"Render Unto Caesar" with Congressperson Eric Swalwell

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Eric Swalwell (1:01)

I do think there's a difference between being anti-Christian and being anti-Christian nationalism. Being pro-secularism does not mean you're anti-Christian. If we have not made that clear, then that's on us and we should do a better job of doing that.

Dan Beecher (1:19)

I agree. I think you should. I think you all need to do a better job of that.

Eric Swalwell (1:24)

Yeah.

Dan McClellan (1:29)

Hey, everybody. I'm Dan McClellan.

Dan Beecher (1:30)

And I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan (1:32)

And you're listening to the Data Over Dogma podcast, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion and combat the spread of misinformation about the same. How are things today, Dan?

Dan Beecher (1:44)

Things are good. It's a crazy time in these here, United States of America. And in order to talk about that, we have a very special guest. We are bringing on an actual, like, you know, we've been talking about politics in America a little bit. And we've actually got a politic in America. We've got Representative Eric Swalwell. Welcome to Data Over Dogma. Thanks for joining us.

Eric Swalwell (2:12)

Yeah. Thanks, Dan. Dan. I appreciate you having me on.

Dan Beecher (2:15)

You are you are the Democrat representative from California's 14th District. The Fightin 14th. How are things? How are things out in the Fightin 14th?

Eric Swalwell (2:25)

You know, we are in the Bay Area, so we have been spared by the wildfires. But most of us have friends, family in Southern California. And so, you know, just a lot of gratitude to the firefighters who are on the front lines. But I'll be honest, it's just awful to hear the stories of friends. We have 10 friends in our family who lost everything. And so, the scale of it is just beyond imagination.

And right now, my experience is, if you know somebody in Los Angeles that did not lose their home in Alta Dena or the Palisades, they know somebody who did. I mean, it's really very few degrees of separation. And the amount of time it's going to take to really, you know, rebuild, you know, one of the most beautiful places on the planet is also disheartening.

Dan Beecher (3:26)

It's really rough. One of the founders of the podcasting network that we are affiliated with lost his home. So we're, our hearts go out to everybody out there.

We brought you on to talk about some other things, though. It is, you know, our show is dedicated to the Bible, the scholarly study of the Bible. You, you are a practicing Christian. And that may surprise some people on the right. I don't know. The right wing right now in America thinks they own Christianity. And I think that it's very interesting when, when a Democrat comes on, you know, to talk about that and about the, you know, this week, as we record, we've had a whole bunch of craziness happen where, you know, with, with Bishop Bud, Buddy, but I don't know how she says her name. You know, she gave that that talk at that prayer service at the National Cathedral and called for what seemed like a very normal thing, which is mercy to those who are in fear and, you know, to, to the stranger, to the, she, you know, she talked about LGBTQ people feeling.

Eric Swalwell (4:45)

Yeah, the weary traveler, which is going back to my Sunday school days in Algona, Iowa, going to our Lutheran Community Church was one of the first lessons that you're taught.

Dan Beecher (4:58)

Yeah, yeah. So it feels very odd to me when someone, like, look, I don't, I don't believe that Donald Trump, that Christianity means much to Donald Trump. So when he called for an apology and said all sorts of nasty things about her, that didn't surprise me. But when Speaker Johnson tweeted that, that she was, that what she said was shameful, I thought that that was a little bit nuts. What are your thoughts about that?