The Revealer

What is the history of evangelical queer activism? William Stell, author of Born Again Queer: A History of Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity, joins us to discuss what gay evangelical activists set out to achieve. Who were some of the most prominent evangelical gay activists and what were their goals? How did evangelical leaders and institutions respond to this activism? What led to the decline in evangelical gay activism such that many people today cannot imagine it was ever a viable movement? And, what is the state of evangelical queer activism right now?

How is vaccine hesitancy in America like a religion? Kira Ganga Kieffer, author of Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America, joins us to discuss connections between vaccine hesitancy and religion. What factors contributed to large numbers of people expressing skepticism at pharmaceutical companies and medical authorities? What led to an alliance between vaccine-hesitant Americans and religious conservatives? How have predominantly Black churches tried to promote vaccines as safe? Why did the Covid vaccine become such a prominent religious freedom issue? And, what needs to happen so that vaccine-preventable diseases are not a danger in the United States?

What is contributing to the number of Puerto Ricans converting to Islam, and what is the longer history of Latino Muslims in the Americas? Ken Chitwood, author of Borícua Muslims: Everyday Cosmopolitanism among Puerto Rican Converts to Islam, joins us to discuss Puerto Rican Muslims. How do Puerto Rican Muslims navigate life as a religious minority in Puerto Rico and throughout the United States? How do they approach being a racial and ethnic minority in predominantly Muslim spaces? How do they blend their Puerto Rican ethnic identity with their Muslim religious identity? And, what do Puerto Rican converts to Islam reveal about religion in the Americas today?

What was life like in Gaza before October 7, 2023, and what has it been like since the ceasefire at the end of 2025? Gilbert Achcar, author of Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective, joins us to discuss Gaza today and historically. How do the Palestinians in Gaza view Hamas? Why did it become politically complicated to call the mass death and destruction in Gaza a genocide? How does the situation in Gaza have global implications? And, what needs to happen in Gaza, in Israel, and around the world to greatly improve life for Palestinians today?

Why do so many white evangelicals, the religious group with the highest gun ownership rates in the country, believe they have a “God-given right” to possess firearms? William Kole, author of In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms, joins us to discuss evangelicals’ fixation with gun access. Why don’t mass shootings, even in schools, provoke more than “thoughts and prayers” from most evangelicals? How do ideas about race and gender contribute to white evangelicals’ insistence on having unrestricted access to firearms? And, what can we do to address America’s gun problems and get enough evangelicals on board so that it will have a real political impact?