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SUMMARY:
In this week’s edition of the Concerned Clergy Radio Show, hosts Reverend Tony Alexander and President Pastor David W. Greene Sr. dive into a timely and wide-ranging conversation about Christian nationalism versus true Christian discipleship, anchored by Pastor Greene’s recent article for Voices for Democracy examining how Christian nationalists systematically ignore Matthew 25 — Jesus’s explicit call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for strangers. Drawing on Trump’s Easter behavior, J.D. Vance’s attack on the Pope, Indiana Lt. Governor Beckwith’s three-fifths remarks, and the governor’s plan to bring Turning Point USA clubs into middle and high schools, the hosts argue that what is being sold as Christian faith is in reality a bid for racial and political power — and that the full interfaith community must respond, as evidenced by the ongoing assault on voting rights and the looming loss of CICOA services for Indiana’s elderly and disabled. Callers including Tim, Joyce, Guy, and Imhotep each add their own perspective, ranging from Black economic self-determination to humanist philosophy to a call for broad faith-community solidarity.
WHAT’S INSIDE
00:01:42 — Opening Prayer
- Pastor Greene opens in prayer for the nation, state, and local leaders.
- Prays against discord wherever the devil is sowing it.
- Asks God’s protection over Rev. Alexander and blessings on all listeners.
00:02:06 — Topic Introduction: Christian Nationalism vs. Christian Discipleship
- Rev. Alexander previews the night’s topic: what is Christian nationalism, and how does it compare to actual Christian discipleship?
- Notes Pastor Greene recently spoke on the subject with Voices for Democracy.
- Frames the question through recent events: Trump attacking the Pope at Easter, attacks on Robert Mueller after his death.
- Asks: can we honestly say a president who behaves this way is following Christ as a disciple?
00:05:20 — Pastor Greene on His Voices for Democracy Article / Matthew 25 and the Black Church
- Pastor Greene was invited to write an article on Christian nationalism’s silence regarding Matthew 25.
- Matthew 25 is Jesus’s direct teaching: did you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for strangers and the sick? Christian nationalists systematically avoid this passage.
- Instead they cast poor people as victims of their own choices — a form of classism — pointing to Lt. Gov. Beckwith’s three-fifths remarks as a modern example.
- The Black church, emerging from slavery, grounded its faith in a Jesus who lifts the oppressed and disenfranchised — the opposite of a Jesus wielded to maintain hierarchy.
- Christian nationalism’s vision of Jesus is “completely opposite” of the Jesus who ministered to women, people with questionable pasts, and the woman caught in adultery.
00:10:01 — Rev. Alexander: Oppressors and the Oppressed Using the Same Faith
- Rev. Alexander observes the historical paradox: enslaved people looked to Jesus for liberation while their oppressors used the same faith to keep them down.
- People of faith trusted God even as that faith was weaponized against them.
- Transitions to first caller.
00:10:38 — Caller: Anonymous — On the Word “Christian” and the White Church’s Silence
- Caller identifies as a child of God and son of God, not a “Christian” — noting the word was originally used as an insult in New Testament times.
- Points to January 6th imagery: the American flag, the Confederate flag, a Jesus flag, and a noose together — Jesus has nothing to do with nooses or racism.
- Challenges the white church’s historical silence: on slavery, on interracial marriage, on racism — where was the church then, and why won’t it speak now?
- Expresses concern that Black people are leaving for Islam in part because the church has failed to draw people with love.
00:13:09 — Response: The Silence of White Churches / Lt. Gov. Beckwith / Turning Point USA in Schools (Part 1)
- Rev. Alexander clarifies: the Black church was doing the work — the caller’s critique is aimed at white church silence.
- Pastor Greene agrees this silence must be confronted; the attacks by Trump and Vance on the Pope demand a response from the broader faith community.
- Warns against honoring the flag over the Bible — nationalism dressing itself as faith.
- Lt. Gov. Beckwith, himself a pastor, is actively teaching Christian nationalist ideas to his congregation.
00:17:00 — The Silence of White Churches / Turning Point USA in Schools (Part 2) / The Faith Community Must Respond
- The governor’s plan to bring Turning Point USA clubs into middle and high schools is “extremely dangerous” — it teaches superiority, discrimination, and racism to children.
- The double standard: slavery cannot be taught in schools, but Turning Point USA can come in and ignore Matthew 25.
- The faith community that must respond is broad: Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, Muslim — not limited to any single denomination.
- Christian nationalists want to be the sole authority on truth — even rejecting the Pope’s call for peace.
00:19:09 — Rev. Alexander: The Risk of Holy War
- Rev. Alexander expresses fear that current rhetoric — what troops are being told, the framing of conflicts — is pushing the country toward a religious war, not just a geopolitical one.
- The danger is a war defined not by nukes or oil but by competing faiths.
00:20:21 — [BREAK / Return] Caller: Tim — Black Economic Self-Determination and the Church
- Tim argues Black people must stop supporting “racist clowns” and leave white churches that won’t speak up, returning to anointed Black churches.
- Calls for pooling resources: Black doctors, Black lawyers, buying back community businesses — “hit them in the pocket.”
- References John Reed’s killing on Michigan Avenue; notes few pastors showed up to protest.
- Advocates for returning children to Sunday school, teaching Black history at home, requiring Black authors for school reports.
- Tim is fifth generation married, father present — credits God, family, and community for keeping his children out of crime.
00:23:17 — Caller: Joyce — Chattel Slavery, Desensitization, and Community Alarms
- Joyce builds on Tim’s comments, noting Black people were great long before American slavery — and weren’t even the first enslaved group
- Describes Black people being treated as chattel and systematically desensitized through media narratives.
- Mentions the jubilee tradition of debt forgiveness as a model worth noting.
- Raises a local concern: tornado warning alarm systems in Indianapolis’s Black community aren’t working, and Fall Creek is rising.
00:24:55 — Response: Broadening the Fight Beyond the Black Church
- Rev. Alexander notes the conversation has narrowed toward the Black community, but discipleship is broader — all followers of Christ, across all communities, must be in this together.
- Pastor Greene agrees, noting Jews are often lumped in with Black people by the same forces — the fight belongs to the whole faith community.
- Acknowledges Tim’s call for ownership and responsibility, while stressing the need for coalition with others.
- The church’s declining attendance is real — parents who’ve left the church aren’t raising children in it — but that can’t be an excuse to ignore the crisis.
00:29:10 — Trump as a Spiritual Model? / Truth Social, the Pope, and Easter Golf
- Pastor Greene: Christian nationalists dress up nationalism as faith, operating from a hierarchy in which whiteness is supreme.
- Rev. Alexander: if Trump claims to be a Christian, ask him directly — is Jesus your Lord and Savior? Is Jesus your king?
- Trump is plastering his own face across Washington and Florida, renaming bodies of water after himself, commissioning a golden statue.
- On Easter, instead of attending church, Trump posted attacks on Truth Social, condemned the Pope, and played golf.
- “That’s who you’re following as a disciple of Christ, folks. You need to find a better example.”
00:31:13 — [BREAK / Return] [CLIP: Trump] on Iran Negotiations
- Rev. Alexander plays a clip of Trump being asked about American financial considerations in Iran negotiations.
- Trump: “The only thing that matters... you cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. That’s the only thing.”
- Rev. Alexander’s takeaway: he just told you he doesn’t think about you — your finances, your spiritual condition, none of it.
00:32:04 — Caller: Guy — Iran Assets, Pentagon Firings, and a YouTube Testimony
- Guy notes Trump’s fixation on Obama and the Iran nuclear deal — points out the money sent to Iran was Iran’s own frozen assets, not a gift.
- Suggests the Trump administration’s mass firing of Pentagon intelligence staff has left them ill-equipped to navigate the Strait of Hormuz situation.
- Recommends listeners search YouTube for the story of a white Georgia farmer crushed under his tractor who reportedly received a message from Jesus Christ about the Black community.
00:33:57 — Caller: Imhotep — Humanism, Historical Context, and Why Young People Leave the Church (Part 1)
- Imhotep reframes the question: rather than asking if Trump is a Christian, ask if he is humane — “the things he says and does are inhumane.”
- Identifies as a humanist who has studied Buddhism’s four noble truths and eightfold path; argues shared humanity is a stronger unifying force than religion.
- Invokes his grandmothers (101 in 2001; 97 in 2016): “ain’t nothing new under the sun.”
- Historical walk: Black Codes (1700s), Bacon’s Rebellion (late 1600s), St. Augustine as first settlement before Jamestown, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, John Brown and Harpers Ferry (1859).
- The Puritans practiced a harsher form of Christianity in America than what they left behind in England — this behavior is not new.
00:37:17 — Caller: Imhotep — Why Young People Leave the Church (Part 2) / New BOY Mentoring
- At a Center for Leadership Development meeting, Imhotep observed the crowd: 75% Black women, 25% Black men — men must be more engaged.
- Three reasons young people aren’t in church: (1) single-parent homes where the working parent is at the hospital on Sundays; (2) young people are deconstructing — they read, they research on WorldCat and iCat, and they call out hypocrisy when a pastor rides a $200,000 Jag while the congregation eats cup noodles; (3) [implied: lack of male mentorship].
- His friend who runs New BOY (New Breed of Youth mentoring program) says you have to listen to young people.
- Solution: show them — 25–30 years of coaching and mentoring, leading by example as “a simple human being.”
00:39:03 — Response: Adults Must Act Now / Refighting the Civil Rights Movement
- Rev. Alexander refocuses: this moment requires adults to act — religious liberties for all faiths are under attack, even for self-described Christian nationalists who are still attacking Christians.
- The cross-faith coalition that works in redistricting fights can work here too.
- Pastor Greene: we are refighting the civil rights movement — the same forces that opposed voting rights, integration, and justice under Dr. King are back, more powerful.
- The Bible warns: cast out a demon and it returns with greater numbers. That’s what we’re seeing.
- The youth will be victims of this — they can’t lead the fight. Adults in the faith community must come to the table.
00:43:47 — White Christian Nationalism Is About Power, Not Service
- Pastor Greene draws the sharpest contrast of the night: at the core of Christianity is service to others; white Christian nationalism is about gaining power over others.
- They want power over Black people, Jewish people, poor people — the opposite of “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
- Turning Point USA has moved from college campuses to middle and high schools — Charlie Kirk’s operation is spreading fast.
- Some Black churchgoers migrate to white churches seeking proximity to power — sitting next to a senator or congressman feels like access — but that’s the wrong reason to choose a church.
- Pastor Greene has personally challenged pastors: how do you reconcile Matthew 25 with criminalizing the homeless?
00:45:48 — Voting Rights, Redistricting, and Pastors Who Criminalize the Homeless
- Rev. Alexander connects the dots: the same people who put their hands on Bibles at inauguration are stripping voting rights.
- Within hours of the Supreme Court’s redistricting ruling, officials in ongoing elections moved to redraw lines and redo votes — unprecedented.
- Pastor Greene: stopping an election midway is an act of pure power-seizure, not governance.
- The president doesn’t want to give up Congress; minimizing the Black vote is the mechanism.
- These actors aren’t heathens — they’re sitting in somebody’s church every Sunday morning.
00:50:17 — Closing: CICOA, IPS Funding Cuts, and What Discipleship Actually Looks Like
- Rev. Alexander ties the abstract to the concrete: CICOA (Central Indiana Coalition on Aging) is about to go away — services for widows, elderly, and disabled Hoosiers disappearing.
- Education funding is being cut from IPS.
- The services that embody Matthew 25 — feeding, clothing, caring — are being stripped away in real time.
- This is the difference between Christian nationalism and Christian discipleship: one seizes power, the other serves people.
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