Monte Mader Deconstructs Alt-Right Christian Nationalism
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Find Out podcast. There is a lot of news out there, a lot of bad things, but we're actually going to kind of talk about something a little bit different today because we have a guest that we have so many questions for. I know I do because I don't understand that world, but we have Monte Mater here with us. Excuse me. God, I always screw up the names. I always do it. Who used to be part of the far-right Christian nationalist movement community or world and has now completely moved to the other side and is a culture critic, musician, and podcaster. So, Monty, welcome and apologies for screwing up your name, which I have to say to everybody when I start. Literally every time.
That's okay. Every time. Every time. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah. So, Monty, we're... The four of us that are with you had religion in their backgrounds, but no longer have it. And I think for years we have sort of, you know, scratched our heads about how the hell do these deeply religious people Believe in and support till the end of time a man that literally like exhibits none of those traits. And in fact, this morning took a shot at a guy who he he criticized for getting married too quickly after his wife passed away. This is the guy, Joe. He's going to talk. Joe Kent, who was under Tulsi Gabbard and resigned. So he decided to attack him, which brings up the fact that Donald Trump's cheated on all three of his wives multiple times.
Multiple times, including one home with the baby, Barron. Tell us a little bit about your upbringing and how your worldview was sort of shaped as you were growing up in this very right-wing world.
Yeah. So I grew up very much at the intersection of Republican politics and religion. That was always a married thing for me. There was never a point in my life where that wasn't in the conversation. It was always you cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat. That was that was a baseline. So there's a couple of things that happen simultaneously. I grew up out in Wyoming in a really rural area. My family was the type of family that we stockpiled arms against the government in case they ever Ruby Ridged us. There was a lot of paranoia, a lot of if the government does this after the Columbine shooting, a lot of conversations around, well, the Democrats are going to hold you at gunpoint and it's your job to die for your faith.
These were very much conversations that I grew up with as a kid. And the hard part about it is because I not only was part of the church and my dad and his brother, my cousin were all involved in Republican politics. My dad was a state house representative later in his life. His brother was a state senator. My cousin was the county commissioner. My grandfather was kind of someone who was behind the scenes pulling a lot of strings. And so I never had an opportunity to see a separation of those things. But also I went to all Christian nationalist schools. I was privately tutored in theology and Christian apologetics by my dad. So you're not just getting this information from your parents. You're getting it from your pastor.
You're getting it from your teacher. You're getting it from your best friend's dad. And when you're a kid and you're growing up, you think you can trust the adults. And it's all of the adults telling you the same thing. So you grow up, there's that aspect of it. Plus, I was not allowed to listen to secular music. What I could watch in movies and films was highly policed. Who I could hang out with was highly policed. And you have the other side, the religious aspect of it, that from the time you're very, very small, there's the threat of hell. There's this ingrained belief that you're broken, you're sinful, you're evil, you can't do anything right. Don't question God. But God's word comes to you through God-ordained male authority.
It comes from your pastor. It comes from your dad. And if you ask questions and you rebuff that, then you're sinning. So you end up with this huge overlap of everyone in your life is telling you this exact same idea about the political structure.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:09–6:06
2
What was Monte Mader's upbringing like in an alt-right Christian Nationalist household?
6:06–9:53
3
What distinguishes Christianity from Christian Nationalism?
9:53–13:41
4
How does the alt-right movement use victimhood rhetoric?
13:41–19:01
5
What role does gender and purity culture play in fundamentalist communities?
19:01–22:41
6
How does the Tradwife movement contribute to the radicalization of young men?
22:41–26:38
7
What is Project 2025 and its significance in the Christian Nationalist agenda?
26:38–31:00
8
What does deconstruction of faith look like from the inside?
31:00–1:02:05