107000000000 dollars last year alone. and the big reason is china, which accounts for about 75 percent of the global toy market at 90 percent of the world's toy factories. the united states, however, imports more than $33000000000.00 worth of toys every year, more than any other country. and when it comes to the largest toy companies look to europe, lego, the danish maker of the popular plastic construction toys holds the title is the largest toy company in the world in sales. last year raking in about $9000000000.00 in total revenue. a big industry indeed that starts here this week with buyers getting a 1st look at the newest toys from around the world. gabriel was under l. g as in new york. the

. all right, let's take you through some of the headlines now. the us congress has approved a temporary funding bill to avoid government shutting down. the plan does not include additional funding for ukraine. the officer of position from some of the republican politicians president joe biden has signed the bill into law. as many as 9000 people are attempting to cross the us mexico border every day. many have travelled through several countries in latin america to get the in mexico, every single migrant shelter has now full capacity. the land is struggling to deliver a hundreds of thousands of suit, and these refugees have crossed from del, for and to chide. says the rainy season is making the difficult journey even more challenging because of the roads being flooded. to see

a government officials in cost of a towel to 0. sylvia has withdrawal and some of its troops from the boulder. its been a shop rise intentions and majority ethics of regions in northern costs of the us. uh the a will. and the bureau of punitive measures for it described as an unprecedented troop bill on the cost of a boy. the more i think all medians are fleeing, they're going to cut them off. most the heading to armenia fearing persecution, also as a vi, john took control of your own slaves. the government and the other one says more of a 100000 people have crossed into its power tree. is now asking the european union to help those headlines. the news continues here now just here, off the upfront. as a reminder, you can keep up to date with over news. if you head over to our website, how do you 0? don't com, a b, e,

usually just somebody just said to take place in canada as the block looks to make itself more, we will have somebody to help with z. just unite on the many challenges they face on the united states constitution holds the separation of church and state as sacrosanct. it's a pillar of american democracy at a poor facet of it's identity. however, in recent years, there's been an undercurrent of religious rhetoric and symbology permeating political discourse. first and nationalism is a term you might have heard on the news or in speech is from someone the right. but what does it really? is it on the rise this week and an upfront special, we take a closer look at 1st and nationalism and how it's affecting politics and civil rights in the united states. the joining us to discuss this is anthony,

a butler chair of religious studies at the university of pennsylvania and author of white evangelical racism, the politics of morality in america. amanda tyler, executive director of the baptist joint committee and contributing author to the christian nationalism and the january 6th insurrection report. and kristen do a professor of history at calvin university and author of jesus and john wayne, how white evangelicals corrupted of faith and fractured a nation, some provocative titles around here. it can be and thank you so much for joining me . i'm gonna start with you 1st, but the term kristin. nationalism has cropped up at various times and us history. and some of the argue it's had a consistent present since the countries founding from connections to white supremacist groups like the k k k, to the more recent patriot front of christian nationalism is by no means a new phenomenon. uh, taking its history into account. how do you define christian nationalism as it is today? actually simply, i just defined it as people who believe me, that god created america for a purpose that america is special. in other words,

when you are a christian nationalist, you believe that god created america as a christian nation. first of all, 2nd, that white men who were the founders of this nation were also christian. and the 3rd that christianity is the most important religion of all. and that really flies in the face of a lot of things that the founders in the front of, you know, all the founding documents, absolutely to arrive disposition, is it that fascinating? one that i've never understood? absolutely. and i think, you know, one of the things that i find troubling about this is the 2 things. actually, one is the way in which they get it all wrong about the founders and the framers and things that they've said. and what are documents, say in the declaration of independence and the constitution, you know, no religious tests, they believe in religious tests then and there's a big religious tested that about christianity. but at the same time, they don't want a lot of government, but they want a christian government. and so these are the things that i call the tensions within

christian nationalism about christian nationalism can't really get the story right . a 100 percent. and you know, for all of us around this table, we might have different iterations of what we think christian nationalism is. but i do thinking largest in very much in the history of this nation, how it was founded and why it was founded in everyone trying to put a divine sort of approbation about america. on top of everything. for some christian nationalism has that like a revival, and really a strong sense of 19 seventy's when evangelicals on the right kind of align themselves with the republican party. presumably in an effort to kind of galvanized an anti liberal movement set. uh, take us through. what's happened over the last, oh my god, it's been 50 years. i didn't realize the 70s that 50 years ago, the, the last half century of what's happened and how the ideology has kind of evolved over time. and you're exactly right. so the idea that america, as a christian nation, has been around for a very long time. but what we're talking about today,

the current kind of explosion of conversation around white christian nationalism really can be traced back to the 19 sixties and 1970 emerging in this cold war era . now just before that, you had a strong sense of patriotism, right? and we had a common enemy in communism. and christian nationalism was often something that united americans together not just really not just right wing paula to exactly your kind of consensus era in the sixty's that starts to splinter. and we have the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, and the anti war movement. and that's why we see some of these core values of patriotism, of christian america, of gender traditionalism kind of come together in an oppositional movement. so that we have people who are holding to these values are doing so over against other americans, over against civil rights activists over against feminist liberals, anti war activists. right. and so becomes this kind of oppositional movement and allies with the modern republican party. and that's really this christian

nationalism that we are seeing today, but it has been brewing for a very long time in white, evan jellico spaces. right. and he had talked about kind of this mythical notion, right. this is an accurate understanding of our nation's past. it ignores a lot of our founding documents. they will talk about the midst of the separation of church and state. but this has been cultivated in these spaces for decades in sermons, in popular literature, in christian film. and so it is really pervasive, and we're really seeing that the fruits of those seeds very clearly today made a cushion nationalism. an evangelical ism austin, sort of conflated, particularly in the context of trump, in the air of trump. what kind of followers are kind of all in the same mix, but many argue that these groups are actually not the same, that they're distinct. what specifically distinguishes christian nationalist from evangelicals. well, i think it's important to note the christian nationalism,

of course and nationalism as an ideology is a problem for all of the country. and it's a problem for all iterations of christianity. so while it would be convenient to say this is totally aligns with this one expression of christianity. i don't think that's accurate. i think that christians from across from all the different denominations need to wrestle with chris christian nationalism and understand how that's different than christianity. i think that christian nationalism though can help explain quite evangelicals as a voting block, white evangelicals voted in such high numbers for trump, what makes and you've been jealous, one even jealous as well? that's a, that's a $1000000.00 question, but i think that it's become a term that's more about identity than about religion, especially for white evangelicals. and that's because they're voting in such locks, step for a figure, likes trump, and then now for trump acolytes who are running in this,

in this selection. so it is more about an identity that carries with it assumptions about nativism and authoritarianism. and patriarchy. then it does about a religion of christianity. so it's not a particular faith claim or a particular orientation, particularly theological disposition or quote. but i think it's both about, i think increasingly we hear it as more of a political movement than a religious identity. and that's concerning friends from that you all agree with the crew. i would say it this way and i'm interested to hear what christian would say to you. i would say that it used to be the logical construct that late in kind of ideas. they came out of the 17th of 18th century what, what does it mean to be evans alcohol? you know, when we think of the word and galico with which is basically spread the gospel and the good news, right. this is how evans almost always thought of themselves. what we see now is evan chuckle is i'm being acquainted with politics. and so i've said before, i wrote an article back in 2012 about this, and i said that republicanism was

a new religion. and that this is a religion that had aligned itself with evan jell clueless. i mean, i think you're gonna explain something to me, the fascinating and confusing to me. if we say it's a political identity. yeah. we say it's rooted in a particular set of christian values around reading the good news, right? yeah. or i get there competing interpretations and ideas about what it means to be question about what the good news is about the new testament about do i get all of it right? but i can't imagine any iteration that makes sense and corresponds to top. and yet, even jessica's tie themselves to trump, if you are, you've been jealous of any sort whether you are, even if you thought i would have thought of it as a left wing idiology, if you thought it was a right wing idiology, you're a quarter point bible thumper, and you were, you know, mean if you're a literalist you, i mean, there's no version of this thing that makes sense with trump presidency. his identity, his character, his history, his say a lot of these people pick 12,

somebody please up ma'am, saying i'd love to take my go. so i'm a you right. at some evans, all calls will define themselves as a theological, as a group defined by their theology. and they'll talk about things like a born, again experience and the authority of the scriptures. and um, i the centrality of the cross of christ, right? this is how they will define themselves, at least their leader, as well as a cultural historian. while i was looking at the history i saw that didn't really hold together, it doesn't make sense because the vast majority of black protestants in this country, for example, could check off all those boxes. and they do not identify is angelica because it's very clean, even difficult, don't identify them as them either. the most do not write some, some will claim them, but not actually, you know, they won't be in the same churches together or in the same organizations. in many cases, and so i see evans alcoholism, largely as a cultural movement and a system of networks and alliances. so if you want to understand of angelica wisdom today, you have to look at the organizations out there at christian publishing,

at the massive industries. it's a consumer culture, our christian radio, and so it, it shares that quote, unquote christian world view and a far and wide through this popular culture and through membership in these organizations. and that membership is police right. there are gatekeepers here and, and it's those organizations that then unite with political organizations. this is now the story a how do we get from this understanding of admin job wisdom to support of donald trump? that's where we have to bring in the politics and the power. because with in these communities they have for half a century now cultivated this understanding that they are under threats, that they have to fight to restore christian america, and that the liberals are against them. everybody is so they need power, they need power in order to restore christian america. and trump came in and he was the right guy for the job precisely because he was not constrained by traditional christian virtue. and he told them he would fight to protect christianity,

and they actually called him their alternate fighting champion. he was their warrior and he would be ruthless on their behalf to preserve their supremacy. exactly. and, and supremacy is the right word here because there's one more thing that he was for white people period. and so this is the thing that i get at. and my book is that i want people understand that evans articles have always had problems about race. so you say racism is it is a feature, not a book. and it's a feature of this in, you know, there's one kind of history that we talk about it ever juggles, and that's great. abolition is a, you know, trying to get the vote. suffer is all these things, right? even have all of the civil rights movement, right? but there's another history about evan jungle is a separating because it's wanting to have slaves, southern baptists, k k, k, who start the k k, k. a pastor. all right? you know, we have what are we fighting against king because they are evil because they are

trying to use up the status quote. we see how this goes, right? so by the time you get the truck, right, what are the we just had before? drop of blood president brock. hussein obama, who to possibly be from america, who is, you know, you use syrup or who is why the tea party movement habits. and then to get donald trump and all of these people who are evan shell calls in 2016. you have a rise in people who vote for donald trump in 2020, but what studies have found one in particular, i'm sorry, i'm forgetting the name that they said more people called themselves up and joel because of what happened in 2016. not because they thought they believed in this particular kind of christianity. it's because they believe that admin joel coal is a mit white to them. and that is the core of all of this white mist is imbedded in american. evan. joe, cool. if you could have black in the jungles, you could have latino evan jungle. but why dublin, joel coles, or the senate won,

not of everything they are yet. and so as a voting block, they are the people that they go for. and let me say this very clearly, because this is the way you need to understand why i have a job is like, don't try. donald trump delivered donald trump delivered the pre court justices over $200.00 justice. it's donald trump delivered for them. she was there, deliver it from when we say deliberate, supreme court justices, we're talking about the justices who would overturn robi way. that's right. okay. and which was the thing that they have been fighting for for a very long time. and so he got those justices. he got those just as a sort of a lot of everything for them. so why wouldn't they go to the capital and fight for him? why wouldn't they go to the ballot box and fight for him? why wouldn't they believe that the election was a lot? because donald trump was ordained by god to be in that particular position. and so that's what evan joel calls think write down who are for donald trump?

of course is in your book a g, as in john wayne, you write that evangelical support for former president. trump is the combination of evangelicals embrace of militant masculinity and the callous display of power at home and abroad. those are ideas that seemed again to be at odds with some of their fundamental faith claims fundamental beliefs. um, how do you reconcile? how do they reconcile these things? do they attempt to wreck it out? and i love you to wellness as well. i mean, how do they reconcile this stuff? yeah, i mean, they did seem to be when i 1st started this research, which was almost 20 years ago now actually i was, was looking at popular of indelicate books on masculinity, on how to be a christian man. and this is a huge market, right? these books, some of them are selling in the millions. so vast market and people are men are studying these in churches and in small groups, what does it mean to be a christian man? while i read some of these and i was surprised because there weren't a whole lot of bible verses in these books. instead they look for hollywood heroes

. they look to mel gibson, this william wallace from the maybe braveheart or that's their favorite. they looked a cowboys and warriors and soldiers, and john wayne, right. and this not like jesus, not jesus. right? but then what they ended up doing is they transformed jesus, they transformed the jesus of the gospels into this warrior christ. now you can find some passages and revelation to work with them to build on, and then they, they make jesus and to this, like man on it with big muscles on tattoos, down his leg, charging into battle, wielding a bloody sword to slay his enemy. so when they're talking about following christ, right, that's the christ that they're holding up, not the christ to says, love your enemies, love your neighbor, turn the other cheek and put that sword away. and so there's the logical work actually being done to transform historic christian t change in the service of their own quest for power. amanda, you said the question nationalism was a political ideology, not

a religious indemnity, as you've talked about here. but christian nationalism is distinguished from everyday political conservatism. why has this kind of nationalist ideology been attached to christianity in the us? in particular, there's always been this disconnect about who we say we are and who we really are. and so who we say we are as a country as a country that embraces religious freedom for all it's right there in our founding documents, no religious test and that there will are government will remain secular so that religion can flourish. but christian nationalism which privileges christianity and says, there is a special place for christians and american society has been running alongside these ideals all the way. and so i think it's just been there for people to seize upon and try to organize around. and there is cultural live legitimacy still to being a christian, there is a special place, it seems, and different in elective office. all of our presidents, for instance,

of all profess christianity that even though true exactly, is despite there being no religious test for public office. and so i, i think that we, we see this tension in our society right now. and so there's something still a culturally current about being a christian and professing christianity that provides cover for what is really become authoritarian action uh in, in our current contact. i want to drill down a little bit on this question about the kind of foundational documents of the united states and how they say there's no religious tests and how they establish a separation of church and state and said in the thomas jefferson. yeah, referred to this stablish ment clause in the 1st amendment. me as a wall of separation between religion and government or as we commonly call it again this separation of church and state. but christian nationalists seem to want to undermine this, which wouldn't be so weird if they weren't also brandishing the constitution and constitutional rhetoric about freedom and democracy in liberty. yeah. how do they

reconcile this to me that mass messaging would be asking this? well, i think probably the question isn't, you know, how are they doing it? the question is doing it, and then they don't really care about that history. thomas jefferson, what does it has disney junior was gonna, i mean, this engine was absolutely disingenuous because as many people are on the table, there's lots of, of, um, tongues that have been written about history. from a very strange perspective. i a david barton who writes these histories that are not real histories about america and american religion. right. and so when john jefferson is writing to the church in danbury, connecticut, and saying, you know, they should be as well as know, we're not doing this right. they don't care that thomas jefferson had a koran. they don't care that the corolla is split and right down the street and the see at the smithsonian. what they care about is that god made this a special nation. and so when you talk about this nation being special, those documents can read them how you want to read them because you don't read the

same history that kristen is teaching in her history class, or i'm teaching in american religion class. they're not reading that stuff. they are reading these kinds of made up homes. this is, this is a nostalgia movement. and we have to think about christian nationalism as adults delta massage before time that never exist. it does delta for time. the didn't exist at the beginning of this nation. why did people come here? they came here to escape, you know, ty, radical religion in england. they wanted to have religious freedom to do what they wanted to do. they were religious people. and now we see this being used as no, no, no, we need to have a state religion just like english. this is crazy, right? because you're doing exactly the thing that our founders and framers were with battles for. and so i think what we have to really understand about people who are embracing christian nationalism right now is that they may not get all the nuances around this table, right. they just hear this as another phrase in

a whole lot of phrases like make america great. again, american exceptionalism, the greatness of america that have been spewed out from different kinds of people through our history. kristin, some would argue that christian nationalism is gaining political clout. a number of politicians is like marjorie taylor, green, lauren boulevard, and republican pennsylvania. gubernatorial candidate doug muster. yano have all been increasingly in the spotlight while towing the christian nationalism line. is christian nationalism to influence on the rise, or is it a matter of these voices being louder and taking up more space in the political discourse? it's both it's about. and that's something that we've seen really just in the last few months. initially when scholars a social scientist and so we're surfacing this and saying this is kristen nationalism and and it's authoritarian and anti democratic and it's all of these other things we saw inside christian spaces among those who are promoting christian

nationalism deny that it even existed. and say that you're just smearing us for being patriot. and, and then within just weeks we ha, the rhetoric shift and we saw people like marjorie taylor green. come out and say, yes, i'm a christian national as a national, as learn bober and proud of it. and, and not just that, but all christians ought to be christian nationalists. and then all christians are christian nationalists. amanda, we have seen the overturning of all the way to landmark federal ruling. the guaranteed the right to abortion, a wave of anti translate distillation government funding earmarked for religious education all. and it's kind of part of an alarming shifting policy in june to share rulings tied to the far right going forward. how is christian nationalism going to affect the fundamental, i mean, really the basis of civil rights for people in united states? i think christian national lives and strikes at the very heart, a civil rights for all americans. i've said that christian nationalism is the single biggest threat today for religious freedom for all,

because it cuts against that core foundational ideas that are belonging in american society should never depend on how we worship, or how we identify religiously and christian nationalism ties to blow, all of that up. and so one part of christian nationalism, of course, is the site that the united states should be declared a christian nation. it very alarmingly, there was a new pull out, but the majority of republicans believe that the united states should be declared a christian nation, even though a majority of republicans also know that that's unconstitutional. yeah, so, so they understand, that's why i don't believe that that chris, those who most the spouse, christian nationalism really believe in the 1st amendment. they don't, they believe in a, a system of government that would privilege christianity. and then unfortunately, it's a fascinating given how mellow dramatically they have talked about. yes,

going into the middle east. how they need to tear down is allow me governments lumnick states, how they've denounces lumnick nationalism and religious tests of other sorts of in there really thing we don't have a problem with states and religion and we just want our state now. religion. i say, i think you got it. i think that's exactly right. that they have progress the of, of condemning religious nationalism on the world stage while trying to embrace it at home. but that's exactly what's happening. and i think in a post real world, we will see attempts at religious laws being passed in the state legislatures. and at the same time, the us supreme court in the last term, not only with the jobs decision, but also with really landmarks, decisions trying to destroy the wall between a separation between church and state, have under cut the legal protections, and that, that could become a reality, i think this is incredibly concerning both for civil rights of all americans. and

especially for those in our public schools. i'm really concerned about christian nationalism and civil rights of our youngest neighbors. those in the public schools . and. and for instance, if we might see more state sponsored religious exercise in the public schools as well as of course, the attack on history being taught in the public schools, they would much rather teach the mythology of a christian nation. been a candid history of the united states, we could, we could literally into the schools with dinosaurs, the right of the curriculum, and we're going back to creation creation stories. well, i mean, i can't believe we're having this conversation, but we no longer have the legal protections or the support of the, of the united states supreme court and helping us to send off attacks like this. and so it's going to be up to those of us who, who are concerned about christian nationalism who don't want to see this is a religious state of who care about religious freedom for all people to stand up in huge at those foundational ideals. but what i think the 3 of you for an amazing conversation, are you right? that is our show up front will be back. next week

the, the the in depth analysis of the day, you say like, 1000000000 euros to help to address migration. is it going to ease the micro prices to make it worse? informed opinions, we need more investors and more people that make key decisions to embrace human foothold. frank assessments this balance between to toe and sound reassuring is

potentially important for the volume. missing the station inside, stored on al jazeera, thought provoking on. but the patient doesn't have time to wait for the extremely unfortunate script. there are no quick wins and events or research hard hitting interviews. do you feel like america is less than the days of these days or is it just a different full? i think the democracy in the process facing realities. do you see that the fraction is already starting the g 7 in the us on one side, china and the brakes on the other? i think there is a huge piece of that to happen via the story on talk to how does era last year of his son experienced one of the worst floods in the country's history? many rule communities are still waiting for help. hundreds of people on the outskirts of the city of may have had been living under open skies for a year in last year's floods. this road behind me, those fields, the entire area that stretches in this direction was completely submerged. many of

the homes and buildings that were destroyed are still rubble. and parts of this district had started the flood once again, the, the, the 10s of thousands of people are making. it's dangerous to any sort of past life in the us. countries across the region are struggling to cope on the home or on the go up the amount of mexico food, where ret, code numbers of people being flashing that river trying to get to the united states . and i'm going to see a new woman in that that young gap which has been described as the most treacherous part of the journey. thousands of languages you could see here.