In the first hour we get into spiritual narcissism, not as an abstract idea but as something that shapes real communities and does real damage. We talk about MAGA as a kind of cult identity, Trump as a case study in personality-driven power, and how prosperity gospel culture helped prepare the ground for all of it. We also get into religious trauma and why, at least for me, institutional Christianity isn’t something that can be fixed from the inside. And we don’t let progressive spaces off the hook either. The same patterns show up there too, just with different language.

In the second hour we stop diagnosing and start asking what now. Becky talks about why she’s still hopeful in spite of everything, and we get into the limits of satire in a culture that already feels like parody. We talk about the collapse of celebrity-driven leadership, the exhaustion people feel with national politics, and why real change may be happening in smaller, local, less visible ways. It’s less about movements and more about relationships. Less about influence and more about staying human.

LINKS

Gaslighting For God

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In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer is a production of the George Bailey Morality in Public Life Fellowship. It is hosted by Frank Schaeffer, author of The Gospel of Zip.

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