The Sunday Interview: Ableism, WCN, and MAHA

Feb 15, 2026

Dr. Andrew Whitehead, sociologist who studies religion and politics. He explores links between Christian nationalism and discrimination against disabled Americans. The conversation covers Project 2025, how prosperity theology and market ideals shape views of worth, and how policy tools like vouchers and rhetoric exclude disabled people. It also highlights theological alternatives that reimagine disability and call for collective responsibility.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Project 2025 Threatens Disability Supports

Project 2025 embeds Christian nationalist priorities that would weaken federal disability supports and enforcement.
Andrew Whitehead shows these cuts would reduce access to education, Medicaid, SNAP, and civil-rights enforcement for disabled Americans.

INSIGHT

What Christian Nationalism Means Empirically

Christian nationalism is a demand that a particular conservative Christianity shape American civic life and who 'belongs'.
Whitehead measures this worldview across surveys to test links with ableism.

INSIGHT

Christian Nationalists More Likely To Oppose Disability Policy

Survey data show stronger Christian nationalists are far more likely to say disability supports are unnecessary.
Ambassadors of Christian nationalism are about three times likelier than rejecters to believe 'we've done enough' for disabled people.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Dr. Andrew Whitehead joins Brad Onishi to discuss his groundbreaking research revealing a disturbing connection: Christian nationalism is one of the strongest predictors of discrimination against Americans with disabilities. As the Trump administration slashes protections, funding, and civil rights for disabled people, from dismantling DEIA efforts to appointing RFK Jr. to HHS, this conversation exposes the theological and ideological roots of ableism in the Christian nationalist movement. Whitehead's peer-reviewed research shows that those who embrace Christian nationalism are three times more likely to believe we've "done enough" for people with disabilities and twice as likely to say disabled Americans "demand too much." The discussion traces these attitudes through Project 2025, prosperity gospel theology, and the historical fusion of Christian nationalism with free-market capitalism that elevates economic productivity as the measure of human worth.

This episode challenges listeners to confront how certain strains of Christianity have interpreted disability as divine punishment or an opportunity for charity, rather than recognizing structural barriers that demand collective responsibility. From religious school vouchers that exclude disabled students to the dangerous myth that autism is spreading like a disease, Whitehead and Onishi reveal how the imagined "ideal American body" in Christian nationalist ideology is explicitly straight, white, native-born, and able-bodied. The conversation offers a powerful counter-vision through theologians like Nancy Eiesland, who reimagined God as disabled, and calls for Christians to vote for policies that truly value all people, not just prayers, but action.

Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠

Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠

Order American Caesar by Brad Onishi: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC

Donate to SWAJ: https://axismundi.supercast.com/donations/new

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices