Welcome to The United States of Amnesia, a podcast bringing history to the present!
The United States of Amnesia
The United States of Amnesia
Welcome to The United States of Amnesia, a podcast exploring the lessons we’ve forgotten, misunderstood, or never learned. As the saying goes, history repeats itself. Mark Twain allegedly refined this: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” But Ecclesiastes said it best: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Yet over time, history, politics, and religion have been distorted by bias, oversimplification, and myth. Misunderstanding the past means misreading the present and misstepping into the future. This podcast aims to cut through the fog, reconnecting past and present to help us think more clearly about the world we’re in, and the one we're heading toward. Join us as we delve into the great struggle of humanity: to reconcile who we were with who we are becoming.
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The United States of Amnesia

The United States of Amnesia

Welcome to The United States of Amnesia, a podcast exploring the lessons we've forgotten, misunderstood, or never learned. We examine history, politics, and religion beyond the myths and oversimplifications, connecting past and present to better understand the world we live in, and the one we're shaping.

New episodes every other Wednesday. Explore our blog for sources and episode materials, leave a review, and stay up to date on what's coming next.

305: A Christian Nation? - The Awakenings
The United States of Amnesia
305: A Christian Nation? - The Awakenings

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July 22, 2026

305: A Christian Nation? - The Awakenings

History remembers the Founding Fathers. It often forgets the revivalists. Between the Revolution and the modern era, a series of religious awakenings swept across America, changing not only how people worshiped, but how they understood the nation itself. In this conversation, Blake guides Marshall and Mike through the Great Awakenings, tracing the origins of evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and ideas that many now assume have always been part of American Christianity. If today's religious landsca
July 21, 2026

Upcoming Episodes!

Episode 306 "Facts and Fiction" (coming August 5!) How could slavery exist in a "Christian nation"? What myths have been created since the Founding to depict the Founders as engaging in the beliefs and practices of evangelical Christians? What amend…
305
July 21, 2026

305: A Christian Nation? - The Awakenings

History remembers the Founding Fathers. It often forgets the revivalists. Between the Revolution and the modern era, a series of religious awakenings swept across America, changing not only how people worshiped, but how they understood the nation itself. In this conversation, Blake guides Marshall and Mike through the Great Awakenings, tracing the origins of evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and ideas that many now assume have always been part of American Christianity. If today's religious l
July 17, 2026

Animated Map of the Chinese Civil War, 1945–1961

Listeners interested in a visual representation of the progress of the fighting in the Chinese Civil War during its final phase after World War II — which we discuss in the first portion of Episode 208 ("Cash My Check") of the "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus…
July 16, 2026

Christian Nation -- a Different Perspective

Interesting article in The Washington Post.  If you can access The Post (behind the paywall), this is a different perspective on the theme we have been discussing in our "A Christian Nation?" series: America Needs Civil Religion, Not Secularism or …
July 8, 2026

304: A Christian Nation? - The Founders, Part 2

What were the personal religious beliefs of Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, George Mason, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, and what role did they see for religion in the United States? Why did Mason and Madison disagree on the "toleration" of religious beliefs? These questions (and others) arise as Blake leads the second part of our discussion of what selected Founding Fathers held as their religious beliefs, what they thought about the role of religion in personal morality and civic society
304
July 7, 2026

304: A Christian Nation? - The Founders, Part 2

What were the personal religious beliefs of Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, George Mason, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, and what role did they see for religion in the United States? Why did Mason and Madison disagree on the "toleration" of religious beliefs? These questions (and others) arise as Blake leads the second part of our discussion of what selected Founding Fathers held as their religious beliefs, what they thought about the role of religion in personal morality and civic society,
July 4, 2026

Smells and Bells or Snakes...or Mormons? (A U.S. Official Church) #shorts #history #christianity

Mike, Blake, and Marshall discuss the complications that would arise in identifying and defining who would be in and who would be out if America adopted "Christianity" as its official religion in this excerpt from Episode 301 ("The Founding Intent") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "A Christian Nation?", which explores the view held by some Americans that the United States was founded as a Christian country. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you