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January 13, 2026

What We Learn from the Black Church About the Culture War

Here in Birmingham, Alabama, I often teach about the civil rights movement as the most effective faith-based movement for social change in American history. We have a bitter heritage of violent segregation. But the same city produced many heroes of the struggle, the ordinary men and women (and especially children) who stared down the police dogs and fire hoses in their march for freedom.

Justin Giboney honors such heroes as pastor Fred Shuttlesworth and commends their example for today in an informative, provocative book, Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church’s Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture War (IVP). Justin is the cofounder and president of the AND Campaign. The endorsement of this book by Bob Roberts calls Justin a “strange mix of Tim Keller and Martin Luther King Jr. wrapped up in his own personality and voice.” High praise! I’m grateful he joined me on this episode of Gospelbound.


In This Episode

00:00 – Jesus, truth, and critiquing our own side

00:33 – Birmingham, civil rights, and faith-based social change

01:00 – Introducing Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around

01:40 – The burden behind writing the book

03:07 – Family history and the black church tradition

04:05 – Why Fred Shuttlesworth matters

05:14 – “Biblicist and actionist”: faith and public courage

06:05 – Nonviolence, moral discipline, and leadership

07:11 – Shuttlesworth and King: contrasts and complements

09:23 – Why moral progress isn’t inevitable

12:10 – Moral imagination and Christian hope

15:57 – What is the culture war?

18:44 – Humility, self-critique, and redeemable opponents

21:29 – Justice, moral order, and refusing false binaries

22:51 – King, the late 1960s, and the cost of a “third way”

25:26 – Militancy, frustration, and historical context

28:01 – Why Christians can’t abandon character

31:12 – Tyranny, violence, and ending debate by force

33:18 – Advice for young activists

35:19 – Frederick Douglass and critiquing your own movement

38:37 – Accountability, power, and political humility

43:36 – Christian nationalism and historical amnesia

47:24 – Final encouragement: civility, faithfulness, and hope

Resource Mentioned: Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church’s Public Witness Leads Us out of the Culture War by Justin Giboney


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News Source : https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound/black-church-culture-war/

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