The Boniuk Institute's Religion and Public Life Center hosted a Religious and Civic Leader Gathering with guest author Diane Winston, Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California Annenberg. Forty scholars, students, and local religious and civic leaders met for a lively discussion about her book Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan's Evangelical Vision, which looks at the intersection of religion and politics in the media during the Reagan era. Her work also has important takeaways for the current US political moment.
RPLC director Rachel Schneider sat down for a talk with Winston to reflect about the role of the media in the 2024 Presidential Election. Winston stressed that the US has continuously tapped into a "religious imaginary" in its politics, and that Christian Nationalism has been a continuous facet in this imaginary. At the current moment, she argues, there has been a rise in Christian Nationalism because Trump allowed it to "come out of the shadows." RPLC is dedicated to understanding the role of religion in everyday life and increasing religious tolerance. Winston stresses that "everything we can do in our daily lives makes a difference" in creating a more religiously plural society.