On this week's episode, we unpack Lillia Ellis's Christian Century piece "Spectator Violence is a Form of Moral Injury," sparked by the recent attempted assassination at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Why does an NPR poll show 30% of Americans now believe political violence may be necessary? What does Simone Weil's writing on the Iliad tell us about how violence dehumanizes the oppressor as much as the victim? And why is "the boy who cried wolf" energy creeping into how we react to attempts on people's lives?

From there, the conversation pulls in Hannah Arendt, Steve Bannon's "flood the zone" strategy, Joseph Goebbels quotes that hit way too close to home, and James Baldwin's most disturbing short story (you've been warned). Matt and Melissa dig into how authoritarianism doesn't need you to believe the lie, it just needs you too exhausted to look for the truth. Plus why education and critical thinking are the actual antidote, why you should always read the graffiti when you travel, and dispatches from Puerto Rico's far-right government gutting their universities.

It wraps with the most unhinged customer service email Melissa has ever received about her y'allainright.co store, involving dozens of postcards, a stranger's mailbox, and one very confused recipient who may or may not be in the Epstein files.

Mentioned in this episode: Lillia Ellis (Christian Century), Simone Weil's "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force," Hannah Arendt, Lillian Smith, James Baldwin's "Going to Meet the Man," Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here, and Daniel Immerwahr's How to Hide an Empire.

This week, Melissa and Matt dig into the ongoing entanglement of the Trump administration and Christianity — and why it should bother everyone, especially right after Easter. From Pete Hegseth reading a fake Bible verse pulled from Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon prayer service and comparing the press to Pharisees, to Paula White-Cain telling Trump at Easter lunch that his suffering mirrors Christ's, to Hegseth drawing parallels between a military rescue and the Resurrection, to Trump posting an AI image of himself as Jesus, the lines between political power and faith keep getting blurred.

Then we get into the escalating public feud between Trump and Pope Leo XIV, including Trump's claim that Leo only became pope because of him, Vice President Vance telling the pope to be careful when speaking on theology, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops pushing back by reminding everyone that the pope isn't freelancing — he's drawing on a thousand years of church teaching on just war. It's a lot. Buckle up.

NPR article: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/15/nx-s1-5779690/pope-leo-donald-trump-war-iran-vance-history

It's Holy Week, and Matt reads a piece he wrote last year exploring the political and revolutionary dimensions of Jesus's final week in Jerusalem. Drawing on Howard Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited, Diana Butler Bass, and Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan's The Last Week, the conversation digs into what "Hosanna" actually means — not a shout of praise but a cry for salvation — and why Jesus's entry into Jerusalem was a deliberate counter-protest to Roman imperial power. They explore how Jesus's first sermon in Luke 4 pointed to the Year of Jubilee, how the "domination system" of political oppression, economic exploitation, and religious legitimation carries into the present, and why growing up Southern Baptist meant missing much of this context. Melissa pushes back, asks questions, and keeps things grounded. They wrap up by sharing what's keeping them sane right now — baseball, hammock weather, bird watching, a dense Irish novel, and the importance of stepping away from the news cycle for your mental health.

Books & Authors Mentioned: Howard Thurman – Jesus and the Disinherited; Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan – The Last Week; Diana Butler Bass – Christianity for the Rest of Us, Freeing Jesus; Lillian Smith – Killers of the Dream; Anna Burns – Milkman

They want you to think the SAVE Act is about showing your ID when you vote. It's not. It's about requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship just to register — and when you actually read the bill, the implications are staggering.

Your driver's license doesn't prove citizenship. A passport does, but roughly half of Americans don't have one. Changed your name when you got married? You'd need to produce a paper trail connecting your birth certificate to your current ID. Nearly 21 million voting-age citizens don't have a current driver's license. More than 3.8 million don't have the required documents at all. And Kansas already tried this — a nearly identical law blocked over 31,000 eligible voters while catching fewer than 30 non-citizens.

Melissa and Matt walk through the Constitution, the history of voter suppression in this country from poll taxes to literacy tests, and the exposed math showing that this bill would actually hurt Republican voters more than Democrats. They break down the lies fueling the whole thing, why Trump is holding DHS funding hostage over it, and the part of the bill almost nobody is talking about — the voter roll purges that could remove you without notice.

The episode closes with the Declaration of Sentiments from 1848 and a reminder that the right to vote has never been given freely in this country. It has always been fought for. Every single time.

SHOWNOTES:

The Hill opinion piece

New York Times article about Kansas' similar law

BipartisanPolicy.org - 5 Things to Know About the SAVE Act

SAVE Act - full text of bill

Check Your Voter Registration

In Episode 26 of This Ain't It, Melissa and Matt dive into the aftermath of the Texas Democratic Senate primary, where James Talirico defeated Jasmine Crockett to become the Democratic candidate. The hosts explore the backlash Talirico has faced from conservative Christian media outlets, including a Christian Post article listing six supposedly "blasphemous" theological takes from the candidate. Melissa and Matt break down each controversy — from Talirico's statement that God is non-binary, to his claim that some of his atheist colleagues in the Texas legislature are more Christ-like than self-proclaimed Christians, to his victory speech comparing his campaign to Jesus flipping tables in the temple.

The conversation goes deeper into the tension between progressive and evangelical Christianity, examining how critics from the religious right are labeling Talirico a "false teacher" while ignoring that his views align with mainstream Protestant theology shared by millions of Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and others. Matt pulls from the Sermon on the Mount, MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail, and Thoreau's Civil Disobedience to contextualize the discussion. The hosts also touch on the broader issue of theological gatekeeping, the "country club church" mentality, legalism versus authentic faith, race and the Black Lives Matter movement, and why empathy seems to be in short supply.

Eschatology, the study of the end times, isn't just a Sunday School topic anymore. It's shaping military rhetoric, command structures, and foreign policy. When the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, Matthew's first thought wasn't about geopolitics. It was about the end-times ideology driving some of the people in power right now.

This week, Matthew and Melissa are joined by Reverend Timothy Garvin-Leighton, pastor at the Church of the Pilgrimage in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Tim has taught classes on eschatology across Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and he brings serious academic depth to a conversation that desperately needs it.

The episode opens with Pete Hegseth's Pentagon briefing quote about Iran being "hell bent on prophetic Islamist illusions" and a leaked letter from a military NCO describing how their commanding officer told troops that the Iran strikes were "all part of God's divine plan" and that "President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon." Multiple complaints were filed with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

From there, the conversation goes deep: What is dispensationalism and where did it come from? Who was John Nelson Darby and why is his 1800s theology shaping American foreign policy? What are the seven dispensations? Why are evangelicals so committed to the modern state of Israel, and what does that have to do with John Hagee, red heifers, the third temple, and the settler movement? How do Jewish, Christian, and Islamic eschatology mirror each other in surprising ways? Why do some believers think they can speed up the end times through military conflict? Is Trump the Antichrist? And what does any of this have to do with the rapture, a concept that most biblical scholars trace back to the Latin translation of a single word?

Tim also walks through the "prophecy checklist" that dispensationalists use, including the wild phonetic system that maps ancient biblical place names onto modern Russia, and explains why reading Revelation literally creates a dangerous feedback loop between theology and policy.

The episode closes with Tim sharing how he scrapped his Sunday sermon after the Iran strikes and preached instead on Matthew 5:9 ("Blessed are the peacemakers") because in a moment when end-times theology is being used to justify war, the most important Christian witness might just be making peace.

Referenced in this episode:

• Jonathan Larsen's Substack article on military officers invoking Armageddon theology
• Joe Smith Substack article

Merch & more: yallaintright.co

What does it really mean to "take the Lord's name in vain"? If you grew up in a Southern Baptist church like us, you were probably taught it was all about not saying "oh my God" or using God's name as a cuss word. But the deeper meaning of the Third Commandment goes far beyond language. It's about invoking God's name to justify power, violence, injustice, and personal ambition.

In this episode, we dig into the Hebrew meaning behind Exodus 20:7, explore fiery passages from the prophets (Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah), and read from the Jewish Study Bible to uncover what the commandment was actually warning against: carrying God's name in a false, empty, or deceitful way. We discuss articles from Russell Moore and the Baptist Standard that connect this ancient commandment to modern Christian nationalism, and look at examples from political figures like Mike Johnson, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump who have claimed divine backing for political power.

Whether it's slapping God's name on a Bible to sell, storming a Capitol with "Jesus Saves" flags, or silencing abuse victims in the name of protecting the church's mission, we argue this is where the real violation of the Third Commandment lives.

Referenced in this episode:

• Russell Moore's article on taking the Lord's name in vain (Christianity Today)
• Daniel Camp's article in the Baptist Standard (post-January 6th)
• Kevin Considine's article in US Catholic (September 2023)
• Jeremiah 23, Amos 5, Isaiah 1 & 10 & 29, Micah 3 & 6, Matthew 23

Merch & more: yallaintright.co

⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode discusses sexual abuse. No graphic details are shared.

The Epstein files are everywhere right now, but we're not here to rehash the headlines. Instead, we're using this moment to ask a bigger question: why does the church have such a long history of protecting powerful men and silencing the people they hurt?

We dig into the stories of David and Bathsheba, Tamar, and the Levite's concubine, passages that rarely get preached the way they should, and draw a straight line from biblical power dynamics to the modern church's abuse crisis, from the Catholic Church to the SBC to John MacArthur. Along the way, we talk about what the Old Testament law actually says versus what happened, what Benjamin Cremer's viral Instagram series gets right about how we preach David, and why Jesus modeled something completely different.

We wrap up with what we think the church can actually do about it, and Matt shares a playlist of punk and riot grrrl songs, because sometimes you need a soundtrack for your righteous anger.

Scripture Referenced: 2 Samuel 11-13, Judges 19-21, Leviticus 20:10, Exodus 21:12, Deuteronomy 22:22

Mentioned: Benjamin Cremer (@brcremer) post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUtzPmEiU5x/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Music Mentioned: Dessa (Fire Drills), Bikini Kill (White Boy), Team Dresch, Le Tigre, Fea (Mujer Moderna)

Christianity Today - Grace Community Church Rejected Elder's Calls to 'Do Justice' in Abuse Case