Amid the continued visible destruction of symbolic institutions, the Convocation Unscripted team asks, “Where are the conservative patriots?” You know, those who have so loudly professed a commitment to CONSERVING not only things like our most beloved public spaces like the Kennedy Center and the White House but cherished values like public service, ethics, and respect for the rule of law. There are signs that the facade is cracking—with Karl Rove stating he’s voting for a Democrat in Texas and Rep. Thomas Massie introducing articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth—but these remain lone voices shouted down by their fellow Republicans. We express some hope that more former Trump supporters will realize the danger in which they’ve put the country and Christianity and then change course; and we note the importance of welcoming them back into the democratic fold when they do. And we close with a reflection on a community based on covenant and care rather than self-serving transactions.

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Twenty-Five Years Later, the Fear Is Still Running the Country

The twin towers fell twenty-five years ago, but the outrage that moment spurred is still shaping life in the U.S. and beyond.

Kristin Du Mez, Diana Butler Bass, and Robert P. Jones sit with the anniversary and ask: What became of this country that morning?

You’ll hear where each of them was, including Kristin standing in a blood donation line that evening that turned out to be unnecessary, because there were almost no survivors.

Then, Robbie brings PRRI’s tracking of American attitudes toward Islam, where the country as a whole has barely moved while the two parties have pulled further and further apart.

Diana argues the goodwill drained the moment the president stood on the rubble and chose revenge over imagination. Robbie points to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. And the fact that the first community ICE went after was Somali refugees who were Black and Muslim.

As we often do, we end with small signs of hope.

Earlier in the hour you’ll get Wild Goose, book launch season, and the books that changed their lives.

If you have wondered how we ended up in the country we are living in, this conversation is a large part of the answer.

Listen, then send it to someone who still can’t trace the line from the past to the present.

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This week, TCU came to you live across multiple platforms--via the Convocation Unscripted substack plus our own individual substack platforms. In this episode, we talk about a recent interview given by J.D. Vance in which he discusses his views of the Antichrist and th end times, echoing themes from his tech bro benefactor Peter Thiel. The actual theology is internally inconsistent and somewhat incoherent, but it does reveal a disturbing world of limitless power for the few chosen ones who literally image the possibility of escaping human finitude and even death through wealth and technology. By contrast, we talk about deep biblical stories that warn against such hubris and callous disregard for the impacts of such elite aspirations on the vast majority of the rest of us. We also discussed the new books coming out from Robby (BACKSLIDE) and Kristin (LIVE LAUGH LOVE). And we took questions from the hundreds of you who joined us live, on climate change and extreme weather, the midterm elections in the US, and what these times demand for all of us.

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