Secretary of Defense (not calling it "War" unless Congress changes it) called a meeting of the U.S. military's top generals from around the world. In it, he spoke of what he called the "warrior ethos." Far from building on the military's vaunted traditions of honor and service, Hegseth harped on how the military became "woke" and how he didn't want any more "beardos" (men with beards) in the military. He had a lot to say about the size of people's waists and physical fitness.

As usual, the hosts--Diana, Kristin, and Jemar--find historical and religious connections. We talk about the creation of the white evangelical vision of masculinity, the reversal of the mythology of Robert E. Lee as the "reluctant warrior," and Christian masculinity in pop culture.

We also talk about the latest mass shooting at a Church of Latter-Day Saints congregation in Michigan.

Lot's of bad news, but also some reasons to celebrate that we talk about to round out the show.

On this episode of The Convocation Unscripted, we discuss the big question of how history can help us in the present. The task of historians is to identify patterns in the past in order to fashion a coherent narrative, which tells a story about how we got to the present. Unavoidably, this narrative is constructed in the context of problems in the present and concerns about the future. This week, Diana told us what she had learned about managing violence and conflict from her recent time with activists who were involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland and what might be helpful for our own contemporary troubles. We also discussed the dangers of focusing on “depolarization” as the primary problem, which can float free of any moral commitments, rather than substantive values like protecting democracy.

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On this episode, the Convocation Unscripted team talks about the importance of truth and reality amid the whirlwind of debates about political violence in the aftermath of the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk and the subsequent attacks on free speech, such as the suspension of Jimmie Kimmel by ABC. While acknowledging that all political violence is abhorrent, we also look at the facts about the actual shape of political violence in the US; the government’s own official reports—recently purged from the Department of Justice website—found that “since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.” We also discuss the kind of response to Kirk’s assassination that we wish we would have heard from the president and other Republican leaders—one that focused on condemning all political violence and calling us to our better selves rather than fanning the flames and using it as an opportunity to infringe on the Constitutional right to free speech. As Christians, there has never been a time when we need a theology that refuses to separate people into good and evil categories, one that foregrounds grace and love for enemies. We close with an urgent message for all to stand up against political violence and in defense of free speech, while we still have the freedom to do so.