By Andy Hale
What happens when a religious tradition becomes so entangled with political power that it begins abandoning the very convictions it claims to defend? This week on the CBF Podcast Conversation, Dr. Robert P. Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), returns to discuss his new book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy. Building on his previous works examining the history and influence of white Christianity in America, Jones offers a provocative exploration of the relationship between Christian identity, political allegiance and the erosion of democratic commitments. But Backslide is more than a political diagnosis. Drawing on history, social science, theology and his own journey of faith, Jones asks whether American Christianity has experienced something deeper than political compromise: a spiritual crisis that demands honest examination, confession and the possibility of repentance.
Our conversation explores the theological questions beneath America’s political divisions. Jones challenges the ways Christians sometimes approach Scripture as though their interpretations are immune from cultural assumptions, political commitments and personal prejudices. We discuss his provocative argument that empathy can serve as a God-given guardrail against harmful interpretations of faith, along with the temptation to dismiss troubling expressions of Christianity by insisting that their adherents aren’t real Christians. We also wrestle with one of the book’s most difficult tensions: When does reconciliation require remaining in relationship across profound disagreement, and when does faithfulness demand confronting divisions that cannot simply be resolved through civility or compromise? These questions invite Christians to consider not only what they believe, but how their beliefs are formed, whose suffering they recognize and what happens when political loyalty begins shaping their understanding of the gospel.
Despite its sobering assessment of American Christianity and democracy, Backslide ultimately moves toward the possibility of redemption. Jones introduces the idea of becoming a good ancestor, asking readers to imagine how future generations might evaluate the choices we make today. Rather than allowing fear, outrage or despair to determine our response, he invites us to consider what genuine repentance, courageous action and a more faithful public witness might require. Our conversation is an invitation to examine the relationship between faith and political identity, confront the uncomfortable histories we have inherited, and imagine what it might mean to reclaim a Christianity capable of contributing to a more just and hopeful future. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about the choices facing American Christians and the kind of ancestors we are becoming.
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Andy Hale is the creator and host of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Podcast. Hale is the Associate Executive Coordinator of CBF North Carolina. He’s also served as CBF’s Church Start Specialist, the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Clayton, and the senior pastor of University Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. Follow on Twitter @haleandy.