Christian nationalism, April Ajoy warns, has crept so deeply into our government that too many people mistake it for faith itself. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,” she saus, pointing back to scripture that unmasks the hypocrisy. The revival-like funeral for Charlie Kirk became a case study in how spectacle replaces substance, where pyrotechnics and slogans covered over the contradictions. What looked like devotion was really politics in vestments.
Tim Whitaker doesn’t flinch from naming those contradictions. “They actually make a living lying about their opponents and passing it off as truth,” he saus, calling out the tropes about crime, immigrants, and trans people recycled from pulpits and podiums. He presses the point that telling the truth is treated as blasphemy, while lies are baptized as gospel. In his framing, it’s not just hypocrisy — it’s an industry built on deception and grievance.
Even grief was folded into that industry. Erica Kirk’s forgiveness of her husband’s killer strikes Tim as selective, since the same circles have used other tragedies to fuel hatred when the accused was an immigrant or trans person. “There is a whiteness below this,” he argues, reminding listeners that who is granted grace — and who isn’t — reveals the real theology at work. April added that actions speak louder than words, and the test will be whether the message of love becomes practice or just another performance.
Then came Donald Trump, standing at a pulpit and admitting, “I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.” April points out what that really meant: Permission to hate half the country, wrapped in the language of revival. The crowd laughed as if contempt were a virtue, a distortion Tim calls “a perverted antichrist gospel” that blesses power and mocks mercy. Together, they drove home the urgency — this isn’t faith, it’s a bankrupt movement wearing a cross.
Tune in for the premiere of The Tim and April Show, where the myths of Christian nationalism are stripped bare for all to see …
Introducing the Tim & April Show! | Punching Up with Maya May
First the good news: The Tim & April Show is coming to Lincoln Square! We have been huge fans of Tim Whitaker, founder of The New Evangelicals, for a long time. You’ve probably seen him on Punching Up with Maya in the past. He’s one of her few repeat guests. His ability to break down the complexity of extremist right-wing evangelicalism using crystal-cl…
