Spitting on the Sacred: Politics and Redefining Profanation

The Religious Studies Project

In this episode, Dr. Finbarr Curtis joins Jacob Noblett to discuss the growing phenomena of profanation as it concerns American politics and culture. Rather than define a holistic movement, Dr. Curtis explores the relationship between certain “forbidden” taboos and how they affect democracy in both a theoretical and very real sense. Using his book, Going Low: How Profane Politics Challenges American Democracy, as a guide, the “shock” culture of modern politics is broken down into digestible insights regarding the nature of “winning” and the fundamental conflict between private and public spheres of government influence as it pertains to religion.

Update: This episode is a great conversation partner for our episode with Charles McCrary, “What’s Sincerity Got to Do With American Secularism?” which published a few months later.