Dan Carr on Christian Identity, MAGA Politics, and Civic Engagement

In this episode of Faithful Politics, Will Wright and Pastor Josh Burtram speak with Dan Carr, a pastor and Republican political organizer whose faith and politics are closely aligned with the MAGA movement.

The conversation explores how theological conviction becomes political identity and where those convictions collide with the realities of a pluralistic democracy. Carr shares his faith story, explains why he believes Christians should be deeply engaged in politics, and outlines how he evaluates public policy through a biblical worldview. 

From contrasting political perspectives, the discussion moves beyond party labels to examine deeper questions: Where is the line between moral conviction and coercion? How should people of faith relate to those who do not share their assumptions? And what happens when religious identity and political identity become inseparable?

Rather than seeking agreement, the episode offers clarity. It reveals how faith-driven conservatism understands power, policy, and culture—and what it looks like when those ideas are tested in direct conversation with a Democratic host.

Learn more: https://danqcarr.com/

Guest Bio 

Dan Carr is a pastor, author, and political organizer working at the intersection of faith and conservative politics. He serves as pastor of Community Baptist Church and is involved in Republican political strategy and civic engagement in Mississippi. Carr has worked in political organizing and public policy, including serving as a political director connected to the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

Raised in a ministry family, Carr’s work focuses on strengthening churches, families, and local communities while encouraging Christians to remain active in public life. He is the author of Chivalry Isn’t Dead and I Have Surrendered, where he explores themes of faith, identity, and cultural responsibility. Carr is a prominent voice in conservative Christian circles, advocating for policies shaped by a biblical worldview and engaging debates around religious freedom, social issues, and the role of government in American society. 

Transcript

0:17

Hey, welcome back, Faithful Politics listeners and watchers. And if you're watching us on our YouTube channel, we're so glad to have you. And if you're listening to us on the podcast, we are so glad to have you as well. I'm always forgetting to like give a shout out to our podcast listeners. So there you are. Well, welcome to Faithful Politics. Yeah, I'm your political host, Will Wright, and I'm joined by your always faithful, faithful host, Pastor Josh Bertram. How's it going, Josh? Great, thanks Will. And today we have joining with us Dan Carr. He's a pastor, author and civic leader focused on strengthening families, churches and local communities. He's raised in ministry, now serves as the pastor community Baptist church while also working as a political director to Wayne Carr at the Mississippi Public Service Commission. He's been married for more than 19 years and is raising five kids with his wife and he's, he is very active and local Republican leadership and as the author of a couple of books, Chivalry Isn't Dead and I Have Surrendered. preach, now what? His work centers on helping Christians live with purpose and remain engaged in their faith, their communities, and civic life. So, welcome to the show, Dan. Will, thanks for having me on. Josh, thanks for having me. And I've been looking forward to coming on and talking with you guys and really looking forward to the conversation. Right now, as I mentioned y'all before we started recording, we're actually in Harahan, Louisiana, and we're looking to start a brand new church in Harahan. And we just had two young people, one's a senior or just graduated from high school, one's in 10th grade. And they're a brother and sister, and both of them trusted Christ as their personal savior. And so... You know, regardless of where you are politically, and I say this all the time, and I say this all the time from my pulpit at my church, regardless of where you are politically, regardless of what church you attend, you know, there's so many different denominations out there, regardless of all of that, the most important thing is to know Christ as your personal savior. That is the most important thing, not your political affiliation, not your church denomination, it is all of, it's Christ. It is Christ. And that's one of the main things that I try to talk about as much. Anytime I get an opportunity, I like to talk about Christ more than anything. So thanks for having me on. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, maybe that's a good place to start. So let's talk about Jesus for a moment and how you came to know Him. Like, give us kind of the origin story of Dan Carr and his salvation. I understand that you grew up in a church, but there's probably more to that than, you know, than the story of your salvation. So why don't we start there? So I did, was born, know, 1981, my dad started a church shortly after in Gulfport, Mississippi, Faith Baptist Church. He has now been there for more than 40, for more than 41 years. And I grew up in a good Christian environment, going to church every single Sunday. But when I was actually in college, I realized that my church affiliation and my growing up in a pastor's home was not going to get me to heaven. And I was just hanging on to the coattails of, you know, my dad, hanging on to the coattails of my church and putting my faith in my church, putting my faith in my dad as a pastor. But whenever I was 18 years old, actually in college, that's whenever I come to that realization that if I was going to go to heaven, it wasn't going to be because any good works that I've ever done. It wasn't going to be because I was going to church. It was solely through Jesus Christ. And so I knelt down out in front of our dormitory. and I accept that Christ as my personal savior. And I'm so thankful. You know, we just celebrated Christmas and I'm so thankful for Christ and what Jesus did come and being born, lived for 33 years, died on the cross and shed his blood. And I'm so thankful for that. And so, but whenever I was 18 years old is whenever I put my faith and trust and what Christ did for me on the cross. And so putting my faith and trust in him and that's for anyone, you know, going to church won't get you to heaven, doing good works won't get you to heaven. It is solely through Jesus Christ and that is it. I appreciate that, man. I appreciate such a clear call and clear explanation. And I just like, you know, a core part of our gospel and just thanks for sharing that. You know, I think it's awesome that you have this almost like dual calling. It's funny because I'm trying to work through my own sense of calling. Like I never thought that I would be a podcaster. And then like I heard this one guy we had um someone come on our show, we've had a few that kind of take on this label public theologian. I thought, public theologian. And I kind of thought, like, how do you become a public theologian? You just declare yourself a public theologian, or just a public theologian because people listen to you. Like, what makes you a public theologian? But it's like this sense that there's this calling not only in local church ministry, but to further cultural engagement, cultural critique. cultural movement, kind of helping people to open their eyes to what's going on around them, igniting a fire in them to get involved. And I would love for you to kind of talk about how that resonates with you, but even more specifically, like kind of the story of how the two lanes of like a civic life in like a church life, you have one foot in civic and one foot in church as a pastor and as a political organizer. How did that become clear to you that it was kind of one calling in two different methods maybe? Or is it? Or how would you describe it? So 15 years ago before 15 years ago, I was not engaged in the political arena pretty much at all I was I couldn't tell you who my state rep was but my state senator was I could I couldn't tell you who my governor was I went to a conference out in Washington DC and it was called awake America with a guy by the name of dr Chuck Harding who started awake America and the whole purpose of of him starting that was to try to awaken churches and to get churches involved in the political arena ah and so Whenever we so when I went out there for awake America when I came back, I told my father who was a pastor I said we've got to have more Christians getting involved in this political arena. We've got to have more Christians to engage in in our nation not just in Washington DC But also locally in our counties in our state. We've got in our city halls. We've got to have people involved We've got to have people engaged and so that's how I got involved and one thing that I tell people is yes I am a Republican And I supported Donald Trump and we can talk about that here in a little while and why and those types of things. But I look at policy. I look at policy and biblically based policy is what I try to support and what I support. And so I will say this and some of my Republican friends won't like to hear me say this, but I have helped several now will like to hear me say this. I have helped several Democrats win an election. can name several. Some are mayors, some are. how summer house members at Mississippi. And so because I look at not just, look more than beyond, I look beyond just a political party. I look at the person, I look at their character. I look at their, where they stand at, they pro-life, are they second amendment marriage and those types of things. And that's very important. And so how do I separate? don't, so I'm gonna say something very controversial for some. To me, I don't really see a separation when I'm looking at When I'm looking at it from a biblical view, when I'm looking at it from a biblical view, I don't really see a separation when I'm looking at it from the Bible, you know, from the Bible viewpoint. And so that is where I come from. so 15 years ago when I came back home, we got involved in the political arena. I've been involved very strong ever since, helping get some good policy passed, trying to get helping good people get elected in office. And so I would encourage all of your listeners, you know, to get involved no matter what size scale, no matter if it's on the national level, whether it's on the city, the county, the state level, get involved in your community because you can make a difference if you'll just get involved. Yeah, I agree with that and I'm just finishing up reading a book by Daniel Darling. called In Defense of Christian Patriotism. We've had him on the show and he's a professor out of Southern Baptist somewhere. If I had a memory, I could tell you, but I agree. I think that everybody should be involved in the political process, believer or not, because this is our country, right? And if you aren't going to participate, then you shouldn't complain about kind of... the state of things. So, uh I think it's healthy. I think Christians should be involved in it. And I also want to just... This is true, you do love complaining. uh Probably more so than it's healthy for you. Yeah, you are. But I do think that there is a large segment of the population, and I don't know much about this segment. that do think that Christians should not be involved in politics. And I would say I'm different in that regards. I take the opposite. I take your view, essentially. But with regards to sort of like Republicans holding kind of more the views that you think are biblically based, like, how does one kind of take that viewpoint? And it could be you or it could be, you know, just a random person that we're making up. But I'm just like, how do you take that viewpoint and then Thank it or use it in such a way that it doesn't dehumanize somebody that's a Democrat. Meaning that, you know, I've been a Democrat my entire life. I'm probably not like your typical Democrat. I own guns. I'm a veteran. Been to Iraq. Like, I've done all the sort of like things that you wouldn't expect a Democrat to do. uh But like, I've also been told I'm not a Christian because I'm Democrat. So like, help me walk through the disconnect between being a Christian and then having like, you know, like tying your wagon to either the Republican horse or the Democrat horse. So I will say this, that the Republicans and Democrats on some issues are very far apart. On some issues, they are not. On some issues, they are much closer together. The national media wants to paint that we are, and by the way, thank you for your service to our country. And I really appreciate that very much. And so the media, the national media wants to paint us that we are much different than what we really are. And so because... The more views they get, the more money they make, the more divided they can keep our country, the more money they can make. And so they make their living off of division. That's how the media, that's how CNN, that's how Fox, that's how MSNBC, that's how these news organizations make their money is by division. So the more division that they can cause, the more they can make their money. whenever there's division, the Republicans and Democrats alike can do better fundraising. So back before Roe was overturned, the Republican Party, we did all of our fundraising, all for raising money to overturn Roe. Now that Roe is overturned, now the Democrat Party is raising money, trying to overturn that back. And so the more that the leadership can keep the people divided, the more money they can raise or the more money that they can make. So whenever you get everyday Americans, everyday citizens like us, and we're having conversations, the national media does not like this. The leadership in lot of the parties don't like this because what we find out is that most of us, we want to raise our families. We want to be safe. We want to send our kids to good schools. We want the government to stay out of our lives. We want to keep more money out of our paychecks and what the government is taking. We want to keep more of our money. We just want to be left alone. You we want to go to church on Sunday. We want to worship God how we see freely. We want to go shoot our guns whenever we want to go shoot our guns. And we just want the government to leave us alone and let us keep more of our money. And whenever we come together and have conversations, and I have conversations every week, whether it's church, whether it's out knocking on doors, soul winning, whether it's knocking on doors for political reasons. And most people that I talk to all are saying the same thing. We want the government to leave us alone. We want to keep more of our money. We want to send our kids to good schools and we want to be safe. And we want to go to church wherever we want. Those five things are very important for every American. And whenever you look at the Republican party, the Libertarian party, the independent, you look at Democrat, is those five things resonate with everyone. At least it should. Now I will say this, and y'all just have to stop me because I'll talk forever. So I'm a Baptist pastor and so we love to talk. And so, yeah, so, and then we're going to take up an offering here a little bit. So. uh give like you always wanted to. Come on. That's right. That's right. And so you still like a politician. I've been told I should run, Dan, I don't know. I think you should. whenever you look at everything that I just talked about, you know, as far as Americans, we love our country. We just want to be free and left alone. And so, and I think the more people we get an office like that, the more free that we truly are, you know? And so those, those are some of the things that I try to talk to people about. How do you separate the two? I mean, I really, I really can't, I have a hard time. you know, separating the two. And then people want to say, what about separation of church and state? And here's what I'll say. The other day I was preaching a message at my church and it got really hot. I mean, I was preaching on pro-life marriage. I was preaching on, um, against trans just hitting it. And so I had an email, somebody sent me an email and they were really mad at me because I just went off on all of these topics and they said, you know, they want to take away my taxes, them status. And I was like, first off, I pay taxes. And so just like everybody else, mean, most people, don't understand that a pastor, we pay taxes. And so when I went to McDonald's earlier today, I had to pay taxes on my food. When I get a paycheck at the end of the year, I have to pay taxes and I pay social security like everybody else. And so I got it from behind the pulpit the following week following after this email. And I said, I didn't realize being pro-life was political. That's biblical. I didn't realize being for marriage between one man and one woman was. political i just thought was bill kwas a christian i didn't realize that being against the men playing a women's sports was political i just thought that was people about that was common sense i mean guys have no business playing in girls sports my daughter is a state champion in track as she runs a two mile the one now the hundred in the four by four and as an eighth grader last year she won the south state championship for high school she's very fast she's already got colleges after her she's only a ninth grade now I don't want her competing against guys. To me, that's just common sense. To me. Now to others, that might not be, but to me it's common sense. And so what I'm saying is, a lot of this stuff I find in the Bible. And so I just stand upon, and I try to, and I fail at this miserably many times, but I try to stand and be guided by my biblical worldview. Yeah, I really love that. And I do think that everyone has to be guided. Well, if you're a Christian, right, everyone is guided by their worldview. I think those who are saying they're disciples of Jesus need to be guided by a Christian worldview. And I don't see how you can have a Christian worldview apart from the authority of the scriptures and a biblical worldview. And so I totally track with all of that. I appreciate even your boldness and willingness to just speak your heart and even what would be in some circles, right, an unpopular message. And I do appreciate even being able to take flack. It's funny, Will and I have gotten um our first death threats at some point. I don't remember when the first one came in, know, death threats, you know, for doing and kind of saying what you feel like you're, you know, is, what's required. Um, it's your conscience, it's your conviction. And it's just wild. You're always going to have people that do not want you to speak what you're, um, you know, what's in your conscience to do it. And so I think that's really cool. um When I was thinking about the church life and the civic life, know, I'm actually pretty empathetic to your position. We've had a lot of people come on the show that have talked about this. mean, like hours and hours and hours at this point, talk, uh experts on Christian nationalism, people that wrote the, the guy wrote the book, The Case for Christian Nationalism. um We're just a couple minutes. we've had uh people from the Heritage Foundation, the presidents of the Heritage Foundation come on and talk about it with us. We've had so many different viewpoints. And I think that's the beauty of America is that we can have all these different viewpoints and try to work through them. I'm wondering, in your view, where is the line, say, on a majority? Let me throw something at you. um Like maybe a scenario. if we, let's say we got to like maybe say a majority, I don't know, like non-Christian in terms of like a voting block or something in the country. Do you feel like we should, like where is the line for, or maybe a better way to put it is like where's the line? Is the line the same for everyone? Is it the same for a Christian? Is it the same for a Muslim? Is it the same for somebody who's Jewish, someone who's atheist, that everyone is bringing it in? Or is it specifically that like the, or do you think the government should favor one thing over another? Because I think that's the thing that people get afraid of, If they're like, oh man, it's not just, hey, I want to bring my biblical values into my voting, but it's more like, I want. there to be some kind of law that's making me do x, y, or z, some behavior outlined in the scriptures, say in the Old Testament or something like that. I'm just curious as to uh what your thoughts are on that. Is there a line of separation at all? Or is it more like, yeah, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. So that's a great question. Here's my thoughts on that. We already have a standard, and it's the Constitution. So the Constitution should be, as far as an American is concerned in the United States of America, it's the Constitution. For a Christian, it's the Bible. It's the Word of God. And as a Christian, I'm to serve God more than mammon. So whenever, if the Constitution goes against the Bible, then I stand with the Bible. But first off, you're not going to show me where the Constitution goes against the Bible or the Bible goes against the Constitution. I can show you where the Constitution goes against Sharia law. so Islam in America, Islam, let me just put it like this, Sharia law and the Constitution cannot coexist. Sharia law every single time will override and want to trump and destroy the Constitution and what we believe. As a Christian, I'm to follow the Bible. and I'm the father of the Constitution as an American. So whenever I look at the biblical worldview, and I'll say something very controversial for a lot of Christians, there's a lot of things that I believe are a sin, but I don't police. Here's what I mean by that. I don't go to the casino, right? I mean, we have several casinos in Gulfport. I don't go to the casino. I just, don't, a Christian, I believe I should stay away from the casino. But I can't tell you, you can't go to the casino. If you want to go to the casino within the law, you can go to the casino. I don't drink alcohol. I've never tasted alcohol, never drank one sip in my entire life. I'm not for alcohol. But what I'll say is, if you want to drink alcohol, as a Christian, I cannot stop you from drinking alcohol. So what I'm saying is, I cannot force my biblical view on anyone. can't make, just like I can't make, I'm a Baptist pastor. I wish everybody would accept Jesus as a personal savior, but not everybody's going to. But that's what we're right here doing today in Aran. Yeah, we're trying to find, matter of fact, Mike Ray, who I was just with, we had two young people trust Christ as their savior. We're looking for a place to start a church. I wish everybody would accept Christ, but I can't force them to accept Christ. As far as politically, I wish everybody was pro-life as an American, but they're not. I wish everyone believed that marriage was between a man that... one man and one woman, but they don't. Even some Christians don't even believe that, right? I I debate Christians that don't believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, but I'll say this. I don't believe the government ought to be involved in our marriage. I think government ought to get out of marriage. I mean, I'm a very hardcore conservative. And if two men want to get together, I cannot tell them they can't. If that's what they want to do, if same with two women. I mean, I stand against it, but... right, right. If they want to do that, that's their own choice. That's their own choice. And so, my biblical view and my constitutional view should line up, but I cannot force my view on anyone. I can only educate. I can only debate. I can only try to educate my children and the future generations and try to educate them, but I can't force them. And I'll say this, if they don't accept my view, I'm not going to get mad at them. I'm not going to hate him. I'm not going to get aggravated with them. I go to lunch or coffee with a friend of mine. He's a Democrat in South Mississippi. Matter fact, I brought him to my dad's church when he was running for office, stood him up in my dad's church and said, this is the guy that we're supporting for this house seat. He's a 22 year retired army veteran. ah He was, he's pro-life, pro second amendment. I mean, right down the line, good Christian man rode my bus to church whenever he was a teenager. And so just a good, good all around guy. So to answer your question, I can't force my belief on anyone. I can only try to educate and love them and try to teach them the best way that I possibly can. yeah, makes sense. It almost sounds like, Dan, like you're more of a libertarian than a Republican. Well, so let me say this, let me say this and I'm sure both of you will agree with this. I'm supposed to be a Christian first, right? I'm a Christian before I'm anything. And so that's where a lot of people look at me and are like, where's this guy coming from? Because he goes and he'll have lunch or coffee with anyone. mean, he doesn't turn anything down. mean, he will have conversations with anyone from all different parties. Because I'm a Christian first. I'm a Christian before I'm anything. And unfortunately, everybody, a lot of people are, so I'm Christian first and I'm an American second. And then the party comes third and fourth. Unfortunately, most people, they're Republican first, they're Democrat first, they're independent first. Well, my idea, can't, that's a bad idea because it's a Democrat. You know, it's a bad idea because it's a Republican. No, if it's a good idea, it's a good idea. No matter what party, whoever came up with it. And so that's how it ought to be as a Christian and as an American. You know, I think probably one of the biggest things that really does a disservice to Americans, to Christians, to anybody is our intuitive response to paint somebody with a whole bunch of like things that may or may not be true because they see one thing that triggers them. So a good, for instance, would be, you you see somebody with a, uh you know, don't tread on me flag and somebody with a pride flag. Like you're going to instantly create a picture image of each of those individuals, depending on where you're coming from. Right. And then you're going to go into that conversation sort of like armed with with sort of your guard up because you're like, oh, they got a pride flag. So they're going to believe in X, Y and Z, you know, or they got a don't tread on me flag. Oh, they're going to believe in A, B and C. So you kind of go in there kind of like locked and loaded to use a gun term. you know, into the conversation. And I think that that naturally gets our defenses up and we don't really press in as much as we'd like to. And I think what you just sort of described, kind of like how you view things is a great example of that. because on the surface, somebody that would look at your website, see your post, they'd be like, yeah, this guy likes Trump, so he's obviously A, B, and C, right? But I don't necessarily get that from you. Not like you need my, you don't need my affirmation, but I'm just making an observation. I think you seem like a pretty well-reasoned individual. You're a man of faith, you are a man that lives by conviction. So I'm curious, how do you sort of square that circle with what you see? kind of in the public discourse. Like as a pastor, you probably have a concern about the turn that our political conversations are taking. Like people just aren't talking to each other anymore. um You know, like you can't talk about things like, I don't know, like Charlie Kirk, you know, like, I mean, I'm a Democrat. I don't think he should have been shot. You know, like I've got very strong views about political violence. I don't think they should exist. So it's like... Okay. are you navigating this space as a pastor and also as like a political insider? So, whenever you look at the life of Jesus, whenever Jesus was on this earth, Jesus was very kind, very kind. Jesus ate with the sinners. ah I believe if Jesus was alive today, would have lunch with Republicans, Democrats, independents, because the main thing is the gospel. So, I mean, one of the first things that I look at is just be kind to people, be kind. But you know who Jesus, everybody wants to talk about Jesus and obviously I'm forward 100% but they want to always point and say, Jesus was kind and here's how Jesus treated people. But let's not forget, Jesus did flip over some tables one time in a church, in a synagogue and it was the hypocrites. It was the religious crowd, the crowd that thought they was better than everybody else. The crowd that thought that they had all the answers. Jesus looked at them and called them vipers. Jesus called them score. That's what Jesus said. Jesus came to seek and to say that which was lost. So as a Christian, one of my first responsibilities as a Christian is to get the gospel to people, be kind to people, love people, no matter what their denomination is, no matter what their political background is, no matter if they're gay, lesbian, no matter if they're, it doesn't matter what they are as a person. I should love them. I should respect them and I should give them the gospel. Jesus Christ. So that is the number one and foremost thing. And one thing that I love about our country more than anything else, the United States of America, is how pro-gospel we are. Whenever you look at the world, there is no other nation in the world that sends out more missionaries and that talks more about the gospel than the United States of America. My church alone in the last five years, for the last three years, we've taken on 32 missionaries that we support. around the world, and we send them to countries all over the world. It's an unbelievable thing to read the stories and what's happening in some of these countries of just reaching people with the gospel. So I think that that is the number one thing. So whenever I go sit down with someone and we're going to have a political conversation, one of the first things that I talk about is Jesus Christ. I talk about that, and I have sat down with people from the White House, Donald Trump's – some of his staff. our governors, senators, state reps, state legislators, and have, and what the main conversation that I have outside of a lot of other conversations is Jesus and the gospel. Because that's the main thing. Because when you die, God's not going to look and see how you voted. He's not going to look and say, you was a Republican, you vote a Republican, you voted Democrat, so I'm letting you in heaven. No, he's looking for one thing. He's looking for the blood. That's what he's looking for. And so that is the most important thing, is the gospel. So as a Christian, that's the first thing that I talk about is the gospel. Now let me say this, the gospel does divide, right? Doctrine does divide. A lot of people don't want to talk about Jesus. A lot of people don't want to talk about Jesus. Now I don't find that among the Democrat party or the Republican party. I found that among, because I have witnessed to many Muslims, and this is for a completely different conversation, I've debated many Muslims. They don't want to talk about Jesus. They don't want to talk about the Constitution. They want to talk about, you know, the Koran or the Quran, or they want to talk about Sharia law or something like that. But even with Muslims, I try to get the conversation to Jesus because Jesus alone can save. Jesus has the power. It is all Him. And so that's the main thing. And so once we get past that, and then I just try to stick to my Bible as a Christian, because I ask, here's what I like to ask Democrats, Republicans, or anyone. that believes that it's okay to have an abortion. So my question is, to those people, how can a Christian, and maybe Mr. Will, you can answer that, because I don't know what your stand is on as far as abortion, but how can a Christian support abortion? And then someone will say, well, that's their body, that's their choice. But it's already been proven that that baby inside that womb is not that individual's body. That is another body. That's another brain. That's another DNA. That's another heartbeat. That's other lungs. That's kidneys. That's a fingerprint. I mean, how can a Christian support that? And so a lot of people ask, how can you be a Republican? It's not that I'm a Republican. I support the platform of that party. If the Republican Party changes on abortion, I'm out. I'm out. I'm done. No questions asked. I told – I was sitting at a meeting with the Republican, with the RNC, back in 2016, and we talked about abortion. And I said it, they said, how can we get the Christian back to the table? Very simple, abortion. We got to be pro-life. We have to be pro-life. And so if the party changes on that, I'm out. No questions asked. If the party changes on religious freedom, I'm out. I believe that man, listen. If a man wants to go to a Catholic church or a Baptist church or a Pentecostal church, they should be able to worship God how they want to worship God as long as they don't interfere on someone else's rights. Right? I mean, as long as they don't interfere on my right, they should be able to worship God freely however they want to worship God. And so those things are very important to me as a Christian and as an American. Sorry, I was waiting to see but I I was just waiting to see that you're done I really loved that and there's so many things that you said that were like uh making me think about So many different rabbit holes that I want to go off and like try to go down of like things that we've touched And I love but you know one thing that I really thought man. I want to get your your your thoughts on this You know when we think about like being involved in the political process, there are a lot of different ways that can take place. You can be someone who literally goes and is at the voting booth and you're helping people get in there. can do what you're doing and help organize for a political party. can uh try to get coalitions. You can fundraise. From all the way down to you can do nothing or you can like something online or share it. It seems like the most basic thing for democracy, a republic or constitutional republic and democracy is that, uh-oh.