Ye Gods With Scott Carter

As part of our miniseries OF GOD AND COUNTRY, we're talking with activist and TV and film star from A HANDMAID’S TALE, GET OUT, and THE WEST WING, Bradley Whitford about his relationship to religion, after being raised a Quaker by atheist leaning parents. 
Brad attended All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena during priest-in-charge Ed Bacon’s leadership. Bacon is now retired but the church, founded in 1882, continues its commitment to radical inclusion, joyful spirituality, and ethical stewardship. Standing in stark contrast to the splendor of All Saint’s 1924 gothic revival church is the austerity of the Quaker meetings which Brad attended as a child, and to which he has returned.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’ll look at two American stories: The Christian Right and Muslim-American Immigrants. We’ll hear from former Senior Director at the Obama White House and Senior Advisor at the State Department, Nayyera Haq. The daughter of Pakistani Muslim parents, she describes how her 1980’s childhood on Staten Island led to her working to elect Barack Obama.

But first: CBS News national correspondent for Sunday Morning and chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa. I’ve known him since he was a young Washington Post reporter and, later, as host of PBS's Washington Week. Since 2008, he’s covered the religious right, from the Moral Majority, to the Tea Party, to MAGA. Robert holds a BA from Notre Dame and a masters from Cambridge University in the UK. In 2021, he and Bob Woodward co-authored the #1 New York Times bestselling book PERIL, about the 2020 campaign, leading up to and after the January 6th assault on America’s capital. In 2025, Robert became a Fourth Estate Honoree, the highest award of the National Press Club.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jonathan Alter: author, columnist, pundit, podcaster, filmmaker and lecturer. Jon executive-produced Amazon Prime’s 2013 satirical series ALPHA HOUSE, created by Pulitzer-Prize-winning Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau, and starred John Goodman. We discuss how religion influenced the founding fathers and why the “separation of church and state” is a controversial American idea, which doesn’t appear in the constitution.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scott talks with actor, activist, 4-time Grammy-winning rapper, and half of hip-hop supergroup, Run The Jewels, Killer Mike. In the episode, Mike talks about his admiration for - and friendship with - Civil Rights icon and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, growing up in the all-Black neighborhood of Atlanta’s Collier Heights, and his musical evolution.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Actress and comedian Susie Essman, who played Susie Green on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, is poised to reteam with Larry David and an all star cast, including past YE GODS! guest Larry Wilmore, for HBO’s LIFE, LARRY AND THE PURSUIT OF UNHAPPINESS.
Susie's 2009 memoir is "WHAT WOULD SUSIE SAY?: BS WISDOM ABOUT LOVE, LIFE AND COMEDY".
She and bff Joy Behar appeared on stage together last year in Joy’s off-Broadway play MY FIRST EX HUSBAND. Check out their joint interview on theatermania.com for more on their four-decade friendship.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices