Is liberal Christianity making a comeback?

For decades, people have been telling Democrats that they need to do better in small cities and rural parts of America. And yet, while there are some uniquely successful candidates here and there, there’s no doubt that the party just keeps doing worse in these areas.The Democratic consultant class keeps trying its familiar strategy of being Republican-lite in these right-leaning parts of the country, but it just isn’t working.That’s the subject of a recent episode, but for today, we’re going to be talking about a different path, one that’s being boosted by James Talarico, the Democrat running for Senate in Texas this year against Republican Ted Cruz.There’s no guarantee that Talarico will win such a heavily Republican state, but his approach of unapologetically speaking his liberal Christian values in detail and trying to build community through care is the right approach.Alan Elrod, my guest on today’s program is fighting the same fight as Talarico. He’s the founder of the Pulaski Institution, a nonprofit based in Arkansas focused on democracy in heartland communities. He’s also a contributing editor at Liberal Currents.The video of our conversation is available, the transcript is available at the episode page. You can subscribe to Theory of Change and other Flux podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, YouTube, Patreon, Substack, and elsewhere.Related Content--Why liberal Christians are standing up for all of their values--How Confederate Christianity took over the Republican Party--To understand the Christian right, learn the history of the Christian left--Elite Republicans are creating a new ‘Satanic Panic’ rather than appeal to moderate voters--Latino evangelicals are reshaping American politics, politicians and parties should take notice--The doctrinal incoherence of today’s extremist Christianity is immense--Right-wing evangelicals have turned politics into Bible fan-fiction--Government subsidizing religion doesn’t make people like it moreAudio Chapters00:00 — Introduction06:41 — The internet made it easier to hate strangers13:25 — Religion and the right-wing political fusion17:38 — Secular liberals’ allergic reaction to all faith discussions22:15 — You don’t reach people without relationships27:05 — Much of Christianity accepted modernity, and this is what upsets the Christian right35:05 — How the Christian right built its own closed media ecosystem42:54 — Right-wing elites do not actually care about people in small-town America, but they talk to them46:54 — Right elites make many opportunities for their advocates, while left elites rarely help new voices get started This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plus.flux.community/subscribe