Believe it or not there is now an American movement to return to monarchy. On Fiat Lux Redux, Tuesday, October 29 at 9:00 am, Dr. Bradley Onishi explains how this movement is connected to Project 2025 and the 2024 presidential election.
In this important 2024 Berkeley Lecture on Religious Tolerance that took place on October 9, 2024, on the UC Berkeley campus, Onishi describes how Christian nationalist theologians and reactionary Catholic leaders long to replace the American Constitution, and the democracy it holds in place, with a post-constitutional Caesar who will rule without the burden of checks and balances or sharing power in any meaningful way.
Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, and co-host of the immensely popular Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast and author of the 2023 book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next. He founded Axis Mundi Media in 2023 in order to provide a platform for research-based podcasts focused on safeguarding democracy from the threats of extremism and authoritarianism. His writing has appeared at the New York Times, Politico, Rolling Stone, NBC News, HuffPost, and many other outlets.
Onishi received graduate degrees from UCSB, Oxford University, and L’institut catholique de Paris. As a scholar of religion, he teaches and researches Christian nationalism, the history of Evangelicalism, race and racism in American religion, gender, sex, masculinity, and secularism and secularity. He has taught at UCSB, the Graduate Theological Union at UC Berkeley, Rhodes College, Skidmore College, Central Michigan University, Cal Lutheran University, and is currently at the University of San Francisco.
Fiat Lux Redux presents previously aired lectures, conversations, and podcasts originating on the campus of UC Berkeley every other Tuesday from 9am to 9:30am. These often-lengthy original programs have been edited to a 30-minute format by experienced KALX producers. The show’s name, Latin for “Let there be light”, is a reference to the University of California’s motto, which is also Fiat Lux. The show’s goal is to provide listeners with a window into the intellectual and cultural life of UC Berkeley and to showcase the wide range of subjects and diversity of thought and ideas that are present at UC Berkeley.
If you have questions or comments about Fiat Lux Redux, contact Lisa Katovich at lisa.katovich@gmail.com.
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