Complexified

"We're the people everyone hates." That's what Rabbi Steven Burg hears when he asks young Jews who they are.

October 7 accelerated this. In the aftermath of the attacks, lines were drawn between support for an occupied Gaza and the security of the Jewish state and people. Progressive coalitions found themselves fracturing. Interfaith partnerships strained to stay together. Students found themselves abandoned by people they thought were allies. But Burg says the problem runs deeper than politics.

In this episode, host Amanda Henderson talks with Rabbi Steven Burg about what happens to religious identity when an entire generation can only define themselves by who hates them—and what it takes to move from trauma to something they're actually for.

RELATED: Rabbi Steven Burg: "We cannot allow ourselves to be reduced to victims." 
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Complexified welcomes the Rev. William Barber II, architect of the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, as he sets out to reclaim voters that ran to the right in the last presidential election.Who are these voters?  Low-income voters earning less than $50,000 who favored Donald Trump by roughly 1% in 2024. That margin, according to Rev. Barber, is reversible, by campaigning being for something instead of against.Join host Amanda Henderson as she and Rev. Barber discuss the presumptions around low income voters, movement strategizing, modes of resistance, and responds to a challenge issued by the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to debate immigration theology.
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"This Is Our Selma"—and a debate challenge to Speaker Mike Johnson.

Turn out 1,500 more voters per county in North Carolina. That's the threshold. The Reverend William Barber II has analyzed the numbers and believes that's where districts flip. Gerrymandering typically assumes 45% turnout. At 50%, the map changes.

Barber's 's launching "This Is Our Selma" February 11-14 in Raleigh—a mobilization focused on organizing around voting rights, healthcare, and wage policy rather than resistance messaging.

Barber, who led the 2013 Moral Monday protests, contends the strategy requires state-based county-level organizing rather than federal action alone. In every battleground state, voters earning low wages make up 36-42% of the electorate.

Last cycle saw a notable shift: for the first time, voters earning under $50,000 favored Trump over Democrats by roughly 1%. The campaigns took different approaches. Trump visited rural Eastern North Carolina counties. Democrats focused on Charlotte and Greensboro. Barber says former candidate Pete Buttigieg confirmed that consultants discourage using the word "poor," preferring "affordability." The poverty rate remains unchanged—Barber cites data showing 800 daily deaths connected to poverty.

The competing visions raise questions about campaign strategy, vocabulary, and which voters get visited.

Separately: Speaker Mike Johnson recently stated he's "happy to have this lengthy debate" about whether biblical commands to welcome strangers apply to governments or individuals. Barber accepted the debate challenge.

Also from RNS: Rev. William Barber takes up Mike Johnson's challenge to debate immigration theology
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The applause was muted when Trump appeared on video. One year ago, the March for Life felt like a rock concert. This year, JD Vance had to contend with detractors from the stage.

The pro-life movement got what it wanted—Dobbs overturned Roe. But abortions in America have actually risen since the decision. Nearly two-thirds now happen through medication abortion, mifepristone prescribed via telehealth, accessible even in states with bans. The Trump administration won't restrict it.

Vance called that choice "prudential"—politically wise. The crowd wasn't buying it. One man said he trusted Trump's negotiating skills, then started crying.

Reporter Aleja Hertzler-McCain takes us inside a movement with profound conviction confronting political calculation, and only one person in thousands holding a sign about immigration.

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Trying to put smoke in a box

That's what it feels like to map why churches are dying. Most people who leave can't tell you why. They drifted. Three times a month became twice, then never. Ryan Burge, a sociologist and pastor, tracks the contradictions: the religiously unaffiliated climbed to 30% and stopped. Some churches that should close stay open. Others with resources fold anyway. Organizations scratch and claw past their expiration dates in ways no model captures. New Atheism ran out of steam. Baby boomers are aging out. And nobody can predict what happens next because the data reveals patterns but can't explain the drift.
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