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Program Archive - Capital District Humanist Society

The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-Liberal Demonology Possessed U.S. Religion, Media, and Politics

Whitney Phillips & Mark Brockway

August 10, 2025

When people talk about the chaotic, increasingly precarious political landscape in the United States, they often blame polarization and the culture wars.  The Shadow Gospel tells a very different story. Analyzing eighty years of densely overlapping religious and secular messages preaching the dangers of liberalism, the book shows us the root causes of the problems we face today.  Some of which are satanic conspiracy theorizing, the crusade against “wokeness” and LGBTQ existence.  It also helps explain the most vexing elements of our politics: that the most potent source of religious messaging and influence in the United States is secular, that the most ruthless destroyers of Republicans are other Republicans.

By offering new ways of thinking about religious influence, the left/right dichotomy, and the appeal of Donald Trump, The Shadow Gospel reveals the true roadblocks to pluralistic democracy and emphasizes what people across the religious and political spectrum stand to lose if we don’t exorcise our anti-liberal demons. There are no easy solutions to our vast and complicated political problems. It is long past time to drag the shadow gospel out into the light, and make use of some of the actions that folks can take to set us on a path toward a brighter future.

 

Whitney Phillips studies information politics and media ethics and is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Univ. of Oregon. She earned a BA in philosophy from Humboldt State University in 2004, an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in 2007, and a PhD in English from the Univ. of Oregon in 2012. She has authored and co-authored five academic books and a digital ethics guide for teens. Her most recent book is the topic of this program.

 

Mark Brockway hails from Denver, CO. He earned a PhD at the Univ. of Notre Dame, and a BA in political science at the Univ. of Oklahoma.  He is currently an assistant teaching professor in political science at Syracuse Univ.  His research centers on political identity and activism.  He investigates the consequences of changing political and social identities for party politics.  His research also examines religion and politics, political polarization, and public opinion. He is co-author of The Shadow Gospel.

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