Hosted by Gerry Shields
Gerry is a former longtime Washington correspondent and political writer for The New York Post, Baltimore Sun, and Philadelphia Inquirer and author of the new book: The Front Row: My Jagged Journey Recording American History from Reagan to Trump.
Episodes
Welcome to the Retail Politics Podcast. Without enough hand sanitizer for candidates to shake hands, let alone kiss voter babies, we redefine Retail Politics for the digital world, reaching you one download at a time. We’ll speak weekly for 30 minutes to politicians, academics, and reporters on the front lines of American political issues to help you choose best how your government should function.
S01E35 Howard Mortman, Politics of Congressional Prayer
As C-SPAN spokesman, Howard Mortman watched much congressional footage before one daily tradition caught his eye: the prayer before each session.
Mortman has written the definitive history of congressional prayers with his book When Rabbis Bless Congress.
“The very first thing that Congress does, both chambers, is open with a prayer,” Mortman tells the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields. “It’s like nothing else that happens during the day. There’s no acrimony; there’s no hatred, there’s no debate, there are no votes.”
S01E26 J. Jioni Palmer, the Politics of Christian Faith
Being a true Christian requires challenging injustice and actively going out of your comfort zone to assist the poor, a former Washington journalist and men’s Christian minister told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields.
As part of a special Easter episode, former Newsday congressional correspondent J. Jioni Palmer, now a men’s minister at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church down the street from the White House, said the Biblical figure Jesus was lynched for challenging government authority.
“If your religion ain’t a revolution, then you’re just getting high,” Palmer said. “I think Jesus was...definitely a political hero. Crucifixion was used to execute political prisoners.”
S01E25 Rabbi Josh Yuter, Politics of Religious Faith
The Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields goes international for the first time, interviewing one of the world’s top Jewish influencers, Rabbi Josh Yuter in Jerusalem, who cautions against the use of God to support political positions.
“I do think, and this is something that bothers me from both the left and right, that when politics and religion get confused and overlap in that it’s hard to find the difference between the two...it is easy to corrupt that.”