Background Briefing: December 24, 2024
The Contrast Between the Prophet of the Poor and Trump’s Billionaires Who Own the White House and Have the Supreme Court
We begin on this Christmas Eve with the glaring contrast between the life and lessons of the prophet who ministered to the poor and rose up the downtrodden, whose birth over two thousand years ago is being celebrated by Christians, and the emergence of a ruling clique of billionaires taking over the executive branch after having captured the judicial branch having promised the 76 million who voted for them they would be champions of working Americans. Joining us is the Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair with Reverend William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and the Co-Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice. Having spent the past two decades organizing amongst the poor in the United States, she is the author of Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor and We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign, co-authored with Reverend William Barber.
The Troubling Religious Beliefs of Trump’s Team of “Christian” Zionists
Then we look into why the religious beliefs of some of Trump’s top picks for Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor and Ambassador to Israel are so troubling since these so-called “Christians” are infused with sick theology of Christian Zionism which eagerly anticipates the end of the world in a cult of death that uses the Israeli Right to bring about Armageddon so that they can be raptured up to heaven while the rest of us burn in hell. Joining us is Diane Winston, who spent over a decade as a journalist and is now a professor of journalism and Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California. She is the author or editor of several books, including Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation and Diversity in the Global City and her latest book is Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision.