Ye Gods with Scott Carter

My guest is Lee C. Camp, the host of the NPR show NO SMALL ENDEAVOR, which explores what it means to live a good life. Before the break, Lee described his childhood Christian community, the Church of Christ. Despite that church’s founding principle being unity with other Christians, Lee absorbed many doctrines that left him with what he calls “theological baggage.”

Lee also works on another podcast, THE SUBTEXT. Lee’s co-host is Gen Z writer and artist Savannah Locke, Each week, internet expert Savannah reports on pop culture phenomena to ethics professor and theologian Lee, who is almost 30 years her senior and doesn’t own a cell phone. And, somehow, on each episode, they make their way to “the intersection of faith and culture.

ESPN Senior Writer Tom Junod, who has contributed to G.Q., Esquire and The Atlantic. Tom has famously profiled such celebrities as Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra Jr., and Kevin Spacey. In 1996, he wrote the ESQUIRE cover story “Can You Say...Hero?” about PBS host Mr. Rogers, which inspired the 2019 film A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. Tom Hanks played Fred Rogers and WIDOW’S BAY star Mathew Rhys played the Esquire journalist assigned to profile him. 

Tom's memoir, IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH I WAS TOLD WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN, is available from Penguin Random House, and you can find links to Tom's award-winning articles, including “Falling Man,” at The Electric Typewriter at tetw.org/tom_junod.

Adriana Trigiani is a bestselling author, host of the podcast, YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ, and director of several films, including the 2020 rom-com THEN CAME YOU starring Craig Ferguson and Kathy Lee Gifford. She’s also adapted her novels BIG STONE GAP, starring Ashley Judd and, for Lifetime, VERY VALENTINE. 

Her new book, THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO, tells of a woman finding her purpose after the death of an uncle, and revealed family secrets, upend her life. Her protagonist, a devout Catholic, finds special solace in the funeral service of her grandmother. That experience parallels Adriana’s own life, after the passing of both of her grandparents, with whom she was very close. 

We conclude our miniseries OF GOD AND COUNTRY with professor of Religion and the Arts at Belmont University and author of WE BECOME WHAT WE NORMALIZE: Dr. David Dark. His books include EVERYDAY APOCALYPSE: THE SACRED REVEALED IN RADIOHEAD, THE SIMPSONS, AND OTHER POP CULTURE ICONS, and LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO PRETEND YOU’RE NOT RELIGIOUS.

His latest book, WE BECOME WHAT WE NORMALIZE: WHAT WE OWE EACH OTHER IN WORLDS THAT DEMAND OUR SILENCE, is available in audio and hard-cover from Broadleaf Books, and his “Dark Matters” Substack is at daviddark.substack.com.

Charlie Sykes is a rarity: Decent, Wisconsin-nice, smiling, gracious, man of integrity in an often transactional profession. He was raised in a liberal, non-religious household, but became a Catholic and a Republican. He's still a Catholic, but no longer a Republican, though still a conservative. A journalist and radio host in Wisconsin for 40 years, and the bestselling author of nine books including 2017’s HOW THE RIGHT LOST ITS MIND. In 2019, Charlie co-founded The Bulwark news site, with the motto “Country Over Party.” He hosted its flagship podcast until, in 2025, he started his own substack newsletter, TO THE CONTRARY, with the motto “You are not the crazy ones.” On it, Charlie publishes solo commentaries and interviews politicos and journalists. 

As part of our miniseries OF GOD AND COUNTRY, we speak with author, podcaster and journalist for THE ATLANTIC, David Frum. David served as a presidential speechwriter for George W. Bush, has authored 10 books, and now hosts THE DAVID FRUM SHOW and writes for The Atlantic. We’re discussing how both America and classic conservative David have shifted since Donald Trump took over the Oval Office in 2017. 

We also discuss where the American experiment goes from here, whether Americans still value dignity from their elected leaders, and how David’s childhood in 1960’s Canada shaped his understanding of global politics.

As part of our miniseries OF GOD AND COUNTRY, we're talking with activist and TV and film star from A HANDMAID’S TALE, GET OUT, and THE WEST WING, Bradley Whitford about his relationship to religion, after being raised a Quaker by atheist leaning parents. 

Brad attended All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena during priest-in-charge Ed Bacon’s leadership. Bacon is now retired but the church, founded in 1882, continues its commitment to radical inclusion, joyful spirituality, and ethical stewardship. Standing in stark contrast to the splendor of All Saint’s 1924 gothic revival church is the austerity of the Quaker meetings which Brad attended as a child, and to which he has returned.

Correction: Bradley Whitford did not originate the lead role in A FEW GOOD MEN, but was the understudy for TOM HULCE who originated the part of LT JG Kafee. A part later made famous by Tom Cruise 

We’ll look at two American stories: The Christian Right and Muslim-American Immigrants. We’ll hear from former Senior Director at the Obama White House and Senior Advisor at the State Department, Nayyera Haq. The daughter of Pakistani Muslim parents, she describes how her 1980’s childhood on Staten Island led to her working to elect Barack Obama.

But first: CBS News national correspondent for Sunday Morning and chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa. I’ve known him since he was a young Washington Post reporter and, later, as host of PBS's Washington Week. Since 2008, he’s covered the religious right, from the Moral Majority, to the Tea Party, to MAGA. Robert holds a BA from Notre Dame and a masters from Cambridge University in the UK. In 2021, he and Bob Woodward co-authored the #1 New York Times bestselling book PERIL, about the 2020 campaign, leading up to and after the January 6th assault on America’s capital. In 2025, Robert became a Fourth Estate Honoree, the highest award of the National Press Club.

Jonathan Alter: author, columnist, pundit, podcaster, filmmaker and lecturer. Jon executive-produced Amazon Prime’s 2013 satirical series ALPHA HOUSE, created by Pulitzer-Prize-winning Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau, and starred John Goodman. We discuss how religion influenced the founding fathers and why the “separation of church and state” is a controversial American idea, which doesn’t appear in the constitution.

Scott talks with actor, activist, 4-time Grammy-winning rapper, and half of hip-hop supergroup, Run The Jewels, Killer Mike. In the episode, Mike talks about his admiration for - and friendship with - Civil Rights icon and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, growing up in the all-Black neighborhood of Atlanta’s Collier Heights, and his musical evolution.