Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Michael O. Emerson joins Frank Schaeffer to talk about race, segregation, Christian nationalism, and the unfinished story behind Divided by Faith.
Michael O. Emerson has spent decades studying the relationship between race and white evangelical Christianity in America.
In our Conversation, Michael explains why the central argument of Divided by Faith, our June It Has to Be Read. offering, has only become more urgent over time.
We discuss segregation inside churches, the rise of Christian nationalism, Trump-era politics, immigration, and the strange contradiction of a movement that claims to defend Christianity while rejecting many of the Christians arriving at America’s borders.
I also reflect on growing up in Francis Schaeffer’s world, living in apartheid South Africa, and why exposure to genuinely integrated communities changes how people see race.
I hope you enjoy this conversation about history, memory, faith, power, and what people choose not to see.
_____
LINKS
bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson
https://christiansmith.nd.edu
Our June It Has to Be Read. offering,
"Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, Second Edition" on Bookshop
bookshop.org/a/99692/9780197796726
_____
Michael O. Emerson joins Frank Schaeffer to talk about race, segregation, Christian nationalism, and the unfinished story behind Divided by Faith.
Michael O. Emerson has spent decades studying the relationship between race and white evangelical Christianity in America.
In our Conversation, Michael explains why the central argument of Divided by Faith, our June It Has to Be Read. offering, has only become more urgent over time.
We discuss segregation inside churches, the rise of Christian nationalism, Trump-era politics, immigration, and the strange contradiction of a movement that claims to defend Christianity while rejecting many of the Christians arriving at America’s borders.
I also reflect on growing up in Francis Schaeffer’s world, living in apartheid South Africa, and why exposure to genuinely integrated communities changes how people see race.
I hope you enjoy this conversation about history, memory, faith, power, and what people choose not to see.
_____
LINKS
bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson
https://christiansmith.nd.edu
Our June It Has to Be Read. offering,
"Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, Second Edition" on Bookshop
bookshop.org/a/99692/9780197796726
_____
