that worked incredibly well both at fort hunt, and in europe. >> robert sutton and his book " nazis on the potomac" on c-span's q&a. you can listen to that and all of our other podcasts on the c-span now app. ♪ >> "washington journal"

continues. host: we are back and we want to know from you what is the most important issue facing your town and city? we are going to open up regional lines, so if you are in the eastern or central time zones we want to hear from you at 202-748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, your number will be 202-748-8001. keep in mind that you can always text us at 202-748-8003. and, we are always reading on social media on twitter at c-spanwj and facebook.com/c-span. many of our callers from the original segment on these questions said that crime was one of the biggest issues in their city or town and "the washington post" has a story about how mayors around the country are feeling about crime

in the united states right now. i will read a couple of paragraphs of that story to you. "the past two years have been dreadful. the public safety in u.s. cities as homicide numbers soar, sometimes to record levels. experts say a constellation of factors is to blame including the pandemic scars, and a breakdown in trust between police and the community is that they serve during the social of rest of 2020. but as 2022 kicks off, city leaders from coast-to-coast say the stars might be aligning in a different way. flush with federal pandemic relief funds, mayors are pumping money into crime prevention programs that have demonstrated early promise. police chiefs are using advanced data to target places and people for intervention even as they attempt to mend badly strained neighborhood ties. and community such as mahr's

tired of burying their own, are rising up against those most responsible for their deaths. the results might be a golden opportunity to break the trend of spiraling violent crime." we want to know from you what are the most important issues in your city and town right now? let us start with mike calling from new york. mike, good morning. caller: good morning. yes, that is correct, i am from a small upstate new york town and i feel that what is happening to my little small community is the same that is happening to every small community our large community it does not matter. american community. it is you know the inability to address our real problems, inequality, -- income

inequality, loss of jobs and loss of freedoms that are being whittled away at on a daily basis. everything american seems to be windowdressing. we seem to be mad at immigration movement rather than large corporations that own the media, whom they own every basic aspect of our lives. and, you know, it is a lack of truth, and it just creates a lot of division between what we choose to create, which is different classes of americans. host: let us talk specifically, what do you think local officials should be doing or can do about any of these issues? caller: well it is a typical

thing, it is a small community. it is a recreational area. it is an area that is where the upper crust on these recreational properties and they live in their bubble, and the local community, which is x working class, we used to have some industry. there is no working class. we are close to the county seat. you can see the poverty. it is in your face every day. the economy grows as the recreation increases. you know seasonally. you know, it is just my own community suffers the same problem all of america suffers.

corporate america dictates what we are going to address and what we are not. host: donald also calling from new york. pronounce the name of your town for me. caller: yes, sir. canastota you new york -- new york. host: what is the most important thing? caller: i wanted to say in canas tota new york, there is a lot of racism and underage drinking. i tried to cash a check in a bank and was not allowed to for $1200 and it was a people check. we need a lot more black and african-american or african state troopers. there are people driving without licenses and a lot of under age drinking. the marriott of -- the mayor of the beach is a major drug dealer. i saw a lot of drugs going to

the post office. and at verona beach and silver beach. i think they really need law enforcement there. host: ann host: ed, good morning. guest: -- caller: hey, jesse. the problem in my place is the same problem in the whole country, the whole world. you know? it is about greed. it is all about greed. host: could you tell us exactly what you mean about greed in desert hot springs? caller: i have been here about 40 years and i remember just 10 years ago, everybody was against cannabis and marijuana and the drug and the drug problem and everything. guess what? since california has legalized

cannabis, we are becoming the major cannabis producer in california. that's bringing in a lot of money to our city and stuff. that's the only reason that they are letting them do that. as far as the homeless people, you know, people got what they got and they don't want to give it up. the homeless people, they need to do what they -- they need to get normal and have normal lives and stuff. everybody is concerned about what they want to do and what they -- it's mim -- it's my, my, my, me, me, me, all about greed. host: let's go to stand, calling from scottsboro, alabama. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. host: go ahead, stay --

stan. caller: i live in a small, rural town in northeast alabama. like a lot of other issues these guys have covered, it's all on point, but another issue i've got is food insecurity. we've got to feed our nation before we can do anything else, and i hope america has taken over the food situation, like the speaker said there, like in my community, we have the disparities between race and the economy separates us all because of different classes and different income levels, but all of us have to eat, jesse. that's my number one issue in america today. host: so whose responsibility is it 10 food security? is that a local issue, a state

issue, or should it fall to charities? caller: everyone's issue is food and security. host: whose responsibility is it to solve that problem? caller: it's all of our problems. we all have to work together to solve it. it cannot be solved by one thing, but it is a fact that corporate america has taken over our food and our farms. i am retired now, but i used to farm food. i would not want to farm nowadays, because you cannot get anything for your produce, your cattle and hogs. they are doing the same thing they did 10, 11 years ago. the corporate america has adjusted their food situation. they determine what we eat. you can't get anything other than what's on your store shelves, and they determine what's on the store shelves. host: during the u.s. conference of mayors, the president of that

organization, republican francis suarez of miami, came out to talk about the rising crime rate in cities across the nation. here's what mayor francis suarez of miami had to say. [video clip] >> public safety is the foundation of our quality of life. american cities must be safe and secure for all who live in them, no exceptions, no asked uses. it is a commitment to safety and security that has defined our country and set us apart from the world. as mayors, we owe it to our residents to increase, not decrease funding for our police, because being a police officer is the hardest job in america today. [applause] never has a profession been asked to do so much for so little pay with so much scrutiny. we have to work together to get

crime and homicide rates down across america, just as we did this past year in miami. the support the mission of public safety, we must invest in the guardians of public safety, our police. host: to robert, calling from st. petersburg, florida, about the most important issue in his city. robert, good morning. caller: good morning. well, to me, one of the issues here on the gulf coast of florida has to do with environmentalism and perhaps global warming. it is estimated that there are 100,000 pythons in the everglades and they are moving north. i have a daughter-in-law who works part-time in the pro shop at a golf course in naples, and

they recently removed a very large python from the edge of that golf course, and it is hurting business. although she works part time, she is friends with the manager, the owner, and she feels that people have shied away from the golf course because of these pythons. they are doing nothing but growing and it seems to be a problem with the community, the chamber of commerce does not really want to acknowledge. they recently had a large mobile home community here in the county, where a guy went out to his toolshed and found a six foot python in their, in what was remarkable about it, he lived in the middle of this mobile home community and this was the first time anyone had seen that. that means the python had to come in here.

that is a little talked about subject in central and south florida, especially southwest florida. host: definitely a florida issue, pythons. let's talk to elaine, calling you, washington. what's your most important issue happening in olympia, washington today? caller: it is the tent cities that line our freeways, all of our roads, all of our parks. it used to be that when i was poor and i did not have much money, i went to live in a mobile home park. i could buy my own little mobile home, and that was used for the down payment of the next one, and that was used for a down payment on a home. now, mobile home parks have gotten a bad rap. there are a lot of homeless people out here that could be living in inexpensive

environments,, but the governments have stepped in and put a cub on -- kabash on that, and they are not around anymore. i think that has to do with a lot of the homeless around here. host: speaking of homelessness, the website smart cities dive has an article on it on how mayors feel like homelessness is happening and the control they have over it. i will read a few paragraphs to you. a few mayors in a survey of over 100 cities feel they are being held accountable by residents to address homelessness, but only one out of five of those surveyed feel like they have substantial control over the issue. according to a report released tuesday, from the 2020 menino survey of mayors.

the menino survey of mayors, led by the boston university initiative on cities, included conversations with 126 mayors between june and august 2021. mayors reported having limited staff to address homelessness with nearly one third saying they have no staf, exclusively dedicated to serving homeless populations. furthermore, mayors have limited data on homelessness. 38% reported having only having access to citywide data. if a mayor feels like they do not have the authority, the data, or the choice point, they need to build a system that can and homelessness -- end homelessness. they should put those issues on the table and recognize the local system -- reorganize the

local system. this is from smart cities dive, how mayors feel like they do not have the data install these homeless part -- data to stall these homeless problems in their own cities. let's go to betty, calling from palmetto, florida. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. my name is betty mitchell. i am 90 years old. i have to say this -- when i was growing up, in florida, we had what was called the wpa. they would give people groceries every wednesday. each week. what i don't understand, people don't want to help nobody. on christmas time, they have food banks and nfl, but people have to live year-round. and people are thinking they are not working -- you spend all of

it in a week when you pay your rent. it is ridiculous, the way the top people are treating poor people. i grew up poor. i had two grandchildren at 50 years old, i did not want them to go into foster care. i did not go on food stamps or nothing. i worked two jobs and raise them. everybody does the same thing. i don't want the government to take care of me, but i think [inaudible] a lot of them get several hundred dollars a month, how can't they pay rent, $1400 a month, with a $700 check? host: let's go to june, calling

from hartley, delaware. june, good. caller: good morning, everyone. i concur with the lady calling from florida regarding homelessness. we have had this problem for a long time. i listened to a lot of people when they talk about homelessness, they talk about food, needs, but housing seems to be the number one issue. it is one of the reasons for homelessness. i get a check for social security for $1800, but three quarters of that goes to rent. if they can come up with a solution where they put a control or top on rent to prevent landlords from their greedy motives of constantly raising rent to the point where people can no longer afford it, i would like to see something done about that. homelessness is a problem --

yesterday, it's a problem today, and it will be a problem tomorrow. host: let's go to joe, calling from kathleen, georgia. caller: good morning. host: turn your television down and go ahead, joe. caller: one thing about it, problems in my community and in my america -- host: joe, turn your television down. caller: let me turn it down -- the problem in my community and my america, there has to be some form of religion for people to have some dunes and don'ts in their life. you can have all the police officers in this country, you can pass all the laws, but until you have some form of belief, you are going to have all kinds

of stuff going on, shooting and everything else. a person has to have some do's and don'ts in their life. you can't let people be lord to themselves. that's all i have to say on that. any questions? host: we'd like to thank all of our callers who called in for that segment. coming up next, we will explore the intersection between politics and faith in our weekly spotlight on podcast segments with will wright and pastor josh burtram, cohost of the faithful politics podcast. stick around, we will be right back. ♪ >> during the final three years of world war ii, nearly 3000 nazis were detained and interrogated at fort hunt, a top-secret military intelligence facility along the potomac river

in washington, d.c. sunday night on q&a, the former chief historian of the national park service and author of the book "nazis on the potomac" talks about fort hunt and the importance it played during the war. >> there were two russian-americans at the fort and potomac. they were dressed in red uniforms and conspicuous throughout the ford. if the interrogator thought someone was being cagey and not supplying information, they would call in one of these two fellows. they are like oh, you do not want to talk to us? maybe i've been here can take you to the soviet union. -- ivan here can take you to the soviet union. i i'm sure they would love -- i am sure they would love to hear what you have to say.

that worked remarkably well. >> you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our new c-span now app. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back, and this is our weekly spotlight on podcasts segment. this week, we have the cohosts of the faithful politics podcast

, pastor josh burtram and will wright, who are here to discuss their show, described as being for people who enjoy discussions of politics and religion. good morning, gentlemen. guest: good morning. host: josh, we will start with you. when and why did you to start the faithful politics podcast? guest: thanks, jesse. it was in 2020. the pandemic had just started and will and i had met through some mutual friends. we started talking and he knew i was a conservative and he was more on the liberal side, so we weren't going to agree on a lot. he asked me hey, do you want to do a podcast? i had been thinking about it, that god had been putting it in my heart to do it, so i said yeah, i would love to do a

podcast. the rest is history. we got connected and have become really good friends and have done the podcast, which has really connected us over the past year and a half, two years. host: will, tell us how the podcast has affected you personally, and who do you think you are speaking to out there? guest: thank you again, jesse, i appreciate you having us on. it's interesting, when we started this podcast, we didn't really know what was going to happen. this was a passion of the pandemic. it was around april i met josh, in march. we didn't know each other, our relationship grew over time. if i am being absolutely honest, i didn't really know the impact it would have on the community. i didn't really know how big of a need there was to actually have another podcast, right? the podcast market is

supersaturated anyways. but i did have a belief that there was a belief to have -- there was a need for people to have civil discourse. i am a west coast native, he's from virginia, some might call me a flaming liberal progressive, and he's a conservative pastor who voted for trump. i was like, let's try this. let's try this experiment and see if we can actually have conversations about really difficult topics and bring different viewpoints to the table. it's been absolutely phenomenal and amazing. we've got a lot of great feedback and we have an audience that ranges from believers, nonbelievers, republicans, democrats, progressives. we have such a diversity in our audience, it's really -- it really gives me hope for how

conversation can be structured in the country. host: both of you have already implied this in your conversations, but it seems that you two are very different politically. josh, i want you to describe yourself politically and will, i want you to tell us where you fit in on the political spectrum. guest: yeah, well, i would not call it a card-carrying republican, because i do not think i am actually registered, but i have voted republican most of my life, if not all of it. when i started and was enabled to do it. i am very conservative, i started getting into politics in 2010, after i got married, some issues really concern me on the national level that i wanted to know more about. supreme court cases, how the supreme court works, the power of the president, all sorts of stuff.

i started to really get interested. i would never call myself far right, but i was pretty conservative. any of the major issues you could look at, i would probably agree much more with the republican party than with the democratic party in our two-party system. that's how i've been working -- but my relationship with will, it's really affected me in a positive way to learn how to talk about these things, to learn how to talk to someone who disagrees with you, who doesn't see things the same way that you do and know that you can be friends with them, you can care about them, you can have discourse with them. if we don't come to a place of understanding, we can't get anywhere. if we don't come to a common ground, we can't get anywhere constructive in our conversation. that is why this is so

important. we are trying to model how to have constructive conversations around difficult issues, and especially the people we bring on and interview -- how to ask questions, how to think, how to hear people differently. i am very conservative, voted for trump in 2016, i didn't in 2020 for my own personal reason, but i will guess on who i voted for -- maybe i will let one of you guys in, who is listening. but that is where i am at. host: well, describe yourself politically for our audience. guest: i am a bit of an enigma as far as our republicans and democrats are concerned. i am a former military man, so that is one piece, and the other side, i was born and raised in california in the seattle area. on a lot of issues from a democrat standpoint, i fully support same-sex marriage, a

woman's right to choose, i am for reparations, there are a lot of issues that are sort of traditional, check the box democrat stuff that i am four. on the others, i am very much into gun legislation that has responsible gun control, but is not necessarily taking guns. as a democrat, i am a gun owner, said the navy -- so maybe that makes me a bit of an enigma, but i believe in our second amendment rights. on some issues i am pretty far left and on other issues i am more centerleft. on very few issues am i far right or super conservative or anything like that. host: so the two of you take on the two issues that we are told never to talk about around the dinner table. first politics and then religion.

you describe your podcast as being for people who actually enjoy discussions of religion and politics. why do we normally shy away from those topics? we will start with you, will. guest: a large reason we shy away from those topics is due to the base camps people have affixed themselves to. there is this really great study back in 2014 out of the boston college that talks about the idea of motive attribution asymmetry, which puts people in certain camps, and each of those camps view their own actions, you know, intent through very all truest day, loving eyes. they view the actions of the people in their outgroup, you know, through very evil intent. the democrats, they want to do these things for their evil purposes, and if i am a

republican, i think my view is the right one, and vice versa. if you are a democrat who thinks the republicans are very evil, you are the holy and altruistic one. one of the reasons you don't talk about the topics at the dinner table is because people just don't know how to view each other through an outgroup lens. they don't know how to talk to each other without trying to persuade them. i know this for a fact. when i speak with people -- fyi, i am a horrible dinner guest because i will talk about religion and politics -- but people are so anchored into what they believe. that's fine. it's fine to have a foundation. but it is also fine to be open-minded to another perspective. not with the intent that it is

going to change your mind, but the intent of viewing that other person as a complex individual with their own set of beliefs they have reached through their own set of experiences. host: jump in here, josh. why should we not be afraid to talk about these issues, like you do on your podcast? guest: that's a great question. i would say, it is fear that makes us we don't want to talk about these things. i don't think we should be afraid of it. if someone wants to be our friend and care about us and love us, they should love all of us. part of that means they should love our beliefs, whether they can agree with them or not, whether they think they are legitimate or not, we should care about each other. if i'm am going to love someone fully and care for someone fully, part of that is what they believe and what they think. i think we get very afraid that either we are going to sound like we are dumb, so we don't

want to talk about it, we are going to sound uninformed, we don't want to talk about it. we are going to get in an argument and people don't like conflict. if it turns into an argument, winners and losers, and someone ends up losing. that's most of what we see in the media, talking heads that get on, they talk about something, and they want to win. they want to clear loser and a clear winner. we want people to be able to learn, grow, because that's what helps you grow and learn more, you're finding common ground, you are understanding and understanding first. understanding has a perceived judgment and so often we put judgment before understanding, and i think that's why people get tied up. they get judged, they do not want the conflicts, and they are afraid of these things. i think we should care about each other. part of caring about each other is listening to things that

people really deeply believe. religion and politics are some of the deepest held beliefs that we have. host: let me take a second here to remind our viewers that they can take part in this conversation. we're going to open up regional lines. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, you can call (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, your number is (202) 748-8001. keep in mind, you can always text to (202) 748-8003, and we are always reading on social media, on twitter at @cspanwj and facebook at facebook.com/cspan. let's talk a little bit about the faithful politics podcast. how do you choose your subjects, josh? where do you get your ideas from? guest: will and i will talk.

we will have conversations about things we are interested in and things that are really highly political. we will look at perennial issues, perennial meaning they have always been around or have been around for some kind of significant period of time. ferrigno -- for instance, abortion, same-sex marriage, gun rights, racism in america. then we look at what is hot in the news, what's taking up the most bandwidth right now when it comes to topics people are looking at and are interested in. another way, we find people we think you are interesting -- who we think are interesting and well educated, i reach out to university professors, will does that too.

he also reaches out to a lot of journalists he follows. we look for people who have something to say regarding these issues, look out to them and ask them if they will be on the podcast. we explain it, we show them our guest list, and we just kind of get an idea of what they want to do. so we are digging through the topics constantly, we are talking about it. he will suggest something, i will suggest something. we do different series at different times, so we try to have a wide range of topics that we cover. whoever thought masks or vaccines would be a political topic, yet they are right now. this is what we are trying to pay attention to, and anything can become political because of people and their deeply held beliefs. host: well, talk us through the production of an episode. how often do you all talk and how often does the show come out? guest: we post our episodes every tuesdays, we are available

on every major platform, and we have a video portion we generally release on youtube on some -- sunday. this podcast, it is only a two-person operation. it is just josh and i, but we really believe in having good quality content, good quality guests. most of the days it is just josh and myself pounding the pavement , trying to produce something really good, make sure our mics are good, make sure our platform is good and doing a lot of leg work, emailing people to say hey, do you want to be on our podcast? we do this -- we interviewed --

like, josh is the pastor in a large congregation and virginia, but he volunteers his personal time. host: let's let our viewers in the conversation. let's start with nitro. good morning. caller: good morning. i think that there -- jesus christ was not a political figure. jesus christ stayed away from politics. jesus christ taught me how to pray. why do i need you talking heads, you two are talking heads, why do i need you to interpret what jesus christ has taught me? thomas jefferson's bible is in the smithsonian institute. he took out all the extraneous stuff and just

supplied the quotations, the sayings of jesus christ. of matthew -- in matthew 6:6, if you are familiar with that, how do you pray? do you -- do i need you to be the middleman between me and my superhero jesus christ? host: go ahead and respond. josh? guest: sure, that is a great question. why do we even need this? first, we are not trying to be the mediator between anyone person -- i think there is only one mediator between us and god, and that is jesus. what we are trying to do, we are trying to create a forum in which people can talk about difficult things. there is no sense that we are the ultimate experts, that we are the only ones that anyone should listen to or anything like that. our purpose is to find our niche

and be able to encourage conversations around difficult topics, because we believe that can bring unity to people. we see so much conflict in the media, in our daily lives, that people are afraid to even talk about this stuff. these are the things they believe most deeply in their life. how is it that we can't talk about things that we feel the most deeply about? we are afraid to say it, depending on who is in office. we are afraid to be honest depending on who is in power. that's not the america i love, the culture i want for my kids, for myself, i want religious freedom. i want people to be able to talk about what is deeply on their heart and be heard and understood, and let the marketplace of ideas and the competition in the marketplace of ideas show which ones are the

best. which ones produce the most fruit. there is no sense of -- i think the caller is misunderstanding our purpose -- there is no sense of being a mediator or trying to somehow be the only experts on what is going on. and as far as jesus being political, i agree. he wasn't necessarily a political figure. that depends on how you define politics -- he was killed by the roman government on charges of sedition and insurrection, a political charge. he raised himself above politics, told his followers to be different and raised his kingdom over all others. that is an inherently political thing, transcending the political earthly schemes we have. to say that jesus wasn't political, i disagree with that.

if the language in which you define politics and the way you look at the sayings of jesus in his life and his teachings. host: will, what does the role of faith play in the podcast? your personal faith and faith in general? guest: i think people's faith can help inform, can help guide, can help color a lot of their political decisions they make depending on how they care about their own life. i think that is great. people of faith and people without faith, we are a great country that allows this diversity of thought, and i think it is an amazing thing, whether you are muslim, hindu, or christian, that you allow your face to color your politics. -- your faith to color your politics.

my own personal faith, i wasn't always a christian. i considered myself an atheist for a while and i came to the faith in 2008, when i married my wife. my personal faith has colored my own liberal view of politics from a lot of different standpoints. when it comes to immigration -- jesus was an immigrant, right? freedom of choice -- god wants us to choose him without him commanding us, so i think people having the ability to choose for themselves is a real, really important aspect. faith colors my politics, but not in the way people would expect. but most people don't see the christian left as a group to be

taken seriously. but we are out there. we are out there. host: let's go back to our phone lines and talk to richard, calling from california. good morning. caller: yeah, hi, good morning. i am glad you guys are doing this podcast, because first of all, we need to talk about faith intertwined with real events, politics, social issues, you know? in a way jesus was a radical for his time, you know? in a way, he was talking about a kingdom beyond all kingdoms that were in power, especially the roman kingdom. that is essentially the reason why he was crucified and persecuted. i had an experienced when i was baptized when i was eight, which was spiritual in nature. jesus has been there with me -- it didn't prevent a lot of

things from happening to me in life, but i know i was saved through the most difficult times because of it. the idea i see about religion is, people get, there are conservative christians, there are more liberal christians, and they get kind of stuck in their ideology, that i am right and everybody else is wrong. if you don't line up with my beliefs, you are an outcast. right? that is not what jesus said, right? if people just followed simple teachings of jesus, one tipple thing, do onto others as you would have them do unto you, the world would be a much better place. but it gets complicated when people of faith take a position and believe -- just like politics lately -- believe absolute, outright lies in politics. or base decisions on racism that they don't even know they are

doing. host: go ahead and jump in there, well, and you, josh. guest: yeah, i appreciate the question, richard, i hope i got the name right, i agree. i think foundational become one of the issues we are having in this time, or this period in time, is this absence or confidence in what the truth is. so, there are a lot of people that have their truth and another group that has their truth, and that doesn't necessarily make any sense. if two plus two equals four for one group, it should equal four for the other group. we as a society have gotten so good at politicizing everything, basically, if the democrats call something red, the republicans will call it purple. until we can agree on what the

truth is, you know, we are never going to be able to have productive conversation that moves the ball. for believers that also enjoy politics, or at least are involved in the political process, we should have a common set of truths. hey, the bible says x, y and z. ok, i believe that. do you believe that? yeah, i believe that. we can go from there. but unfortunately, that is not how it goes. host: go ahead, josh. guest: i totally understand richard's sentiment, the concern that people are being deceived, the concern that we are using faith as a weapon or at times, we are bringing disrepute to jesus or the gospel, if you are a christian, because of some of the political issues you take. if complicated, because we are

in a democratic society. jesus was not born in a democratic society, he was born into an empire and a place that was occupied by a great, powerful force. there was no voting, there was no freedom in absence from where he was, his perspective. to take the principles of jesus or even paul, a roman citizen, who had certain rights and there were certain things he could do as a roman citizen that he couldn't do otherwise if he did not have that citizenship, that's vastly different than what the context is for us today. we are able to vote. we are able to get on social media and talk about issues that are dear to our heart. we have access to unparalleled amounts of information that they could not have even imagined or dreamed of in the past. we live in a society that's

very, very different, and the challenge is always, how do we live out our faith in this society? in this political process? that adds another layer to us that we have to use things that are beyond the bible, in a sense, we have to interpret what the principles are in the bible and bring them to a place where we can participate in the political process. where we can vote for people, where we can have our views disseminated on a larger scale than anyone has been able to do as individuals before, simply by picking up a phone and getting on live to facebook, instagram, or tiktok -- any number of things -- and just bring it out, and there is a chance they could go viral. it is a different society, a different context, and i think it's important that we take the principles of scripture and apply them the best they can, but they are living in a different time and can play a

part in the political process because we have that ability, and we should take the place bowls -- principles of scripture and apply them as best we can to well trafficked methods of interpretation that have been around for a long time. we can do that. host: one of our social media followers has a question for both of you, gentlemen. this person tweets, what has been one of your most memorable interviews? let's start with you, josh, and go to you, will. guest: we had an interview with someone named james nguyen see that created a lot of controversy for us -- james wincey that created a lot of controversy for us. come to find out later, he is an atheist -- i knew he was an atheist -- but in my

understanding of where he was, he could have sometimes hostile or what could be interpreted as hostile and a dudes -- hostile attitudes towards christianity. so talk to him, to hear his views, generated a lot of controversy, but i thought he was a great guy. talking to him personally, he made really compelling arguments. yet, at the same time, there are other arguments against him that need to be considered. that is one that stands out to me off the top of my head. host: what about you, will? guest: yeah, just to follow up real quick on what josh said, he was part of a three part series we did on critical race theory, where we brought invoices that supposed end up -- a --

supported and opposed critical race theory. i apologize to any guests listening into this -- if it's not your name that i mentioned, i apologize, you were a great guest. but the one that comes to mind, there are two. someone who wrote a wonderful book called "jesus and john wayne," which filled in a lot of the gaps on this rise of christian nationalism and the toxic masculinity we see in society. she was a wonderful guest, a great interview, a wonderful person. i will throw in one more, because it was another great interview. the author of the book "the bible and the ballot." it breaks down a lot of modern political issues, and gives you

a nuanced, biblical view of how to interpret those particular issues. i would warn people, if you decide to pick it up, be prepared to be challenged, because the way he approaches some of those issues may not be how you would expect a modern-day christian to approach them. host: let's go back to our phone lines. let's talk to eric, calling from hopewell junction, new york. eric, good morning. caller: good morning, josh, will, and that she was the other fellow -- jesse. i love this. a forum talking about a forum. it has been a refreshing portal to what is good in this country and what our potential is. i have been watching for many years.

my comment is, in no small parts, c-span has created an idea in my head that i have acted on for the past almost a decade now. when i am idly standing next to somebody, pumping gas or whatever, i will turn around and break the ice and not ask about the weather, i will say excuse me, i am taking a personal pole. do you believe most people are nice? i have asked many people that question, and by virtue of being alone with them, it has led me to speak to people i would not normally approach or say anything to. you do that for a while and you end up with the positive results that i have received, and you become emboldened. if the result went negatively for me, i would have stopped doing it a long time ago, but i find my days are enriched by asking people what is such a seemingly mundane question? after having 85% say yes, i

think most people are nice -- i hit them with the next question, because i have a backlog of thousands of answers -- most of which are yes -- what do you think most people told me when i asked them the first question? and we have a wonderful conversation like two prairie dogs, briefly looking out over all the other prairie dogs, saying, what do you think of those dudes? it was great talking to you, bye. i just want to say that my view of the world is colored by -- and i needed to do this in order to counter back what i see on my television, telling me what people are like. host: i will stop him there because his signal sort of broke up there. do you want to respond, will or josh?

guest: thanks, eric. i think your comment speaks directly to what i said earlier. we have to start viewing people as individuals full of very complex sets of beliefs that they have attained through their own personal experience. it is a personal initiative that i wish more people would take, similar to yourself, and i would encourage that. we can call it the eric challenge -- go out and ask somebody, do you think people are nice today. that is how we started this podcast. we wanted to encourage civil discourse one conversation at a time. through the lens of one democrat and one republican. it is like mixing oil and water. most people just don't see that. we wanted to be that change that

we want to see in the world. you can add onto that if you want, josh. guest: yeah, i do like that. i am going to start taking polls. i will see what different poles i can take -- polls i can take as i am talking to people. it speaks to, yes, the difference between what you see on media and what most people feel, you know? i am not taking an official poll in this, but it feels like most people are pretty amicable. they are friendly. they want to live their life, they want to have a good life, they want others to have a good life as long as it is not infringing on their life, and they want people to have, to get their dreams or whatever. most people don't have a ton of animosity towards someone else,

if you are just in a conversation. i think it highlights something to me, the importance of relationship, because it is really hard to hate someone that you are in a relationship with. it is hard to hate someone when you know them and you know their kids and you see here concerns in life -- see their concerns in life, they are concerned about the same things as you are and the same things that keep you up at night keep them up at night. when you do that, it's very difficult to hate somebody. but if you want to hit somebody and demonize them, create distance between yourself so you can color them in a certain way and make a caricature of them in your mind, being evil and wrong and trying to destroy you and your children and your country. it's very easy to do that. people have done that for

thousands of years, right? millennia or longer. it's important for us to recognize that yes, most people are probably a lot like us. maybe not everyone, but most people are, and then to operate on that assumption. host: the two of you took an end of your break last year and are getting back into recording new episodes. what can listeners expect in the coming months on your podcast? we'll start with you, josh, and then will. guest: yeah, in the coming months, it will be pretty interesting. we will have some great theologians on the podcast, we are going to be using our facebook group to get questions from listeners, that we can directly give to our guests.

we have a page and a twitter account you can follow as well. we are thinking about doing something called political bs, political bible study, which is equipping people in the church to talk about politics in a way that is, in a way that makes sense. we are excited about the future. will? guest: yeah. recently we spoke with brian taylor, discussing christian nationalism and a christian nation. we will be talking to a couple other people about the same topics from different perspectives. one from the center of american progress and another from a conservative organization. later on in february, we will be speaking with an expert on qanon and talking to other folks having panel discussions,

dealing with elections -- this is an election year, so we want to get our listeners engaged. one of the things you will notice in our podcast, we don't necessarily advocate for one particular person. we want to educate people in the process and have people reach their own conclusions -- obviously, josh and i have their own wants and needs and people that we liked, but we don't try to do a hard push on our show to a one way or another. host: let's get some other callers in here. let's talk to dave, calling from st. petersburg, florida. caller: hi, thank you for taking my call. i heard in the introduction, mr. wright says he supports full reparations. could you help me understand what that means and what that looks like? guest: yeah, thank you for your question. i am probably going to disappoint you when i explained

to you that i am not necessarily a policy nerd. there are a lot of things that i advocate for that i do not necessarily have all the details. i will give you big picture thoughts about reparations. there is a comedian on netflix that talked about how, there is this talk about us never having money for reparations when the pandemic hits, and i say that sort of tongue-in-cheek, but i think there is a racial disparity that was brought about , whether it is the tulsa massacre or another of other wrongs that were done to african-americans in this country, where we did not have a good start, you know? any progress that was made in african-american communities was

stepped upon by the miss justices of the country -- the misjustices of the country. i think reparations are in order. i do not know what that looks like. i do not know if that is a check that gets sent to my bank account every month. but i think there needs to be a much more broader look into what the disparity, the financial, social, economic disparity is between african-americans and the rest of the population? host: josh, do you agree with will? guest: honestly, i don't have enough information to agree. i totally understand the argument and i think it is something to look into -- one of the things that happened in our previous guest that we had from word and way, he supported a reparation and talked about the

biblical foundation for it, referring to the story of zacchaeus and jesus, where zacchaeus gives four times what he owed to anyone he had wronged. moving from that and extrapolating from that into how african-americans in our co untry have been wronged by the government in the institution of slavery and created a disproportionate disadvantage. i am open to having a debate about it, but i am not a place where i say yeah, that is a great idea. quite honestly, i have not looked into it enough. i would love to answer the

question, but on its face, i would not be ready to say yeah. i would be open to understanding more about it. host: unfortunately, we are out of time, so we have to stop there. i would like to thank will wright and pastor josh burtram for coming on with us this morning and discussing their work on our -- on their podcast. thank you so much. guest: thank you, jesse. host: i would like to thank all of our guests, our callers, and you, our viewers, for being part of washington journal. stay safe and wash your hands, and we will see you again at 7:00 a.m. for another washington journal. have a great saturday, everyone. ♪ ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> coming up, the future of nato and an editorial director and publisher of the nation continues the conversation on the latest with russia and president biden's first year in office. watch "washington journal," live . join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. >> during the final three years

of world war ii, nearly 3000 were detained and interrogated at a top secret military facility near washington, d.c. sunday night on q&a, the former chief historian of national park service and author of the book nazis on the atomic, talks about fort hunt and the importance it played in the war. >> there were two russian american soldiers at fort hunt. they were dressed in red army uniforms. they were conspicuous throughout the fort. if an interrogator thought someone was being cagey and not forthcoming with information, they would call in one of these two fellows and say, you don't want to talk to us, how about if ivan takes you to the soviet union, it they would like to hear what you have to say. that worked incredibly well both

at fort hunt and in europe. >> robert sutton and his book "nazis on the potomac," sunday night and c-span's q mande. -- q and a. you can listen and our c-span now app. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television stations and more, including cox. >> cox is committed to providing eligible families access to affordable internet. bridging the digital divide one connected and engaged student at a time. cox, bringing us closer. >> cox supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> next, look into