Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 437 | Does Conservatism Have Room for Both Christians & Atheists? | Q&A

Episode Date: June 14, 2021

Today we're taking your questions on a variety of topics, including whether the church has ignored the importance of physical health, how Reagan defeated Carter so overwhelmingly, and the relationship between atheist conservatives and Christian conservatives. --- Today's Sponsors: Patriot Mobile has the broadest nationwide coverage & uses the same towers as all the major carriers, so you get the same great service plus they have plans to fit any budget. Go to PatriotMobile.com/ALLIE or call 972-PATRIOT & get free activation plus a special gift! Use promo code 'ALLIE'. Good Ranchers safely delivers American craft beef & better than organic chicken, right to your door! Go to GoodRanchers.com/ALLIE & save $20, plus get free express shipping! --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy whatever day it is. As I'm recording this, I don't know what day this episode is going to come out. I hope you guys have been enjoying our Evergreen episodes, all of the interviews and some of the topics and the Q&As that we've been doing. You guys ask awesome questions and it's been fun to answer them. Today I'm going to answer some more of your questions. you guys sent me some fun ones. And I'm going to answer this question, which I thought was interesting.

I've never really thought about. And the question is, do I think the church has dropped the ball on talking about physical health? That's probably true. Now, as I answer these, I typically answer them pretty extemporaneously. Like, I'm just kind of answering as it comes to mind. And so I'm not, you know, I haven't sat down and written out my entire answer for this. But as I'm thinking about it, it does seem that, yes, we talk about sexual purity in the church, which is something obviously that I think is very important.

The Bible emphasizes that the New Testament. Jesus himself emphasizes that. And so, of course, that's important. But if you look at one of the verses that we typically point to when we're talking about sexual purity, 1 Corinthians 619, that our body as Christians is a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, that also means if our body is a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, as Christians say, like our body is a temple and we're supposed to treat it as such. And one of the ways that we treat it well is by avoiding sexual impurity and sexual immorality,

then it would also follow that we should take care of our bodies in other ways as well. And obviously I think that there is a balance there. I certainly don't think that we're supposed to be obsessing over our bodies, which are wasting away, like we will die one day. I think it's a sin. I think it's idolatry to idolize our bodies out of a fear of degeneration because that's just going to happen. Like we're going to get old.

We are not going to be as strong or as, you know, good looking as, you know, we were when we were young and that's just going to happen. And I think that that's okay. I think that we have to balance exercise and eating well and being good stewards of our body with also enjoying the time that we have and realizing that we are wasting away. Our outer self, as the Bible says, is wasting away. And so I'm not sure that necessarily the church has done a very good job in talking about that. I mean, there's a lot of pastors.

Remember the pastor that we talked about not too long ago who said that like women need to be trophy or maybe they don't need to be trophy wives like Melania, but they still need to look good. They shouldn't look butch or something. And that pastor was like obese and not attractive at all. I would say there's probably not a whole lot of that going on in the evangelical church anymore. But certainly that kind of hypocrisy, I think, not just turns people off, but is also disobedient to what scripture tells us about how we are supposed to talk about our bodies and how we are supposed to think about appearance and how we are supposed to steward our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. So I think that we can take common sense measures,

of course, to be as healthy as we can, while also realizing that some of the things, and I've talked about this, of the, you know, so-called body positivity movement are true. I mean, they're true and they're applicable to us in that. Your number on a scale is not necessarily, not necessarily indicative of how healthy you are, how well you take care of your body. Same thing with like, you know, where you land on the BMI chart. There are other indicators of those things. And I think the most important thing is that we are being obedient with the right mindset, the right mentality of what it means to take care of the body that God has graciously given us. And the inspiration, the motivation for that is not vanity, but actually to be able to honor the Lord that he has. So

mercifully given us a body in which we get to live in this life to carry out whatever he wants us to carry out. And we show our gratitude to him by taking care of ourselves in a way that demonstrates that. All right. Let's move on to another question. That one was really interesting. I hadn't really thought about that before, but probably true. How do you tell you, typically prep for your show is the next question. So I can't remember if I've talked about this before. It depends on what we're talking about. So this show is a little bit difficult, honestly.

It's not just a little bit difficult. It's very difficult to produce. And I'll tell you why. Because we are not a typical news show. That's not what you guys come to me for. That's not what you guys want from me. I always say, and it's true that you guys are my executive producer. So I am often asking on Instagram, what do you want to talk about? Like, what do you want to

hear about? Or I just go through my DMs, which I get a lot of messages every day saying, hey, will you respond to this? Will you talk about this? Are you going to address this? And I obviously can't address everything that you guys send me or respond to every post that you guys send me. But if I am starting to get, like, if I'm starting to see a lot of buzz from you guys about a particular subject, then I try to base an episode on that. And what's the? And what's the you guys typically ask of me is not to just say, like, hey, will you talk about this latest news? Like, will you talk about Hunter Biden? Or when you talk about whatever this, you know, latest viral story is? Sometimes it's that. But very often, you guys are asking me to dig

beneath the surface of some theological claim, of some political claim, and then approach it from a theological point of view. You guys want substantive analysis and biblical analysis of what's going on, which is what I love to give. Like, I love that kind of stuff. But that takes a lot longer than a typical news episode where I'm just saying, okay, here's one headline, here's my take on it. Here's one headline. Here's my take on it.

Those shows are wonderful and awesome. That's just not what this show is. You guys want something deeper. You guys want something from a biblical worldview. You want something that's relatable to you. That you can understand in a way that makes sense to you, that apply. to your life. And we really do strive to do that with every episode. That takes a lot of time to do four days a week. That's really like, I think a lot of shows that are like this show, which I would say there's

not any show that's exactly like this show, but a lot of those kinds of shows are once or twice a week. But ours is four times a week. So it takes a lot of time to not just curate and pick the right stories, but to draw out of the stories what I think you, this specific relatable audience wants to know. And also, I am someone, you guys know, as I say, I'm very verbose, but I'm not just verbose for any reason. I am, the reason why my podcast episodes have gotten so long is because we're dealing in all the news stories that we're looking at and with all of the different viral videos or claims are being made, whatever it is that you're seeing on social media. Like, we're dealing with some very fundamental basic questions about what truth is, about

what morality is, about what God is, about what justice looks like. And so, when we dig beneath the surface and when we try to answer those questions in every single show, it can take a long time. For me, like, if I want to really write out my analysis of something, which very often I do, like I will verbatim script sometimes my entire episodes, especially if it's just a theologically specific episode, like if it's a most misused episode, or if it's a topic that I'm trying to tackle from a biblical perspective, I will write everything out. Now, I'm like a very quick writer when I'm thinking about the things that I want to say,

but that still takes me, you know, five hours. It might take me six hours. And so very often I am up late at night trying to add my original analysis. I don't really like to do things extemporaneously, spontaneously for you guys when it comes to my podcast, especially when we're talking about the Word of God, because I don't want to say something flippantly or I don't want to say something incorrectly and then lead someone astray when it comes to something so important. And so I put like the, I have a team that helps.

me research some things when it comes to the news. But when it comes to the analysis, I put in a lot of time and thought for each episode, which is really fun and rewarding for me. It's like very fruitful for me. It's truly what I love to do when I feel like I'm called to do. And I figure out how to do it in my schedule. Typically, it's kind of like late nights because I want to hang out with my family in the afternoons. I want to hang out with my husband in the evenings. And then I just kind of sacrifice a little bit of sleep to try to get everything done at night. And so that, I hope that answers your question. Like that is typically the process. I have people that help me research things if I'm wanting to look at a new story, if I need some data. And then adding my

analysis is what takes like the biggest chunk of time, I would say, especially four times a week. And plus, from January to April, we were pre-recording these episodes that you're watching and listening to now on top of our regular four-day-a-week episodes. And that was a lot. After maternity leave, it's going to be, that burden is going to be alleviated. And it was totally worth it, by the way. Like, I really enjoyed creating the content and interviewing the people so you guys could have all of these episodes while I'm on maternity leave. But so, yeah, we're kind of looking forward to after maternity leave, not putting so many hours in every week. And people ask me, and I think I've already answered this on a Q&A, like, oh, how do you balance everything? Well, I feel incredibly fortunate,

incredibly blessed that yes, even though it's a lot of work that goes into every podcast episode, I also have a lot of flexibility and a lot of freedom to be able to spend my time doing what's most important to me, which is spending time with my family. And so, like, I am, most of my day, honestly, besides those like late night hours, is, you know, dedicated to my family and is dedicated to doing the things that I need to do to be with my family, to serve my family, to do whatever I need and want to do with and for them. And that's a beautiful thing. And that is a huge blessing. And I'm so grateful for that. So how do I balance it? You have to sacrifice something. I typically sacrifice some sleep in order to get everything

done that I need to get done. But I'm all good. I mean, I make up for. it sometimes on the weekends and like my husband is just so we really are such a team and he's so helpful and he is always so good about helping me you know find rest when and where I need rest and that's what that's what a good husband does and he is a great fantastic wonderful husband and father and I wouldn't be able to do anything that I do without him without his support and without his leadership. And yeah, he's just, he's, he's, he's, just the thing that God has given me to allow me to do, to do what I do. Um, I just wouldn't be able to, I wouldn't be able to try to even balance anything if it wasn't for his support and his leadership on top of everything

that he already does. So I feel very fortunate. Um, all right. Let's, let's, see next question you guys ask some like i'm just scrolling through the questions you guys ask some like really personal questions that you guys should probably know at this point i'm not going to answer like i'm just not i do i think i try to strike that balance of okay i'm going to share with you personal things about me so that you can relate i'm not going to share with you personal things like about my family or like my health and things like that. But and I think it's different because a lot of influencers do that. Like a lot of lifestyle influencers do that on social media.

I'm not a lifestyle influencer, guys. I am a podcast host and an author. And we talk about subjects and I do talk about me and, you know, my life sometimes. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to. to satiate your curiosity on all of the personal questions you got to ask me. I just like sometimes shake my head when I am looking at some of the questions that are sent to me. Now here's a very important profound question.

Favorite Disney princess. Now, I am not like, I feel like they're even just adults that are huge Disney fans and obsessed with Disney. That is not me. I appreciated like Disney growing up. So my favorite Disney princess growing up, probably, Pocahontas. I just loved the Pocahontas movie. I'm sure it's like very politically incorrect and problematic today. But she had the best voice, in my opinion, Colors of the Wind, a masterpiece.

Now, Little Mermaid also very good. But, you know, Ariel was a little ditsy. Like she was a little flighty. She was a little bit of an airhead. I didn't like that. I didn't like that. Whereas Pocahontas was very wise and she was very strong and I liked that I think I liked the leadership that Pocahontas demonstrated so she was probably my favorite of course I liked Cinderella I liked all the Disney princesses but you know my favorite movie when I was little was not Disney it was Swan Princess Swan Princess I remember every time my older brothers would go to Blockbuster like on a Friday or Saturday night I would always ask them to please get me Swan Princess every single time All right. Next question. This is kind of interesting. Why did the country turn red for Reagan? Was he that great book recommendations on him? So I don't know that the country necessarily turned red for him because Jimmy Carter, even though yes, he was a Democrat, he wasn't some like far left progressive. But he was also a bad president. Like I think that people were tired of the failed leadership of Jimmy Carter. What a lot of people saw as the failed leadership of Jimmy Carter. What a lot of people saw is the failed leadership of.

of Jimmy Carter, some progressives now think that's contested history. And then you had someone like Ronald Reagan come in. Not only was he from a different party, but he also had executive leadership experience in California, probably led California through some of its best years ever. Probably hasn't ever come close to its prosperity and prominence and beauty that it had when Reagan was governor. And so I think people saw that kind of leadership and saw his ability to even be bipartisan in some ways very appealing. And plus he was so charismatic. He was so confident. There were a lot of things that he was bringing to the table. And so I think, yeah, I think that that's probably

why he was so popular and ended up winning in a landslide. I really like his book in American life, his autobiography. Now, now that we see kind of like where the country is going, I love Ronald Reagan. You guys know that. I have a quote from Ronald Reagan in my main studio that I'm typically recording from. I really love his autobiography. I think that he was a good-hearted, truly, truly Christ-loving person. I really do. Not that he didn't ever make mistakes, but I think that his intentions were good. I think that a lot of his policies were misguided. when it came to amnesty for illegal immigrants. That fundamentally changed California,

and it changed different parts of the country as well, and it set a precedent. Also, that hasn't ever been reversed, and we haven't ever been able to kind of make up for that. And then you also have what I think was an incorrect view of the world in some way, ways when it came to communism versus democracy. So I think because he saw the end of, he saw the Berlin Wall fall and he saw the end of the Cold War and he saw what he thought was

going to be the forever end of communism, that he had accomplished that and that he could, that America could continue to accomplish the end of communism by exporting capitalism, that once people get a taste of economic freedom in a place like China, then they will embrace all kinds of freedom. So I think that both he and George H.W. Bush embraced globalization in certain ways because they thought that China and then other countries would release their citizens from the captivity of communism, embrace capitalism, and then just embrace Western.

liberal, truly liberal values. And that just didn't happen. What happened was is that China retained its communism and it used capitalism in order to make money and to exploit the labor of the vulnerable and become super powerful. And so Republicans, even Republicans whose policies for the most part I really liked absolutely have led to the rise of one of the most repressive, if not the most repressive regimes on earth. And so I, all that to say, I really like Ronald Reagan. I really like a lot of what he accomplished, a lot of what he stood for. I also think he was truly pro-life. But as far as what he accomplished, like there were some policies that he pushed forth. There was a mindset that he pushed forth that he couldn't have known at the time, but now we know

in hindsight, they were actually misguided and led to, I think, deleterious effects for our country. And so, yes, people are like, oh, you're just, you know, people who are on the other side, progressives who are critics of me think that I'm some just like Republican talking head, which is not true. Like I think Republicans have contributed to the destruction of the country, maybe not just as much as Democrats have in recent years, but they have certainly helped, even when their intentions have been good.

All right. Next question. Favorite pizza topping? Um, well, you know, I like good old pepperoni pizza. That's true. But I think my favorite pizza period is from mellow mushroom. I think it's called Cosmic White. I'm not like a red sauce person. I don't really like red sauce in general. And I think Cosmic White, it's not Alfredo sauce, but it has some kind of white sauce. And I really like that. I think it has chicken on it. I think it has pesto. I like those kind of pizzas. And mellow mushroom has some really good pizza. So good question. Question, have you seen a conservative who wasn't religious? Yeah. I know a lot of conservatives, conservative commentators who aren't religious. And I know a lot of conservatives who like hold to a form of religion or belief that isn't really any kind of like biblical Christianity.

I think in conservatism, it's acceptable to be like, yeah, sure, I believe in God, believe in guns, believe in family, freedom, hunting, and four-wheelers, whatever the typical conservative, like, bio is. I think that it's very much a part of, like, the conservative identity in a lot of ways. And I think even those who identify as conservative atheists, they typically tend to draw their moral worldview from the Bible. But there are plenty of people who are conservatives, who identify as conservatives, who don't identify as Christians, or any kind of belief. Now, do I think that's a good thing? On the one hand, you could say, okay, well, at least people who don't know God are, like, they're getting it politically right. And they're seeing some value in that kind of worldview.

but at the same time, like, conservatism isn't my goal. It's not God's goal. And it shouldn't be the church's goal. And it's not salvific. So someone can be correct, at least from my view, politically and culturally, and say the right things and vote the right way, according to my perspective, and still not be saved. And ultimately, like, I have nothing ultimately, eternally, I have nothing in common with them. I have far more in common with the believer who lives on the other side of the universe than I do with the American conservative who rejects God.

Now, I don't think conservatism makes any sense outside of a belief in God. It doesn't. It's not just that I don't think that. It doesn't make any sense. Like you could say that you're conservative because you believe in the economic practicality of a free market. You could say that you believe in small government. You believe in guns. Like you see the benefits of free speech.

you don't like wokeism because it's another religion in itself and it just doesn't make any sense. So there are lots of rational reasons that someone who is not religious could call themselves as a conservative. But when you dig beneath the policies, like, why do we believe in the Second Amendment? Like, why do we believe in religious liberty? Why do we believe that the state is not supreme? Once you dig underneath all that and you ask yourself why. The reason is because we believe that there's an authority higher than the government. And that authority is God himself. Like, we believe that there is a source of rights. We believe that there is a source of value that transcends whatever rights the government tries to give or take away, that transcends the value that the government says that we

have or don't have. Like, where do we believe this right to freedom comes from? Where do we believe where do we get this idea that there could be a government of the people for the people by the people? It's based in this idea that there's a creator that transcends all of us, that transcends all human institutions, including the government that has endowed us with certain unalienable rights, among them being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And everything that we believe goes back to that fundamental principle. That doesn't mean that conservative Christians can't disagree on certain policies. we understand that the Bible doesn't speak to every single economic policy out there.

But that basic principle that human beings were created in the image of God and therefore have inherent value and therefore have inherent rights that the state cannot just arbitrarily give and take away. That is the foundation of conservatism. Like, why don't we believe in the government being our moral arbiter? Why don't we believe in the state being our nanny or being our caretaker? why do we believe that the family is the fundamental foundational building block of society? Like, why do we believe in hard work? Why do we believe in personal responsibility?

Why are we against abortion? Why are we for protecting innocent life through the Second Amendment? Because we believe that human beings have value. And secular humanism, materialism, the idea that we're just evolved mass. and that we all came from nothing and that we only, we don't have any real inherent significance doesn't account for the why behind those policies, the why behind those things. And so, like, there's a lot of organizations out there that are like, oh, we need to make Republicans like this big tent party. We need to make conservatism, like be okay with all of these moral

issues and just go along with the culture on the moral stuff. Like, we just, we just, just need to be okay with all of this, these new sexual gender definitions, even like maybe we can just put abortion off to the side because at least we're going to get this one liberty-minded person who is also pro-choice. Okay, those organizations can exist. I ultimately think they're going to fail because if you don't understand the why behind conservatism, if you don't hold to the foundation of conservatism, the rest of your worldview is just a house of cards that's going to be blown by the slightest bit of pushback. I'm not like, that's why I don't consider myself.

I'm, I'm not in that world of like political commentary completely. I'm not completely in that world of like Republican Party, let's make the GOP strong, whatever, even though I think that's important actually for Liberty at this point. Like, I do think that voting for politicians who align with the policies that I think, that I think are best for the country. Of course, I think that it is important, but I've always said, ultimately, I don't really care about the Republican Party. I don't care about growing the Republican Party because I'm not going to abandon my principles. I'm not going to abandon biblical values. I'm not going to put them on the back burner just to partner with people that hate God. I'm just not

going to do that. I think ultimately that's going to fail. And that doesn't mean, like, I have people on this podcast who are atheists or agnostic and who don't agree with me. That doesn't mean that I can't find common ground in some political and cultural ways with those people because I can. And yes, there is a diverse coalition of people who, for example, are like pushing back against wokeism, pushing back against critical race theory. And I think that is, you know, that's all well and good. If truth unites us and if all truth is God's truth, then, of course, someone who doesn't share all of your fundamental values can be working towards your same goal. I'm just saying that I'm not interested.

I'm not interested in the sheer expansion of Republican political power at the expense of the fundamental why behind conservatism, if that makes sense. If I'm operating from a biblical worldview to push back against what I think is the disastrous effect of critical race theory and someone else. is doing the same thing and maybe they have a different motivation for it, but they are moving forward in truth and in compassion, that I'm still going to think that endeavor that they are taking is good. But at the end of the day, I am far more concerned with their soul and with their heart being regenerated by the Holy Spirit than us reaching our shared goal together, if that makes sense.

So it's a very interesting thing, navigating this world as a Christian and trying to put the gospel first while also realizing there are practical political needs issues that have to be met, have to be dealt with. And not everyone who wants to talk about those goals or share those or who shares those goals with you will have the same worldview. And yet I go back to what I say. And I say ultimately, conservatism is based on the idea that we are created by a creator whose authority transcends our authority in all human institutions. Okay. Last question. Did Jesus drink wine? Is this something Christians can participate in?

Jesus did drink wine. Yes. Ephesian says, do not get drunk on wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so Christians are warned against debauchery. We're warned against drunkenness. Why? Because whatever fills you controls you.

If you are filled with wine, if you're filled with margaritas, whatever it is, and to the point of intoxication, to the point of, of drunkenness, then that which you have imbibed, that which fills you, is now controlling your mind, not the Holy Spirit. That's what that Ephesians verse does. It juxtaposes, okay, you can be filled with strong drink to the point of being drunk, or you can be filled with the Holy Spirit and be directed by the Holy Spirit. Everyone, well, who has gotten drunk, not everyone listening to this podcast, but if you've gotten drunk, there are things that you probably said that you would have never said sober. There are things that maybe you did that you would have never done sober.

Because you don't have the same faculties. Like you don't have the same ability to think and to navigate your choices when you are being controlled by the thing that fills you. And so we are told to choose the Holy Spirit to fill us, not strong drink. But can you enjoy wine? Can you enjoy alcohol without being worried that you are sinning, it's possible. Yeah, depending on the context, as long as you are not causing someone else to stumble, as long as you, we are avoiding drunkenness, then I think that the Bible does permit that. And then also, as long as it is not causing you to stumble or to sin in some way, not everyone can drink alcohol, like without sinning. Not everyone can handle that. And that's okay. I think whole.

holiness and obedience to the Lord and being filled and directed by the Holy Spirit is more important. All right, that's all I got for today. I will see you guys back here soon.