Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other

The Election Whisperer: Katie Harbath on Ten Years Inside Facebook and Panicking Responsibly

How do we balance free speech, platform accountability, and democratic integrity when technology moves faster than policy?
In this episode, Katie Harbath, the "election whisperer to the tech industry," joins Corey Nathan to discuss the impossible trade-offs facing social media platforms, the evolving landscape of AI and misinformation, and what it means to "panic responsibly" in an era of rapid technological change.
Katie spent a decade at Facebook as a policy director managing elections globally, navigating crises from Cambridge Analytica to the 2020 election. Now as CEO of Anchor Change and Chief Global Affairs Officer at Duco, she helps organizations understand how the internet shapes democracy.
The conversation explores how to use AI ethically in creative work, the challenges of content moderation at scale, why community notes might be better than fact-checking, and how individuals can reclaim agency over their information diets. Katie also shares her personal evolution on free speech, the difference between distribution and moderation, and why the next four years will require all of us to find new ways to ground ourselves.
Calls to Action
✅ If this conversation resonates, consider sharing it with someone who believes connection across difference still matters.
✅ Subscribe to Corey’s Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killin’ Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
Key Takeaways
Panic Responsibly: Don't be paralyzed by fear of AI or technological change. Take agency over how you use these tools while considering ethical guardrails
Impossible Trade-offs: Platform decisions involve choices between imperfect options with unknowable long-term consequences (see: Cambridge Analytica stemming from 2010's Open Graph)
AI Ethics in Practice: Katie uses AI to organize thoughts, identify themes, spot repetitive phrases, and show line edits; but keeps human input and output central to the creative process
Free Speech Evolution: Even tech policy experts are evolving their views. Katie has moved toward greater support for free speech while recognizing the importance of context and consequences
Distribution vs. Moderation: The key question isn't just what stays on platforms, but what gets amplified by algorithms. Distribution decisions matter as much as content decisions
Community Notes > Fact-Checking: Collaborative, crowdsourced context may be more effective and less politically fraught than centralized fact-checking operations
You Have Agency: Individuals control which platforms they use, what content they engage with, and what news sources they consume. These choices train algorithms and shape experiences
Election Infrastructure Improved: Despite continued challenges, election officials have made significant strides since 2020 in security, preparedness, and collaboration with tech platforms
Social Media: Mixed Bag: Platforms have given voice to candidates and causes that would otherwise struggle for attention, but have also created new challenges for democracy
Information Audit: Katie recommends doing an annual "news audit" to ensure your media consumption aligns with your values and includes diverse perspectives across the political spectrum
About Our Guest
Katie Harbath is an award-winning global leader at the intersection of technology, policy, and elections. She spent a decade at Facebook as a Public Policy Director, where she built and led the teams that managed elections globally, navigating some of the platform's most challenging moments.
Today, Katie is the CEO of Anchor Change, a technology consulting firm, and Chief Global Affairs Officer at Duco. Described as the "election whisperer to the tech industry," she helps organizations navigate the complex intersections of technology, democracy, and policy.
Katie is writing a book about her experiences in tech policy and is a sought-after voice on issues of platform governance, content moderation, AI ethics, and the future of democracy in the digital age. She is known for her pragmatic approach to impossible trade-offs and her catchphrase "panic responsibly" when it comes to emerging technologies.
Links and Resources
Katie Harbath's Work:
Substack: anchorchange.substack.com
Anchor Change: anchorchange.com
Duco Experts: ducoexperts.com
Katie's AI Ethics and Disclosure Statement: anchorchange.substack.com/p/ethics-and-transparency-statement
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Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners
Thanks to Pew Research Center for making today’s conversation possible.Gratitude as well to Village Square for coming alongside us in this work and helping foster better civic dialogue.
Links and additional resources:
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
Clarity, charity, and conviction can live in the same room.

The End of a Pleasant Fiction: Power, Patrimonialism, and the Collapse of Moral Language

In Davos last month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney lamented what he called “the end of a pleasant fiction.” That notion has is hard to fathom yet impossible to ignore.
For decades, the United States did not merely wield power. It framed power in moral terms. Legitimacy. Integrity. Rules. Whether we always lived up to those words is one question. Whether we still speak them with credibility is another.
In this solo reflection, Corey Nathan explores what it means when America is no longer the country that lends moral language to the world order, but the country other nations feel compelled to hedge against. From Tocqueville’s warning about democratic withdrawal to Jonathan Rauch’s analysis of patrimonialism, from Lincoln’s humility to the theological posture of the National Prayer Breakfast, this episode wrestles with a turning point.
If the pleasant fiction is over, what replaces it?
Calls to Action
✅ If this conversation resonates, consider sharing it with someone who believes connection across difference still matters.
✅ Subscribe to Corey’s Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killin’ Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
What This Episode Explores
The End of a Moral Vocabulary
For generations, American power was framed in moral language. Integrity and legitimacy were not just strategic tools but aspirations. Today, that language lands differently, not as calling card but as indictment.
From Moral Order to Patrimonialism
Drawing on the work of Jonathan Rauch, this episode examines what happens when public power begins to resemble personal property. Loyalty replaces rules. Access depends on fealty. Markets and institutions begin to read the room rather than uphold neutral principles.
The National Prayer Breakfast and Theological Posture
A prayer breakfast is meant to orient upward in humility. When reverence bends inward, the shift is not merely stylistic. It is theological.
Tocqueville’s Warning
Democracy’s danger may not arrive as sudden tyranny but as gradual withdrawal. Citizens retreat into private grievance. Moral discipline erodes. Individualism curdles into narcissism.
The Comforting Assumption About Ourselves
Nearly every white pastor today believes they would have stood with Martin Luther King Jr. The question is not whether that belief is sincere. The question is whether it would have been true.
The Choice Before Citizens
The world is already adjusting. Allies hedge. Middle powers collaborate. The question now belongs to citizens, not prime ministers. Withdrawal is understandable. It is not inevitable.
Why This Matters Now
The loss at stake is not only status but trust.
If the pleasant fiction required tending, then its collapse requires responsibility. Renewal, if it comes, will not arrive through taunts or spectacle. It will be decided by habits, by courage, by whether citizens retreat or step forward.
Connect on Social Media
Corey is @coreysnathan on all the socials...
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Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners
Thanks to Pew Research Center for making today’s conversation possible.Gratitude as well to Village Square for coming alongside us in this work and helping foster better civic dialogue.
Links and additional resources:
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
Final Thought
The question is not who we would like to identify with in the story.
The question is where our words, positions, and actions actually place us.
Go talk some politics and religion.Step forward.With gentleness and respect.

Weaving the Social Fabric: John Noltner on Storytelling, Presence, and Seeing One Another

How do we learn to see one another as human again in a moment shaped by fear, fragmentation, and outrage?
In this episode, photographer, author, and storyteller John Noltner joins Corey Nathan as part of TP&R’s ongoing Weavers series in partnership with Weave: The Social Fabric Project. John’s work spans five continents and centers on a simple but demanding conviction: storytelling and art can help restore trust, dignity, and connection in a divided world.
From Minneapolis in the midst of national attention to the U.S. southern border, Northern Ireland, and beyond, John reflects on what it means to bear witness without exploiting pain, to listen without trying to win, and to practice proximity rather than abstraction. The conversation explores how curiosity can disarm contempt, why relationship must precede disagreement, and what it takes to stay open to human connection without becoming numb to suffering.
Calls to Action
✅ If this conversation resonates, consider sharing it with someone who believes connection across difference still matters.
✅ Subscribe to Corey’s Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killin’ Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
Key Takeaways
• Storytelling and art can open space for understanding when facts and arguments fail• It is possible to encounter deep disagreement without abandoning moral clarity• Curiosity is a practice, not a personality trait, and it can be cultivated• Human connection requires patience before tackling the most contentious issues• Being seen is different from being observed, and the difference matters• Proximity to people is often more illuminating than distance from ideas• The social fabric is frayed in partisan politics but surprisingly strong in local acts of care• Vulnerability deepens connection but carries real emotional cost
About the Guest
John Noltner is an award winning author, photographer, and founder of A Peace of My Mind. His work focuses on peacebuilding, conflict transformation, and human dignity through storytelling. John has produced projects for national publications, Fortune 500 companies, and nonprofit organizations, and his books and exhibitions have been used by communities across the world to foster dialogue and civic trust.
Links and Resources
WEAVE: The Social Fabric Project: weavers.org
A Peace of My Mind: apeaceofmymind.org
Audio Reflection Course: 40 Days Toward Deeper Listening
Podcast: A Peace of My Mind
Instagram: @apommstories
Connect on Social Media
Corey is @coreysnathan on all the socials...
Substack
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Threads
Bluesky
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Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners
Thanks to Pew Research Center for making today’s conversation possible.Gratitude as well to Village Square for coming alongside this work and helping foster better civic dialogue.
Links and additional resources:
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
Clarity, charity, and conviction can live in the same room.

Who We Stop Seeing: Anonymity and the Collapse of the Thou

Most people imagine themselves as the ones who would have resisted. The ones who would have spoken up. The ones who would have refused to go along. History tends to tell a different story.
In this episode, Corey Nathan explores how anonymity subtly yet significantly reshapes moral responsibility. Not all at once, and not dramatically, but steadily. What begins as distance or abstraction often ends as permission. Permission to flatten, dismiss, or dehumanize without fully reckoning with the human cost.
This episode serves as a spoken companion to the essay Anonymity and the Collapse of the Thou, tracing how moral imagination thins when people stop encountering one another as full human beings.
Calls to Action
✅ If this episode resonates, consider sharing it with someone who might need a reminder that disagreement doesn’t have to mean dehumanization.
✅ Check out our Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
What This Episode Explores
Anonymity as a continuumAnonymity is not simply named versus nameless. At one end lies healthy privacy and necessary protection. Move far enough along that continuum, however, and something shifts. Neighbors become avatars. Persons become categories. Moral responsibility begins to erode.
From I-Thou to I-ItDrawing on the work of Martin Buber, the episode contrasts I-Thou relationships, which recognize the other as a person, with I-It relationships, which reduce the other to a function, role, or obstacle. Anonymity subtly nudges human interaction away from encounter and toward objectification.
How dehumanization actually happensRarely does anyone set out to be cruel. Language flattens. Tone sharpens. Context disappears. Once people become abstractions, harm starts to feel like enforcement, righteousness, or necessity rather than cruelty.
The story we tell ourselves about historyHistory is rarely judged by who people imagined themselves to be. It is judged by who benefited from their choices, who was cast as the threat, and who paid the price. The episode challenges the comforting assumption that moral clarity would have come easily.
Moral distance and accountabilityAnonymity creates moral distance, and moral distance makes unbearable actions easier to justify. This insight reaches beyond platforms and politics into Scripture, civic life, and the foundations of constitutional self government, all of which presume identifiable responsibility.
Why this matters nowCultures trained to dehumanize do not become lethal overnight. Words loosen first. Norms erode next. By the time violence appears, it often feels inevitable to those involved. Democracy survives not on procedures alone, but on people repeatedly choosing to see one another as human.
Episode Sponsors and Partners
Thanks to Pew Research Center for making today’s conversation possible.Gratitude as well to Village Square for coming alongside this work and helping foster better civic dialogue.
Links and additional resources:
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
Connect on Social Media
Corey is @coreysnathan on all the socials...
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Final Thought
The question is not who we would like to identify with in the story.The question is where our words, positions, and actions actually place us.
Go talk some politics and religion with gentleness and respect.

Freedom Over Fascism: Dr. Stephanie Wilson on Naming the Threat

How do societies decide which stories to tell about themselves and which truths to soften or ignore?
In this episode, historian, communications strategist, and Freedom Over Fascism host Dr. Stephanie Wilson joins Corey Nathan to discuss collective memory, historical narrative, and the language shaping American civic life right now.
Drawing on her academic work on Jerusalem, her experience in political communications, and her current focus on democracy and messaging, Stephanie explores how myths take hold, why people instinctively place themselves on the “right side” of history, and what happens when cruelty and dehumanization become normalized tools of power. Along the way, the conversation wrestles with Israel and Palestine, fascism and language, media failure, activism, and what it actually takes to engage across deep disagreement without abandoning moral clarity.
Calls to Action
✅ If this episode resonates, consider sharing it with someone who might need a reminder that disagreement doesn’t have to mean dehumanization.
✅ Check out our Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
Key Takeaways
• Collective memory often says more about who is telling the story than about the past itself• People naturally imagine themselves as heroes or resisters rather than beneficiaries or bystanders• Museums, monuments, and national myths are political acts, whether acknowledged or not• Fascism is better understood through concrete behaviors than abstract labels• Language shapes what people are willing to see, justify, or ignore• Values based framing opens more space for dialogue than policy arguments alone• Curiosity and empathy are necessary skills for sustaining democracy, even when lines must be drawn• Engagement across difference does not require moral surrender or tolerance of cruelty
About the Guest
Dr. Stephanie Wilson is a historian, activist, and communications expert. She is the creator and host of Freedom Over Fascism, where she examines democracy, messaging, media ecosystems, and civic engagement through conversations with journalists, scholars, and organizers. Her academic work focuses on historical memory, museums, and narrative power, with particular attention to Jerusalem and contested histories.
Links and Resources
• Freedom Over Fascism on Substack: www.freedomoverfascism.us• Freedom Over Fascism on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@FreedomOverFascismPod
Connect on Social Media
Corey is @coreysnathan on all the socials...
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Thanks to Our Sponsors
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
Clarity, charity, and conviction can live in the same room.

Where Do We Place Ourselves in Our Stories?

Where do we actually place ourselves in the stories we tell about courage, faith, and power?
In this solo episode, Corey reflects on how individuals and communities locate themselves within history, scripture, and national memory. The temptation, especially among those shaped by religious or moral traditions, is to imagine oneself as prophetic rather than complicit, as a resister rather than an enabler. History, however, is rarely judged by intention or self identification. It is judged by outcomes, by who benefited, who was harmed, and who paid the price.
Drawing on personal encounters, Christian history, and contemporary political examples, the episode examines how moral cosplay replaces moral courage, how grievance masquerades as righteousness, and how constitutional principles become conditional when filtered through tribal identity. The reflection closes with a sober question. Not who we admire in the story, but who we actually resemble when power, fear, and consequence converge.
Calls to Action:
✅ If this episode resonates, consider sharing it with someone who might need a reminder that disagreement doesn’t have to mean dehumanization.
✅ Check out our Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
Key Takeaways:
• History judges alignment, not intention• Moral identity is often shaped by selective memory• Grievance can become a substitute for courage• Constitutional rights lose meaning when applied selectively• Every generation inherits responsibility, not just stories
Connect on Social Media:
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Thanks to Our Sponsors:
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
History does not ask who we admired. It asks who we resembled.

Enduring Disorder and the High Stakes Gamble of Modern Politics with Jason Pack

What does it mean to live in an age where disorder is no longer a temporary crisis but a permanent condition?
Corey is joined by Jason Pack, a geopolitical analyst and founder of Libya Analysis, to discuss global instability, institutional decay, and what Jason calls the Enduring Disorder. Drawing on experiences spanning post-9/11 Middle East policy, Libya’s fragile political landscape, and years of work with NATO affiliated institutions, Jason argues that the world has moved beyond the post Cold War order into something far more volatile and fragmented.
The conversation weaves together geopolitics, psychology, religion, and even gambling theory. Jason explains how games like backgammon and poker illuminate leadership, risk, empathy, and decision making under uncertainty, offering metaphors for diplomacy and democratic governance alike. From Russia’s strategy of chaos to the erosion of institutional trust at home, the episode explores how disorder benefits those seeking power without responsibility and what it will take to rebuild shared standards of truth, accountability, and civic trust.
Calls to Action
✅ If this episode resonates, consider sharing it with someone who might need a reminder that disagreement doesn’t have to mean dehumanization.
✅ Check out our Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
Key Takeaways
• The world has entered an era of enduring disorder rather than cyclical instability• Many modern power players seek chaos rather than a coherent alternative order• Geopolitics requires empathy, psychological insight, and strategic risk taking• Institutional decay mirrors the “enshittification” seen in digital platforms• Democratic renewal depends on honesty, expertise, and resisting simplistic solutions
About the Guest
Jason Pack is a geopolitical analyst, writer, and consultant focused on global disorder, conflict, and institutional resilience. He is the founder of Libya Analysis, host of the Disorder podcast, and the creator of the Enduring Disorder framework. Jason has served as an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and as Senior Analyst for Emerging Challenges at the NATO Defense College Foundation in Rome. His work spans Libya, the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, and the future of democratic governance.
www.jasonpack.org
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Thanks to Our Sponsors
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
Can democracy survive in a world where disorder is rewarded and institutions are no longer trusted to tell the truth?

A Ballgame. A Ritual. And What We Carry Forward.

Why a ballgame can become a ritual and how shared attention carries meaning across generations.
In this solo episode, Corey reflects on a conversation with his oldest child that began with skepticism about sports and opened into something deeper.
Calls to Action:
✅ If this episode resonates, consider sharing it with someone who might need a reminder that disagreement doesn’t have to mean dehumanization.
✅ Check out our Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com
✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics
✅ Subscribe to Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other on your favorite podcast platform.
✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion
From the civility of organized competition to the ways human beings channel conflict, from watching games with his brother to feeling the presence of his grandfather and uncle long after they are gone, this is a meditation on why sports can matter without needing to justify themselves.
Being a fan of the New York Mets becomes a case study in disciplined hope, inherited memory, and the quiet work of staying present with one another. Not because anyone is convinced. But because something is shared.
This episode also offers a window into why Corey co-hosts East Meets West Sports with Rick Garcia and why sports, at their best, are not an escape from the world but another way of understanding it.
Connect on Social Media:
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Thanks to Our Sponsors:
Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
The Village Square: villagesquare.us
Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com
Proud members of The Democracy Group
This is Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killin’ Each Other as lived practice. Staying in the room. Sharing attention. Letting ritual carry some of the weight when words are not enough.