Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion Podcast · Profs. Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst and Megan Goodwin

RELIGION & ADOPTION: What Have We Learned?

·25 min·1 clip

Megan Goodwin says that with adoption, religion is "almost as close to a one-to-one as you can make it."

1. Keeping It 101, a Killjoy's Introduction to Religion, closes its four-episode miniseries on religion and adoption with a recap and two comedic games. 2. Hosts Megan Goodwin, a scholar of American religions, race, gender and politics, and Elise Morgenstein-First, a historian of religion, Islam, race and South Asia, review episodes 703, 705, 707 and 709. 3. The central claim is that the U.S. adoption industry has "always, always, always been rooted in white Christian nationalism," and that religion cannot be separated from adoption. 4. Episode 703 gave an overview with primary sources, including how religious traditions differ on adoption and the hosts' own stories. 5. Episode 705 covered religious freedom, where the hosts say adoptees have no rights as minors, adoption agencies are "90 to 95%" tied to Christianity, and conservative activists have filed repeated lawsuits over adoption. 6. Episode 707 examined the Indian Child Welfare Act and Native child removal, with estimates that between one-third and two-thirds of Native children were removed into largely white Christian homes, and the hosts note that official numbers are likely low. 7. Episode 709 tied adoption to reproductive justice, arguing that after Roe in 1973 white Christian nationalists framed adoption as a solution to abortion and infertility, while the hosts say "abortion is healthcare" and adoption is about a child needing a home. 8. Goodwin, an adoptee, says she had to course-correct while researching because she could not "stick my toe in here without feeling all of the feelings," and describes rage as "instructive" and "pedagogical." 9. In "Super Duper Baby Scooper," each host has 30 seconds to list orphans, with Morgenstein-First naming Harry Potter, Oliver Twist and Queen Esther and winning 15 to 10 over Goodwin's Long John Silver and Paddington Bear, and in "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" she argues for 60 seconds that Face Off is an adoption movie. 10. Suits listeners of the earlier adoption episodes who want a recap with dark humor.

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