Season 6, Episode 27: Danielle, Rebecca and Jenny McGrath - Pope Leo and the President

Season 6, Episode 27: Danielle, Rebecca and Jenny McGrath - Pope Leo and the President

From The Arise Podcast by Danielle S. Castillejo, Margalyn Hemphill

April 17, 2026 · 55 min · Season 6 · Episode 27

About this episode

A conversation about the manipulation of Christianity for political gain and the implications for faith communities.

This episode is a sharp, passionate, and often humorous conversation about religion, power, and political corruption in the current American moment. Using recent controversies involving Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Pope Leo as a starting point, the three of us explore how Christianity is being manipulated for political gain and how sacred language is used to justify cruelty, nationalism, and violence. A central thread of the episode is grief and disbelief: How did so many faith communities get here? Rebecca especially wrestles with the collapse of theological integrity inside modern evangelicalism, while Jenny situates these distortions within a much longer historical pattern—empire repeatedly co-opting religion for domination. Danielle brings in race, imagery, and whiteness, asking how white depictions of Jesus shape public consciousness and who gets recognized as holy in the first place.

People in this episode

Hosts: Danielle S. Castillejo, Margalyn Hemphill

Guests: Rebecca, Jenny McGrath

Topics covered

  • religion
  • political corruption
  • Christianity
  • theological integrity
  • nationalism
  • race
  • historical patterns

Keywords

  • religion
  • politics
  • Christianity
  • evangelicalism
  • nationalism
  • grief
  • whiteness

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