x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Truce - History of the Christian Church

Truce explores the history of the evangelical church in America, from fundamentalism to pyramid schemes to political campaigns. Host Chris Staron uses journalistic tools to investigate how the church got here and how it can do better. The current season follows the rise of the Religious Right, examining the link between evangelicals and the Republican Party. Featuring special guests like Rick Perlstein, Frances Fitzgerald, Jesse Eisinger, Daniel K. Williams, and more.

history christianity

All Episodes

42:51

Republicans and Evangelicals | Why Christians Didn't...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/03/24

Give to help Chris make TruceBoy, the Religious Right did not like Carter, at least by 1980. Some of them, like Pat Robertson, had high hopes for him at the start. But they quickly grew to distrust the man from Georgia. Why? In this episode, Chris goes through some of the top issues that evangelicals had with Jimmy Carter. They include his article in Playboy Magazine that mentions his struggles with sex (but also featured a strong gospel message), his support of the ERA, and his lackluster

en

43:48

Republicans and Evangelicals | The Many Plagues of...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/03/10

Give to help Chris make TrucePresident Jimmy Carter's presidency (1977–1981) faced several major challenges, both domestically and internationally. One of the biggest domestic issues was the struggling U.S. economy. Carter inherited high inflation and unemployment, problems that worsened during his term. The country experienced "stagflation" — a combination of stagnant economic growth and high inflation. The energy crisis, marked by oil shortages and skyrocketing gas prices, further fueled

en

55:13

Republicans and Evangelicals | The Council for...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/02/24

Give to help Chris make TruceDark money is a problem in American politics and religion. What is it? Untraceable money that often comes from big donors, which is channelled through non-profits to hide the identity of the donor. This money is then able to back causes that may or may not be positive. The Council for National Policy is an organization in the pipeline for Christian dark money. It finances groups like the Heritage Foundation, Focus on the Family, pro-life groups, Turning Point USA, and

en

53:02

Republicans and Evangelicals | The Battle for the Mind

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/02/10

Give to help Chris make TruceTim LaHaye wrote different kinds of books. Books on marriage, sexuality, the end times, and those involved in social and political movements. In his young years, Tim LaHaye taught for the John Birch Society. His conspiratorial view of the world carried over into his theology, evidenced by the Left Behind series, as well as the topic of the show today, The Battle for the Mind. Published in 1980, this little book takes a negative view of humanism. He defines humanism as,

en

36:54

Republicans and Evangelicals | What Scared Tim LaHaye

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/01/27

Give to help Chris make TruceTim and Beverly LaHaye were a prominent American evangelical Christian couple known for their influential work in ministry, literature, and conservative activism. Tim LaHaye, born in 1926 in Detroit, Michigan, was a pastor, author, and speaker who gained national recognition through his work in Christian fiction and prophecy interpretation. He served as a pastor for over 25 years before turning to full-time writing and speaking, often focusing on end-times theology

en

44:42

Republicans and Evangelicals | Pat Robertson and the...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/01/13

Donate to help Chris make TruceChristians were involved with many forms of media from their inception. They were there at the dawn of radio, with the first commercial broadcast of music being played around Christmas in 1906, and the gospel of Luke was read. A similar story is true for television. Evangelists loved the new medium, with preachers like Oral Roberts using it to spread their brand of Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism was made for television. Where many denominations featured calm

en

41:35

An American Coup in Guatemala

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2026/01/06

Give to help Chris make TruceGiven the recent events in Venezuela, I have decided to run a classic episode from season 3. The question of our era is not "why did we do this?" but "why do we keep doing this?" Why does the United States continue to overthrow other countries? God willing, I'll be back next week with a new episode about Pat Robertson. Discussion Questions: What threat did President Jacobo Arbenz pose to United Fruit? United Fruit owned many utilities in Guatemala from

en

53:52

Republicans and Evangelicals: Bill Bright, Campus...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/12/16

Give to help Chris continue to make TruceWilliam R. “Bill” Bright was born in 1921 in Coweta, Oklahoma. Though raised in a religious environment, he initially pursued business success and personal ambition. While attending the University of Southern California, Bright experienced a dramatic spiritual transformation through the influence of Christian leaders like Henrietta Mears. This encounter led him to surrender his life to Jesus Christ and ultimately shaped his calling toward full-time

en

36:15

Republicans and Evangelicals I Jerry Falwell (part 2)

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/12/02

Give to help Chris make more TruceThe New Right had a plan--to bring evangelical Christians together as a voting bloc. But how to do that? They chose a few targets, people with big followings, and courted them. Jerry Falwell was an obvious choice. He was a fundamentalist preacher, televangelist, and the founder of Liberty University. He also had a propensity for the dramatic, seeing the end of days around every corner. The New Right did not like President Jimmy Carter and did their best to turn

en

40:15

Republicans and Evangelicals I Jerry Falwell (part 1)

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/11/18

Give to help Chris make TruceJerry Falwell was a prominent American pastor, televangelist, and conservative political activist whose life and ministry had a significant impact on American evangelicalism and politics. Born on August 11, 1933, in Lynchburg, Virginia, Falwell grew up in a family that was not particularly religious. However, after becoming a Christian during his college years, he dedicated his life to ministry. He attended Baptist Bible College in Missouri, where he developed the

en

47:29

Republicans and Evangelicals: Abortion

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/11/04

Give to help Chris continue to make TruceA lot of evangelicals are now single-issue voters, and that issue is abortion. But that was not always the case. In fact, for a great deal of American history, abortion was largely seen as a Catholic issue. There are, of course, exceptions. But most evangelicals and Protestants were divided on the subject, even favoring abortion when it came to preserving the health of the mother, or in cases of rape and incest. On this episode, Chris interviews historian

en

45:26

Republicans and Evangelicals: The Death Penalty

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/10/21

Give to help Chris continue making TruceIn the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States went years without using the death penalty. Not a single person was killed by injection, firing squad, hanging, or electric chair. But by the late 90s, we were killing around 100 convicted criminals per year. What happened? In 1972, the Supreme Court handed down its decision Furman v. Georgia, which negated state capital punishment laws across the country. This meant that some of the worst criminals in

en

29:56

Republicans and Evangelicals | Bob Jones University...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/10/07

Give to help Chris continue to make TruceBob Jones University v. United States (1983) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could deny tax-exempt status to private religious schools that practiced racially discriminatory policies. Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian institution, prohibited interracial dating and marriage among its students based on its religious beliefs. In 1970, the IRS revised its policy to deny tax-exempt

en

5:32

A Personal Message and Exciting News!

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/09/23

Give to help Chris make Truce!Do you love Truce? I love making Truce! Together, we can continue this important show. Would you help Chris reach his goal of $40,000? You can send a check to: PO Box 3434 Jackson, WY 83001 Or give through Patreon, Paypal, Venmo, or a credit card on the website! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

en

64:06

Republicans and Evangelicals | George Wallace

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/09/09

Give to help Chris continue to make TruceGeorge Wallace was, as historian Dan Carter put it, "the most influential loser in American history". He was the governor of Alabama and lost multiple bids for president of the United States. In the process, he spread his racist views throughout the country. Wallace is a vitally important figure in American history. His success in pulling in votes from racists attracted the attention of establishment politicians. He showed men like Richard Nixon that there

en

31:30

Republicans and Evangelicals I Boston Against Busing

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/08/26

Give to help Chris make TruceWe talk about racism in the United States like it only happens in the South. But the nasty truth is that the North is also guilty of racist behavior. This is evident in the way that we behaved when schools were integrated by bus. Brown v. Board of Education called for public schools to integrate. However, it took decades for many public schools to carry out this directive. It wasn't until the 1970s that the Boston schools were forced to integrate. But how? Schools are

en

46:35

Republicans and Evangelicals I Segregation Academies...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/08/12

Give to help Chris make the Truce PodcastIn 2 Samuel 24 David is told that he must buy a certain piece of land in an act of repentance for his sins. The man who owns the land says that he'd like to give David the land and the animals to sacrifice. But David turns him down, insisting that he won't give to God something that cost him nothing. This story demonstrates something that may be missing from the Christian world today. Sacrifice should cost us something. Sacrifice should be a sacrifice. In

en

32:09

Republicans and Evangelicals I Segregation Academies...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/07/29

Give to help Chris continue Truce. Update: I would like to apologize for an error I made in the original version of this story. I stated that tuition payments to private schools are tax-exempt on the federal level. They are not. They sometimes are on the state level. The episode has been edited to reflect the correct information. When Brown v. Board of Education passed the Supreme Court in 1954, segregationists stepped up their efforts to keep black children out of their schools. If they couldn't

en

74:04

Scopes Monkey Trial - 100 Year Anniversay

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/07/18

Give to help Chris continue making TruceI made these episodes a few years ago, but since it is the 100th anniversary of the Scopes "Monkey" trial, I thought we should revisit them! Tennessee was the first state in the United States to crack down hard on the teaching of evolution in public schools. Others had dabbled, but Tennessee went all the way. The ACLU wanted to challenge the validity of the case in the courts. In order to do that they needed an educator to teach it, get busted, and be

en

52:00

Republicans and Evangelicals I The Late Great Planet...

Truce - History of the Christian Church ·

2025/07/15

Give to help Chris make the Truce Podcast Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970. It was a HUGE hit, selling over 35 million copies by 1999. It was also produced into a film narrated by Orson Welles. That film was shown in movie theaters and church basements and made a splash. The movie is a repackaging of premillennial dispensationalism, which I covered last season. It presents a particular vision of end-times theology, which wrongly predicted that the world would end around

en

214 results

Similar Podcasts

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai

Madonna - Biography Flash

Inception Point Ai