665: Can Democrats Win Back Religious Voters? with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
- Phil Vischer
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
It’s Holy Week, and an article in the New York Times argues that Palm Sunday wasn’t a worship procession; it was a protest march. With that theme in mind, Christians held peaceful rallies over the weekend in Philadelphia and San Diego to protest inhumane immigration enforcement policies, including the order allowing government agents into churches during worship gatherings to arrest people. Skye talks to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) about how her faith informs her politics, what lessons the Democrats have learned from their losses in 2024, and why more religious Americans view her party’s brand as “toxic.” Phil, Skye, and Kaitlyn then debrief the interview and discuss whether the Democrats’ struggle is just messaging or something deeper. Also this week: the problem with purple.
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0:00 - Show Starts
3:35 - Theme Song
3:55 - Sponsor - AG1 - Heavily researched, thoroughly purity-tested, and filled with stuff you need. Go to https://www.drinkag1.com/HOLYPOST
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7:15 - Purple Isn't Real?
17:40 - Christians Protesting ICE
25:05 - Was Palm Sunday a Protest?
34:50 - Why’re We Interviewing a Senator?
36:00 - Sponsor - Public Good Generation - One week immersive program for high school students to https://www.ccpubliclife.org/high-school
37:00 - Sponsor - World Relief: The Path - Join a monthly giving community to help people all around the world! Go to https://www.worldrelief.org/stand
38:05 - Interview
43:50 - Is the Republican Party Faith-Driven?
53:05 - Is the Democratic Brand Toxic?
1:10:30 - Debrief
1:16:20 - Trump Administration Holy Week Statement
1:28:45 - End Credits
Links from News Segment:
World Relief:
Purple Isn’t Real!
Faith Groups Protest Ice:
Palm Sunday was a Protest, Not a Procession:
White House Presidential Holy Week Message
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Interesting to read through the comments. As a (former) Evangelical Christian who grew up in the 80s & 90s, I deeply appreciate the HP’s stance on avoiding political idolatry. My generation was made to believe that the Republican party was part and parcel of Christianity and never taught to think critically about what was un-Biblical about Republican politics. I appreciate the stance that as Christians (heck, as intelligent human beings!) we should think critically about every policy or political stance and recognize that easy answers and sound bites about the “right” way to think about a policy is not right at all but simply political people giving easy answers to folks to manipulate their vote.
"There was a time when pro-life people were also democrats", said Skye. To which I reply, there was a time when wide availability of abortion was widely accepted (and not accepted) publicly (and not-publicly) by a wide array of Christians. It was not thought of as "inherently wrong" across any wide swath of society until Richard Nixon used it to lure Christians away from voting for equality toward voting for him and his movement conservatives. And you can talk about "no restrictions" -- but why not trust the Moms?? Let the mothers struggle with the question themselves -- and provide broad and deep support for them in their new responsibilities if they carry the child to term, whether they're doing it alone…
One more comment on a show segment: as an historian, I was puzzled by the bit about Thayer's article in the NY Times, asserting that Christ's triumphal entry was a protest against Pilate's the same day, as I had never heard that before. I looked up Thayer's piece, and there's no citation for where he got it from. It seems that the idea was first floated in a book by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg nearly 20 years ago (2006), titled "The Last Week." Thayer just states it as though it were fact. The thing is, there's absolutely zero evidence it happened. No historical document ever mentions Pilate making a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In fact, we hav…
I'm just part way into the interview with Ms. Gillebrand and have been enjoying it greatly. Thanks ProdigalDaughter and hrodbert696 for the warnings of what comes next. Maybe I'll listen to the rest of it then, and maybe I won't. We'll see. I have a hard time with those kinds of low-grade trashing by my peeps of my peeps.
I'm glad there are other Christian voices that don't equivocate the way Skye does. I'll be spending more time (and emotional engagement) elsewhere, I guess. Props to the junior senator from New York for showing up!
Here's a thought experiment I have been wrestling with:
1 - Progressives (whichever party was progressive at the time) worked for the downtrodden by working against slavery. Many conservatives worked to maintain the status quo, even using the Bible to support their argument. The progressives were in the right.
2 - Progressives worked for the downtrodden by supporting legal, property, and voting rights for women. Many conservatives worked to maintain the status quo, even using the Bible to support their argument. The progressives were in the right.
3 - Progressives worked for the downtrodden working against legal segregation and supporting legal, property, and voting rights for people of color. Many conservatives worked to maintain the status quo. The progressives we…