On Feb. 12 The New Republic virtually hosted a major program titled “America in Crisis: Navigating the Dark Road Ahead.” The program featured AU President and CEO Rachel Laser and AU Vice President of Public Policy Alessandro Terenzoni as part of a panel discussion of “The Dangers of Christian Nationalism and Project 2025.” Michael Tomasky, Timothy Noah and Greg Sargent of The New Republic hosted the event. Influential political commentators such as U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin, Bennie Thompson and Pramila Jayapal, Jared Bernstein, Olivia Troye, Mark Zaid and others explored what Americans can expect in the months ahead. AU, along with the Rachel Carson Council, partnered with The New Republic in this event.
Also on Feb. 12, Rob Boston, AU senior advisor, spoke at the 16th Annual Forum on Science and Religion. The event coincided with International Darwin Day celebrations and was held during the 100th anniversary year of the famed Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn., that pitted evolution against biblical creationism. The Forum was hosted by Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pa., and was free and open to the public.
In Murfreesboro, Tenn., and also on Feb. 12, an AU-supported screening of the documentary “Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy” debuted at the city’s Premier 6 Theatre. Drawing from Anne Nelson’s book, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, the film examines the secretive and highly influential Council for National Policy. A politically astute organization funded by billionaires, the Council for decades played a key role in embedding white Christian Nationalism within Washington’s inner circles of power, including the previous and current Trump administrations.
On Feb. 15, the Orange County, Calif., AU Chapter hosted a screening of the documentary “God & Country,” a film based on AU Trustee Katherine Stewart’s book The Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. The film provides an insider look at the rise of white Christian Nationalism, a politically empowered ideology and movement now threatening to dismantle America’s democracy during Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. “God & Country” also includes interviews with AU’s Boston and Vice President for Strategic Communications Andrew L. Seidel.