
Show Notes
We’re continuing our summer series with a recap of the week’s top headlines and relevant conversation from The Bulletin archive. This week, President Trump signed a short-term deal with Iran, with many saying the US got the losing end of the deal. We re-air a conversation from May in which Russell Moore, Bonnie Kristian, and Clarissa Moll discuss the difficulty of negotiating with Iran. Then, President Trump hosted his 80th birthday on the White House South Lawn complete with a UFC fight in which the winners were paid with cryptocurrency produced by a Trump family organization. The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols joins to discuss why Trump is interested in cryptocurrency and why it may be concerning. The Southern Baptist Convention recently voted to ban churches who ordain women or allow women to preach. We revisit a conversation between Nicole Martin and Mike Cosper in which they discuss the issue in the context of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Community Church being expelled from the SBC in 2023. Finally, Nicole Martin shares about how we as believers can collectively celebrate Juneteenth.
GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:
Join the conversation at our Substack.
Find us on YouTube.
Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.
ABOUT THE GUESTS:
Bonnie Kristian is the deputy editor at Christianity Today. She is the author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today. Her writing has been published at outlets including The New York Times, The Week, USA Today, CNN, Politico, and others.
Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the US Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. He has served as a legislative aide in the Massachusetts House and the US Senate. His books include The Death of Expertise and Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy.
Dr. Nicole Martin serves Christianity Today as President and CEO. She has more than 25 years of nonprofit, academic, ministry leadership, and church engagement experience and has served at CT since 2023 as Chief Impact Officer and most recently Chief Operating Officer.
ABOUT THE BULLETIN:
The Bulletin is a twice-weekly news analysis podcast from Christianity Today, with editor-at-large Russell Moore. Each episode offers commentary on current events and headlining news with a roundtable of premier guests, and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world
The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.
“The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today
Host: Alexa Copeland
Associate Producers: Alexa Copeland
Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris
Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs
Music: Dan Phelps
Executive Producer: Erik Petrik
Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from The Bulletin
As anticipation and speculation increase for the midterm elections, Michael Wear joins Courtney Blair to discuss “faith forward” Democrats running for office and whether Christians should reconsider the idea of being “politically homeless.” Then, Mark Edington shares his perspective on pastoring a congregation in Paris during this week’s mass riots that swept France. And Courtney speaks with writer Kayla Craig and Dr. Lydia Dugdale about a disturbing new escalation in euthanasia in The Netherlands.
This week, President of the Trinity Forum Cherie Harder shares about what healthy political discourse looks like and what we can keep in mind as we approach the midterm elections. Then, Courtney Blair sits down at The Museum of the Bible with Christianity Today President and CEO Nicole Martin for a discussion about where CT has come from, where we’re going, and what remains at our core.
This week, Frances Haugen drops by The Bulletin to discuss the events in her life that inspired Aaron Sorkin’s new movie The Social Reckoning. Frances shares what she learned as a data scientist at Facebook that led her to become a corporate whistleblower, as well as how we can think about integrity in the workplace. Then, CT contributor Brad East joins the show to talk about his piece ‘Why Christians Should Delete Social Media’ and the value of living an offline life.
Theobros are a new genre of Internet influencer who discuss theology on podcasts. They have been gaining an online following by saying the Bible supports their segregationist and antisemitic views. Bob Smietana from Religion News Service reported on these Theobros, and spoke to The Bulletin about their beliefs. Then, as the mid-term elections approach, we discuss the phenomenon of pastors, seminarians and former clergy running as Democratic candidates. We re-air a conversation with Mockingcast’s David Zahl, diving specifically into the rise of Texas’s Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. Lastly, Charlie Sykes and Russell Moore discuss how to interpret polling data around the 2028 election, if they think JD Vance or Marco Rubio is more likely to become the Republican candidate, and what to value when thinking about who to vote for.
This week, President Trump welcomed China’s president Xi Jinping to Washington, D.C. for a two-day summit. Knox Thames joins to discuss Chinese religious liberty violations and why the two world leaders will most likely avoid the issue. Then, President Trump signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland regarding the US’s military presence in Greenland. We re-air a segment in which Noah Rothman, Mike Cosper, Russell Moore, and Clarissa Moll discuss Trump’s comments from January about wanting to claim Greenland, and the harm that those comments may have caused. Finally, amidst the AI alarmism in the media cycle, we re-play a conversation featuring Meghan Sullivan from Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. She discusses some ways we can approach the AI issue, and what is in store for our work.