In a candid interview, Brandon, a former evangelical Protestant who later converted to Catholicism before leaving religion altogether, offered a deeply personal and sharply critical perspective on the intersection of faith and politics in America, particularly in the wake of the recent election of a new pope.
Brandon, who now identifies as agnostic or atheist depending on the day, said he understands why some conservative Christians in the U.S. are feeling uneasy about the direction the Catholic Church is taking. But that anxiety, he argues, is rooted in a narrow and often ahistorical understanding of Christianity.
“Growing up evangelical in the South, being a ‘Bible-believing Christian’ meant operating within a specific Protestant framework, one that began with Martin Luther and pretty much ignored the 1,500 years of Christianity that came before him,” Brandon explained. “Back then, Catholics weren’t even seen as real Christians.”
Theological Tensions: Catholicism, Protestantism, and a Search for Meaning
Even after converting to Catholicism, Brandon encountered theological tensions. “I remember Catholic priests saying Protestantism wasn’t wrong, just incomplete,” he said. “But Protestants I knew thought Catholics were completely off base when it came to the gospel.”
Eventually, disillusionment with both traditions led him to step away from religion altogether, though he still feels strongly about how Christian identity is used in American politics. In particular, Brandon took aim at the evangelical obsession with the so-called “Rapture”, a doctrine that gained popularity in 19th-century American Protestant circles but is, he noted, nowhere to be found in scripture.
“Most of what evangelicals believe about the end times comes from a very modern, very American reading of Revelation,” Brandon said. “But Revelation isn’t about the 21st century. It was written in the context of first-century persecution under Rome. Jesus’ followers thought the world would end in their lifetime, that’s why so much apocalyptic language is in the Bible.”
Faith and Politics: Confronting the Contradictions in Contemporary Christianity
Brandon believes the real reason many conservative Christians are nervous about the new pope has little to do with theology and everything to do with politics.
“This papal election is a rejection of the cruelty and nationalism espoused by people like J.D. Vance and Donald Trump,” he said. “The Church is saying that you can’t claim Christianity while treating migrants and the poor with contempt. This pope represents a clear moral rebuke.”
For Brandon, that rebuke cuts to the heart of a larger contradiction in American Christianity.
“If you still claim to be a Christian and you support Trump, then I’m sorry, you don’t know Jesus. You don’t understand the gospel,” he said. “That might sound harsh, but it’s the truth. Supporting a politics of exclusion, greed, and cruelty is incompatible with the teachings of Christ.”
Asked if he had any hope for reconciliation between American Christians and the broader message of the gospel, Brandon said the first step is honesty.
“People need to re-examine their faith,” he said. “Not because they’re bad people, but because they’ve been sold a version of Christianity that’s more about nationalism than it is about Jesus. And that’s a spiritual crisis we all need to face.”