Justin Giboney, author of Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around and founding president of the AND Campaign, delivered a lecture titled “Faithful Christians in the Culture War” on January 21, 2026 at the University of Notre Dame. Giboney, an ordained minister, focused on the relationship between the historical Black church and polarization in American politics, drawing insights on how lessons learned during the Civil Rights movement can influence current civic discourse.
Professor Don Stelluto, Co-Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government (CCCG), and current Tocqueville Fellow Madeleine Moss '28, introduced Giboney. The lecture was cosponsored by the Departments of Africana Studies, the Department of Theology, and the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience.
Questioning the degree to which modern Americans engage with the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Giboney described two categories of Christians: “morality Christians” who pursue an objective sense of personal morality under God, and “justice Christians” who value morality in public life. “I think both those things are part of the Bible, I think they just need to come together. We’re not just supposed to be about love, we’re supposed to be about love and truth.” Giboney cites his desire to value elements of both as what influences his nonprofit AND Campaign, which aims to bridge the divide between faith and politics by utilizing a biblical framework.
Taking instruction from the Civil Rights movement, Giboney laid out four lessons from Black Christianity he believes to be of value to modern American discourse.
First, drawing inspiration from “the ability to connect the spiritual and the sociopolitical” within the thought of the Civil Rights movement, Giboney called for a cultivation of that connection in present discourse. “How different would our tweets look if we thought of ourselves as ambassadors of Christ?” Giboney said, illustrating his ideal impact of Christian thought on everyday discourse.
Second, Giboney recognized a shared value for both moral order and social justice, noting,“This movement didn’t fit into the progressive and conservative binary.” Describing his observation of the Black church’s political development in the early twentieth century, Giboney paraphrased their thought process: “If we go to the right, we lose our bodies because there’s no justice there. If we go to the left, we lose our souls, because they’re walking away from the Bible and the authority of scripture.” Giboney placed emphasis on the bipartisan application of Christian values within the Black church.
Third, Civil Rights-era thinkers’ “acknowledging the potential wickedness in themselves” is crucial. Quoting the praying Pharisee and the tax collector in the Gospel of Luke, Giboney drew a parallel between the tax collector’s humility and the calling felt by the Black church. “How many times do we look at our political opponents and think ‘Thank God I’m not like them.’ None of us would want to be the praying Pharisee,” Giboney said. “He was wrong in that he exalted himself.”
Finally, Giboney explained the importance of “moral imagination,” which he defined as “the ability to see not just what’s happening right now but what’s likely to happen in the future, what ought to be, how ought things go, and to act on that.” Giboney highlighted the need to implement this moral imagination in the modern political sphere.
Sophomore Jack Rankin '28, a current Tocqueville Fellow and fellow in the Sheedy Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, appreciated Giboney’s analysis of Civil Rights-era thought, and “loved his using of Dr. King’s example to illustrate the profound political change brought about by Christian morality.” Agreeing with Giboney’s interpretation of C.S. Lewis, Rankin shared Giboney’s “idea from Lewis on opposing polarization, and that the enemy sends his evils in pairs.”
Fr. Bill Miscamble, C.S.C. agreed with Giboney’s connection between Christianity and civic values. “I really appreciated Justin Giboney’s efforts to root participation in the public square in Christian values. It is clear that he wants to integrate well the quest for social justice with the Church's moral teaching.”
To view the full recording of Giboney’s remarks, as well as past event archives, visit our lecture library. To stay up to date with the CCCG’s programming, subscribe to our email list.