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Our guest is Fred Rich, author of the dystopian novel, “Christian Nation.” Fred is a polymath, who studied politics and policy at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and pursued graduate work in moral philosophy as a Keasbey Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. He practiced law for the past 30 years.  Newly retired, he splits his time between Manhattan and New York’s Hudson Valley where he is working on a non-fiction book about environmental politics, and several other novels.

Although this book, Christian Nation, is fiction, it does not stretch reality, it is not a conspiracy theory, it lays out exactly how, through legitimate legal means, America could become a Christian Theocracy.  The wall of separation is vulnerable. In the spirit of Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, one of America's foremost lawyers lays out in chilling detail what such a future might look like: constitutional protections dismantled; all aspects of life dominated by an authoritarian law called "The Blessing," enforced by a reconfigured Internet known as the "Purity Web." Those who defy this system, among them the narrator, live on the edges of society, sustained by the belief that democracy will rise to triumph over such tyrannical oppression.

This show was taped on February 21st, 2015. 

Credits: 
"Towering Mountain of Ignorance" introduction by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU

"Never Know" by Jack Johnson

Youtube trailer for the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxrkXdnlzks

“Ashielf Pi” by E.S. Posthumus

“This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie

Literature referenced:  

It Can’t Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis

The Plot Against America, Philip Roth

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

Republican Gomorrah, Max Blumenthal

Kingdom Coming, Michelle Goldberg

American Fascists, Chris Hedges

Empire of Illusion, Chris Hedges

American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips

At the Smithville Methodist Church, Stephen Dunn