About IRMCE
When scholarship stays silent, democracy suffers.
The best research on religion's role in American democracy sits behind academic paywalls. Journalists writing about Christian nationalism lack theological training. Organizers confronting religious extremism can't access the scholarly analysis that explains what they're up against. Meanwhile, academics who study these movements infrequently speak to audiences beyond their peers.
This disconnect costs us. When rigorous scholarship doesn't reach the people who need it—reporters shaping public understanding, activists organizing communities, citizens making informed decisions—threats to democracy gain ground unopposed by evidence.
Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement (IRMCE) was founded in 2024 to address this fatal gap.
How We Work
Three Pathways From Scholarship to Impact
We don't just produce research—we build the infrastructure to make it matter. That means training newsrooms to cover religious authoritarianism with theological literacy. It means creating podcasts that millions listen to, translating academic language into public conversation. And it means facilitating direct collaboration between scholars who understand these movements and organizers who confront them daily.
Our partnership with Axis Mundi Media gives research-based content a ready-made platform designed for helping scholars reach the public.
The Threat
Why IRMCE Exists
Religious extremism threatens democracy through a pointed, organized political strategy, not just rhetoric. It has built infrastructure—media networks, legal organizations, political campaigns—designed to reshape American governance.
The Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement creates and distributes scholarly resources on the promises and threats religious communities hold for global democracy. We train, advise, and mentor researchers, journalists, and other leaders to communicate their research to the broader public using traditional and non-traditional educational channels and various forms of media, and to work with organizers and activists to broaden their impact on the ground.
IRMCE Leadership
Dr. Bradley Onishi built IRMCE from a decade of watching crucial research gather dust while Christian nationalism reshaped American politics. As co-host of Straight White American Jesus—a top-50 politics podcast on Apple that outranks NPR and the New York Times—he'd already proven scholars can reach mass audiences.
His book "Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—And What Comes Next" shows it can be done without sacrificing rigor.
His regular appearances on PBS NewsHour, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and national outlets demonstrate the public hunger for scholarly perspectives on religious extremism. In 2023, he founded Axis Mundi Media to scale this model. IRMCE extends that vision: scholarship that doesn't just document threats to democracy, but equips people to counter them.
His forthcoming book, "American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America into a Monarchy," is available for pre-order today.
