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  • Project 2025 and the Future of Sex Education

    Project 2025 and the Future of Sex Education
    2025/08/15
    The era of the Christian political agenda and conservative cultural hegemony took a backseat after Obama ushered in a time of progressive social optimism. For a moment, it felt like conservatives would never win again, especially on social issues. But they did. This week, June and Josh explore how the Obama administration rolled back abstinence-only sex education while advancing liberal social causes. Then they discover how the Christian right strategized to take back over politics and successfully redirected culture toward conservatism through the Heritage Foundation and its signature document: Project 2025. ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEKLY MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to illconceivedpod@gmail.com*** AUDIO CLIPS: 47:13 - Former US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in a PragerU video about Title IX SOURCES: Elucidating the relationships between shame, anger, and self-destructive behaviors: The role of aversive responses to emotionsOmnibus Appropriations Bill Advances Reproductive Health Care (2019)New Trump teen pregnancy approach stresses abstinence (2018)Trump Has an Abstinence-Only Vision for Federally Funded Family Planning Programs (2019)The link between book restrictions and sex education (2023)Conservative and Cultural Clashes with Comprehensive Sexuality EducationBirth rate among U.S. teenagers aged 15-19 years from 1991 to 2023Biden's New School Rules Protect LGBTQ StudentsWhy Conservatives Want New Title IX Rule BlockedTrump administration to audit California sex education curriculum for ‘medical accuracy’ (2025)Mandate For Leadership: The Conservative Promise (Project 2025)How Project 2025 Would Devastate Public EducationImpact of the Executive Order Redefining Sex on Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex PeopleJudge blocks Trump’s efforts to defund Planned ParenthoodTimeline of Abstinence-Only Education in U.S. ClassroomsDepartment of Education Reverts to Trump’s Title IX RuleMore older women becoming first-time moms amid U.S. fertility rate declinesProject 2025 Tracker FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.comBluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.comTumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.comBluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.worldOther podcast: The Worst of All Possible WorldsStream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beerOther podcast: Kill The ComputerWriting: June's Substack
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    1 時間 18 分
  • Abstinence-Only Sex Education

    Abstinence-Only Sex Education
    2025/08/08
    There's one guaranteed way to never get pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted infection: not having sex. In the 1990s, the United States government expanded efforts to fund programs that taught adolescents this fact. Unfortunately, that funding came with a few restrictions—most notably, the programs weren't allowed to promote or demonstrate any type of contraception whatsoever. This week, June and Josh try to figure out how these abstinence-only until marriage sex education initiatives got so much traction for so long. ***IN EDINBURGH THIS WEEK? Get tickets to the play Josh is directing, THE BOY FROM BANTAY, by clicking here!*** EPISODE ART: A graph from a report commissioned by the United States government to study the effectiveness of four abstinence-only sex education programs. There is no meaningful difference in outcomes between those who participated in the program and those who didn't. SOURCES: "Budget Widens Teen-Pregnancy-Prevention Efforts" by Laura Meckler (The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009)"Clinton Fires Surgeon General Over New Flap" by Paul Richter and Marlene Cimons (Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1994)History of Dedicated Federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs FY 1982-2019 from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)"Context counts: Long‐term sequelae of premarital intercourse or abstinence" by Nicole M. Else-Quest, Janet Shibley Hyde & John D. DeLamater (The Journal of Sex Research, 2005)Full text of Section 510, the Separate Program for Abstinence Education"Whatever Happened to the Adolescent Family Life Act?" by Rebecca Saul (Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 1998)"Clinton Frees $250 Million for Sex Abstinence Teaching" by Melissa Healy (Los Angeles Times, March 1, 1997)"Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Programs" report, published by HHS in 2007"Consequences of sex education on teen and young adult sexual behaviors and outcomes" by Laura Duberstein Lindberg & Isaac Maddow-Zimet (The Journal of Adolescent Health, 2012)"Funding for Abstinence-Only Education and Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention: Does State Ideology Affect Outcomes?" by Ashley M Fox, Georgia Himmelstein, Hina Khalid & Elizabeth A. Howell (American Journal of Public Health, 2019)"Sex Education in Public Schools: Sexualization of Children and LGBT Indoctrination" by Cathy Ruse (Family Research Council, 2020)"The History of Federal Abstinence-Only Funding" fact sheet (Advocates for Youth, 2007)"Abstinence Education: Assessing the Evidence" by Christine C. Kim and Robert Rector (Heritage Foundation, 2008) AUDIO CLIPS: 29:58 - Rush Limbaugh talking about Joycelyn Elders on an episode of the Rush Limbaugh Show ca. 199435:30 - Joycelyn Elders in an interview with the National Visionary Leadership Project1:04:03 - "Learn Gun Safety with Eddie Eagle" children's training video from the National Rifle Association (NRA) FOLLOW THE SHOW: Send us an email: illconceivedpod@gmail.comWebsite: illconceivedpodcast.comBluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.comTumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.comBluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.worldOther podcast: The Worst of All Possible WorldsStream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beerOther podcast: Kill The ComputerWriting: June's Substack
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    1 時間 33 分
  • Lyman Stone, Marriage Defender

    Lyman Stone, Marriage Defender
    2025/07/25
    With natalism coming to the forefront of American politics in recent years, people who have long been writing about the declining birth rate have begun to take center stage in the larger political discourse. Many of these thinkers skew toward a conservative ideology. This week, Josh and June read through the writings of a modern conservative natalist writer, Lyman Stone, to get a better picture of where the natalist movement stands and better understand the political demands of the conservative natalist in the era of Donald Trump. EPISODE ART: Lyman Stone press photo from Demographic Research SOURCES: As women have far fewer babies, the U.S. and the world face unprecedented challengesLyman Stone on America’s falling birth rateNow Political Polarization Comes for Marriage ProspectsYou can’t even pay people to have more kidsPresident Trump’s First 100 Days, April 2025How Politics Drive Our Personal Relationships – and Even Where We LiveArranged and non-arranged marriages have similar reproductive outcomes in NepalPromise and Peril: The History of American Religiosity and Its Recent DeclineThe Declining U.S. Birth Rate: A Demographic Shift with Far-Reaching ImplicationsWhat Workism Is Doing to ParentsNow Political Polarization Comes for Marriage ProspectsHungary’s Demographic FailureHow to Fix Our Falling Fertility Rate (with Lyman Stone)Want More American Babies? Make the US More LivableMore Thoughts on Falling Fertility AUDIO CLIPS 21:12 / 25:44 - Lyman Stone in an interview with Vox Media's Today, Explained FOLLOW THE SHOW: Send us an email: illconceivedpod@gmail.comWebsite: illconceivedpodcast.comBluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.comTumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.comBluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.worldOther podcast: The Worst of All Possible WorldsStream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beerOther podcast: Western KabukiWriting: June's Substack
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    59 分
  • James Dobson & Focus on the Family

    James Dobson & Focus on the Family
    2025/07/18
    In the history of the evangelical Christian family movement, one figure stands tall above the rest: a children's psychologist from Louisiana named James Dobson. For three decades, Dobson built up his media empire, Focus on the Family, on the back of his plain-spoken traditionalist approach to child rearing. Then, as the broader cultural tide shifted in favor of normalizing homosexual relationships, he got kicked out. This week, Josh and June take a look at why Dobson's approach resonated with so many parents in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, how his work institutionalized the natalist project among evangelical Christians, and how religious fundamentalism, no matter how polite, corrodes a healthy society. SUPPLEMENTAL LISTENING: Listen to I Hate James Dobson: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Pocket Casts / YouTubeListen to The Worst of All Possible Worlds episode about the James Dobson/Ted Bundy interview: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Pocket Casts / YouTube EPISODE ART: Focus on the Family press photo of James Dobson c. 2007 SOURCES: Focus on the Family's official historical timelineFocus on the Family 2015 financial disclosures, ProPublicaDobson's 1999 announcement of the leadership succession planDobson's 2003 announcement of Don Hodel's appointment as CEOFocus on the Family's Guiding Principles as enumerated on their website in November 2002Focus on the Family's Guiding Principles as enumerated on their website todayFamily Research Council list of Family Policy Councils AUDIO CLIPS: 33:52 - James Dobson interviews Ted Bundy on death row1:00:24 - James Dobson in a Focus on the Family Radio broadcast, October 6, 20051:04:03 - Guy Raz interviews Jim Daly on NPR All Things Considered (February 12, 2012)1:11:16 - James Dobson interviews Ken Harrison, former Promise Keepers chairman, on Family Talk Radio1:15:38 - James Dobson talks about declining birth rates on Family Talk Radio FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.comBluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.comTumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.comBluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.worldOther podcast: The Worst of All Possible WorldsStream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beerOther podcast: Western KabukiWriting: June's Substack
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    1 時間 20 分
  • Catholics, Evangelicals, and the In Vitro Fertilization Debate

    Catholics, Evangelicals, and the In Vitro Fertilization Debate
    2025/07/11
    When the first human baby was born through the use of a blossoming treatment called in vitro fertilization in the late 1970’s, society largely viewed this as a miracle of science that gave those struggling with fertility a chance to start a family. Catholic leadership, believing that taking procreation out of pregnancy went against God’s will, aligned themselves against the practice. Evangelicals, meanwhile, have still to this day not found solid guidance from their leaders on whether this procedure should be embraced or condemned. This week, Josh and June explore the history of in vitro fertilization and the complicated relationship many on the religious right have with it. EPISODE ART: Bishop Richard Burbidge, Catholic anti-IVF advocate SOURCES: The Alabama Supreme Court’s Ruling on Frozen EmbryosAlabama legislature votes to restore IVF accessThe History of IVF: Origin and Developments of the 20th CenturyIn Vitro Fertilization Comes of AgeINSTRUCTION ON RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE IN ITS ORIGIN AND ON THE DIGNITY OF PROCREATION REPLIES TO CERTAIN QUESTIONS OF THE DAYBegotten Not Made: A Catholic View of Reproductive TechnologyBishop Burbidge Writes against a Federal IVF MandateDespite church prohibitions, Catholics still choose IVF to have childrenAbortion Viewed in Moral Terms: Fewer See Stem Cell Research and IVF as Moral IssuesPope Francis calls for a universal ban on surrogacy. He says it exploits mother and childProtestant Denominations Need Stronger Leadership on Assisted Reproductive TechnologyIVF: Moral and Ethical ConsiderationsIVF is life-changing for infertile families. But the Christian right says it’s not in ‘God’s plan’How the Christian Right Became So Hostile to IVFRepublicans are rushing to defend IVF. The anti-abortion movement hopes to change their minds.Americans overwhelmingly say access to IVF is a good thingRepublican IVF bill fails in U.S. SenateIn vitro fertilization bills from both Democrats and GOP blocked in U.S. SenateTrump has signed an executive order on IVF. Here’s what you should know about the procedureWhat Trump’s IVF executive order means for access to fertility assistance for AmericansAlabama IVF ruling looms over 2026 statewide elections VIDEO CLIPS Bishop Burbidge talking about the immorality of IVF From the archives: Pope Francis explains why he's against surrogacy
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    42 分
  • How Evangelicals Came to Oppose Abortion

    How Evangelicals Came to Oppose Abortion
    2025/07/04

    Opposition to legal abortion wasn't always a consensus matter across the Christian Right. In fact, as recently as the early 1970s, Protestants mostly considered it a "Catholic issue." But against a backdrop of paranoia about government overreach into religious affairs and fear of demographic decline, a Catholic named Paul Weyrich and an evangelical named Jerry Falwell joined hands to turn abortion into the signature mobilizing issue of their new Moral Majority. This week, June and Josh look at how this historical moment was primed for exploitation, why Christian rhetoric and policy toward abortion shifted so quickly, and what the long-term durability of this unholy alliance means as Americans continue to see their civil rights rolled back by the Trump administration.

    CLICK HERE AND DONATE TO AN ABORTION FUND IN YOUR AREA TODAY

    EPISODE IMAGE: Paul Weyrich, cofounder of the Moral Majority, in a Heritage Foundation portrait from 1982

    SOURCES:

    • "Creating the Litmus Test: Abortion, Mainline Protestants, and the Rise of the Religious Right" by Sabrina Danielsen
    • "Family Values" and the Formation of a Christian Right Agenda by Seth Dowland
    • Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right by Randall Balmer
    • “How the Right Uses Abortion Restrictions to Reinforce Racist and Gendered Hierarchies” by Cassie Miller, Southern Poverty Law Center
    • “Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching” from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
    • Historical Abortion Law Timeline: 1850 to Today from Planned Parenthood Action
    • “The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth” by Randall Balmer, POLITICO
    • "Here's how much the ICE budget would increase under Trump's megabill" by Grace Deng, Snopes

    AUDIO CLIPS:

    • 42:55 – Ronald Reagan delivers an address to religious leaders at the 1980 National Affairs Briefing

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    • Writing: June's Substack
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    57 分
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Health & Human Sicko

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Health & Human Sicko
    2025/06/27

    Josh and June look into the past of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Health and Human Services secretary, and how his history led to him getting involved with the MAGA movement. Once a liberal and advocate for environmental issues, Kennedy took a turn into anti-science and pseudo-health political movements later in life and gained notoriety within Trumpworld. Now that this conspiracy theorist holds the reins of America’s largest government health institution, we zoom into how these beliefs inform what he has done, what he still intends to do with this power, and why his long-standing emphasis on children's health resonates so strongly with people who are invested in the natalist agenda.

    SOURCES:

    • RFK Jr. Suggests Not Enough Teens Are Getting Pregnant, Rails Against Youth Testosterone Levels
    • Inside RFK Jr.'s nonprofit's legal battles over vaccines and public health
    • 'RFK'ing the french fries': Steak 'n Shake becomes a MAHA darling
    • RFK Jr.: I’m fighting chronic disease, slashing unhealthy fat at HHS
    • RFK Jr. says autism database will use Medicare and Medicaid info
    • How R.F.K. Jr. Went From Environmental Champion to Trump Backer

    AUDIO CLIPS:

    • 16:29 - Bernie Sanders asks RFK Jr. if he is supportive of these onesies in a Senate hearing (C-SPAN, January 29, 2025)

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    • Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds
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    • Writing: June's Substack
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    40 分
  • Promise Keepers: 700,000 Dicks Out for Jesus

    Promise Keepers: 700,000 Dicks Out for Jesus
    2025/06/20

    Josh and June take a look at Promise Keepers, the organization that massed 700,000 men on the National Mall in Washington, DC for a 1997 rally that promised to bring spiritual renewal to its attendees and a new order to the social health of the country. While they didn't quite pull off the fundamental transformation they were hoping for, Promise Keepers left a significant impact on the evangelical Christian psyche. And somehow, they're still around today, desperately trying to convince the world of their definition of fatherhood and family.

    SOURCES:

    • The First Promise Keepers Event: Witnessing the Power of God" by David Roadcup
    • Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes du Mez
    • Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper by Bill McCartney et al.
    • "Promise Keepers pledge to move from stadium rallies to the marketplace" by Adelle Banks, Religion News Service
    • "New Promise Keepers CEO ready to see a revival among men" by Maina Mwaura, The Christian Index
    • "Promise Keepers Pour Into The Nation's Capital" (CNN, 1997)
    • "The Promise Keepers Opens Its Doors To Women" (NPR, 2009)

    AUDIO CLIPS:

    • 6:18 – Bill McCartney in a profile by WXYZ-TV Detroit (September 24, 1994)
    • 32:46 – Norm MacDonald on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update (October 4, 1997)
    • 33:23 – Joseph Garlington, Promise Keepers worship leader, at the 1997 Stand in the Gap rally
    • 34:55 – Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, on Charlie Rose (October 3, 1997)
    • 36:31 – Huron Claus, Native American Christian evangelist, at the 1997 Stand in the Gap rally
    • 38:00 – Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers founder, on Larry King Live (October 7, 1997)
    • 47:49 – Shane Winnings, current Promise Keepers CEO, on Morning Joe (April 3, 2025)
    • 50:50 – Web trailer for Wake-Up Call, the 2025 Promise Keepers in-person summit in Yakima

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    • Bluesky: @junlper.beer
    • Other podcast: Western Kabuki
    • Writing: June's Substack
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    1 時間 1 分