing those agencies are talented and well-intentioned. But the filters used to compute the headline statistics are flawed. As a result, they paint a much rosier picture of reality than bears out on the ground.

Take, as a particularly egregious example, what is perhaps the most widely reported economic indicator: unemployment. Known to experts as the U-3, the number misleads in several ways. First, it counts as employed the millions of people who are unwillingly under-employed — that is, people who, for example, work only a few hours each week while searching for a full-time job. Second, it does not take into account many Americans who have been so discouraged that they are no longer trying to get a job. Finally, the prevailing statistic does not account for the meagerness of any individual’s income. Thus you could be homeless on the streets, making an intermittent income and functionally incapable of keeping your family fed, and the government would still count you as “employed.”

I don’t believe those who went into this past election taking pride in the unemployment numbers understood that the near-record low unemployment figures — the figure was a mere 4.2 percent in November — counted homeless people doing occasional work as “employed.” But the implications are powerful. If you filter the statistic to include as unemployed people who can’t find anything but part-time work or who make a poverty wage (roughly $25,000), the percentage is actually 23.7 percent. In other words, nearly one of every four workers is functionally unemployed in America today — hardly something to celebrate.

Column by Eugene Ludwig, POLITICO

A few more must-read stories since our last News with Nuance …

This OPM data scientist was making government more efficient. Trump is firing people like him.

The Job Market Is Frozen

Republicans’ plans for Medicaid have a political problem

Iranian Christians feared death in Iran. Then the US deported them to Panama.

Kansas is in the middle of an ‘unprecedented’ tuberculosis outbreak.

A big pile of money wasn’t enough for Democrats to hold the Minnesota House

Race and place can contribute to shorter lives, research suggests

Minnesota schools prepare for the worst: ICE agents on campus

Auschwitz survivors warn of rising hatred on the 80th anniversary of the death camp's liberation

The Topline: Minnesota’s biggest spenders on lobbying

Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz

Church of murdered pastor supports execution. Another clergyman says it should be stopped

‘The closest to hell you can get’: What life is like inside a prison

And then there’s this - regarding recent religious adherence data:

Related: ‘Exvangelical’ warns: Christian nationalism a looming threat

Disciples of White Jesus: Tracking down those who are weaponizing radicalization and a masculine identity that’s dangerous for men and boys

Every edition in this section of the newsletter, we’ll look at stories from around the U.S. and the world that lift up the ways in which this trend of hawking radicalization and violence to young white men and boys (often in the guise of Christianity and conservative politics - with dog whistles of white supremacy) is leading to anger, chaos, disenfranchisement, and fear for everyone. You’ll notice that many of the storylines and main characters here overlap with my previous research (and this newsletter’s previous focus) on Christian Nationalism. You’ll also read stories of the impacts of this kind of messaging on ordinary men and boys who can’t measure up to this fabricated ideal: especially financially, in a global economy that’s emphasizing massive inequality and greed.

But don’t worry - because after this section - we’ll focus on stories of hope, ways masculine identity for young men and boys is being found in compassion, care, diversity, and - when it comes to Christianity - a story closer to the gospel of Jesus himself, rooted in truth, kindness, justice, and love.

This Edition:

Yeah, this is a long one …

From Rachel Leingang over at the Guardian, a few candidates for Disciples of White Jesus, in OK Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, who toes the line between grift and fundamentalism, in the process of destroying the First Amendment of the Constitution: ‘Testing ground for Project 2025’: behind Oklahoma’s rightwing push to erode the line between church and state

(PS: shout-outs in that story to Oklahoma’s own Prof. Sam Perry (one of my favorite people to collaborate with in this space, whose research helped me a great deal in writing Red State Christians) and Oklahoma Pastor

Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck

, who reminds us that it’s often women clergy and non-white clergy and LGBTQ clergy who are the most courageous when it comes to fighting back against CN and its abuse of the Gospel!)

Let’s also remember that Disciples of White Jesus are closely linked by money - and using questionable ideology, tying it to religion, and then making money off of it:

With RFK Jr. in charge, supplement makers see chance to cash in

(If you haven’t already listened to Season 2 of The Dream podcast, Jane Marie breaks down the grift behind the supplement industry and its ties to right-wing, Christian politics in a really helpful way)

Meanwhile, the separating of people into hierarchies is beginning, especially when it comes to immigrants and migrants:

DHS will require migrants without legal status to register with U.S. government

And at the top of the hierarchy (not Jesus) but these guys:

Read this article but pay closest attention to these photos from CPAC, and the prevalence of diamond-encrusted cross necklaces, and the strict homogenization of appearance for women in this space …

Elon Musk talks death threats, DOGE directives at Trump's first Cabinet meeting

Meanwhile, over at the once-venerable Washington Post:

Related: The Birth of a Monster: America's Oligarchs and What They Want

(I was so glad to appear again this week on

Jared Yates Sexton

’s podcast)

From

Sarah Stankorb

, what this ruling class of men has in mind for women:

The Christian Nationalist Plot to Disenfranchise Women Voters

And hey, part of the problem with the lack of reporting in traditional media on these issues:

Over at the SBC, home to many original Disciples of White Jesus:

Abuse Database Is No Longer a Priority for Southern Baptist Leaders

And maybe a name you haven’t heard, but certainly a DWJ:

ProPublica on Peter Marocco: Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy

Then there’s this truth about today’s legacy media orgs:

It’s so true it hurts.

When we shift to focus on what’s happening among ordinary men and boys, we can’t ignore the role of COVID, though … and the ways in which omnipresent digital media and influencers gained huge power in the everyday lives of young men and boys:

How COVID Pushed a Generation of Young People to the Right

And here’s a really tragic case, because violence is always a part of this movement:

First Came the Warning Signs. Then a Teen Opened Fire on a Nashville School.

When we’re thinking about imagery and propaganda, you might have noticed an uptick in crusader imagery and even medieval costumes, among young men and boys who are consuming right-wing Christian media.

Diana Butler Bass

breaks down in this thread what that has meant in America’s past:

And don’t miss the international/foreign affairs stories/narratives - and how they play in to all of this, from Foreign Affairs:

How Great-Power Rivalry Hurts Ordinary Americans

From one of my favorite local columnists, Myron Medcalf, an explanation of what happened (truly) in the corporate takeover of racial justice uprisings after the murder of George Floyd, and why it was so quick to comply with Trump’s administration:

DEI backlash is no surprise

Meanwhile, Katherine Stewart spares no words in sharing the frustrations, exasperations, and desperation of those of us who tried to warn of what was coming, for the New York Times:

Now Will We Believe What Is Happening Right in Front of Us?

This article sent some chills up my spine. Red State Christians begins at this pastor’s church, on Fourth of July weekend. Now he’s leading HUD for Trump’s Cabinet.

And vestiges of a different sort of a Christian political witness are closing up shop in DC: Interfaith climate group shuts national office amid Trump environmental attacks

(Do we think he’s the only one with posts like these?)

DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist Posts

Related:

And according to J.D. Vance, true Christian living is about (not?) loving your neighbor:

Safe to say he also hasn’t read his Hebrew Bible passages about “the stranger” and “the alien”? Good Samaritan? JD? Bueller????

Project 2025 is the very heart of this Administration (heart being used ironically, of course): Memos to Federal Employees Were Written By People With Ties to Project 2025, Metadata Shows

There is nothing new under the sun, and the cruelty is indeed the point:

“Raging Misogynist” Now Federal Government H.R.’s Top Lawyer

From one of the few courageous columnists still employed by a legacy major newspaper (I’m a lowly contractor), Will Bunch at the Philly Inquirer:

Hiding in the attic in Donald Trump's America

Listen to the ones who know better than we ever could:

From Poland to Texas:

Campus plastered with stickers promoting white supremacist group

And from

Robert P. Jones

:

Senators Clear the Way for Hegseth's Christian Nationalist Crusade

You knew we couldn’t write this segment without a Pete Hegseth mention …

Churches who thought this was all “too political” and “too divisive” to mention on Sunday mornings had better realize that their sanctuaries are under attack:

Trump Administration Throws Out Policies Limiting Migrant Arrests at Sensitive Spots Like Churches

But too often, we keep rolling out the red carpet to ensure access to power:

TRUMP ATTENDS ‘NONPARTISAN’ SERVICE AT CHURCH HE ONCE USED FOR PHOTO-OP

Meanwhile in South Dakota, the erosion of the separation of Church + State continues in public schools (which are notoriously underfunded with teachers who can’t afford their rent): Bill requiring SD public schools to display and teach Ten Commandments passes committee

And then this poem:

Perhaps it is the poets and not the cable news pundits who are going to actually save democracy …

About Project 2025 not being on Trump’s radar?

Senate confirms Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget

ICYMI, I wrote about Musk’s attacks on Lutheran immigration services (and the need for anti-nationalist Christians to be clear about our own raison d’être)

Denker: And now Elon Musk is coming after Lutheran refugee organizations

And a neat little reminder about why I (sadly) no longer subscribe to the L.A. Times after years of faithful readership:

LA Times owner boosts RFK Jr. online, as writer says paper cut his critique

And this guy really just wanted to be mentioned in DWJ, with his claims about “marrying them while they’re still too young to know better” …

Houston-area pastor under fire after controversial sermon resurfaces on TikTok

Finally, beware the so-called “moderates” who just want to make you comfortable enough with Trump’s authoritarianism and Christian Nationalist attacks on immigrants … (wolves in sheeps’ clothing and all that)

Hopeful stories of a more excellent way forward for boys, men, and all of us:

ICYMI, Disciples of White Jesus comes out in less than a month (hiding behind my hands but also really looking forward to getting these stories out into the world!)

You can come hear about it in-person (and meet some other great people in your community) at any of these upcoming events, in Minnesota, New York City, Orange County (CA) - and more to come! Let me know if you’d like an official invite to the local Minneapolis launch on March 25.

Also a reminder that the Red State Christians audiobook is NOW AVAILABLE!

Moving on to more general stories of hope …

Before he was hospitalized with pneumonia (and now in critical condition), Pope Francis summoned his strength to refute the afore-mentioned J.D. Vance travesty idea of “love of neighbor,” and remind us of God’s expansive love and grace, in this note to American Catholic clergy leaders:

This part RIGHT HERE: