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Lebanon was set to switch clocks forward for daylight saving time early on Sunday, but on Thursday the Lebanese government suddenly announced it would delay the move due to Ramadan — then reversed that decision Monday morning.

Nabil Costa details a ludicrous conflict that surfaced when the caretaker Prime Minister, in a surge of “altruistic” enthusiasm to ease Ramadan’s rituals on the fasting populace, decided to postpone daylight saving time.

Friday’s storm flattened entire town blocks, but the Rolling Fork Methodist Church withstood the high winds. And so the first Sunday after the twister commenced just like any other Sunday — with congregants reaffirming their faith and finding solace together.

Daniel Buttry, retired global consultant for peace and justice with International Ministries of the American Baptist Church, talks about his new book Healing the World: Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. He also discusses nationalism, truth-telling, and conflict transformation.

Church

Friday’s storm flattened entire town blocks, but the Rolling Fork Methodist Church withstood the high winds. And so the first Sunday after the twister commenced just like any other Sunday — with congregants reaffirming their faith and finding solace together.

A North Carolina Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by 36 United Methodist churches demanding to sever their ties to the denomination.

A disgraced former Southern Baptist president is suing the denomination he once led, saying he was defamed by allegations he assaulted another pastor’s wife. 

Nation

In a move the Arizona Republic has called unusual, a full panel of 11 judges reheard oral arguments in the case of Apache Stronghold v. United States on Tuesday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Opponents of the new ‘doctrinal note’ such as New Ways Ministry, a Catholic LGBTQ outreach organization, blasted the bishops’ statement as ‘neither good theology nor acceptable pastoral care.’

Comparing Trump to Jesus misses the point of what is happening to Trump. And, more importantly, misunderstands the treatment of Jesus in the leadup to the cross.

World

Lebanon was set to switch clocks forward for daylight saving time early on Sunday, but on Thursday the Lebanese government suddenly announced it would delay the move due to Ramadan — then reversed that decision Monday morning.

This issue of A Public Witness scopes out the recent controversies in Russia and Ukraine about conscientious objectors before considering what lessons we might learn to see more clearly despite the fog of war.

Disagreements within the Methodist Church in Kenya are threatening to tear apart the denomination, with some senior clergy seeking to form independent regional conferences.

Editorials

Brian Kaylor takes a moment to thank everyone for being part of our 2022 journey. This includes a quick review of the year — including a countdown of the top 10 most-read pieces we published in our award-winning newsletter A Public Witness in 2022.

Brian Kaylor reflects on the 1914 “Christmas truce” during World War I and why it he does not find it to be an inspiring take on what “peace on Earth” could look like today.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on Russian pro-war propaganda dressed up like a Christmas decoration, which he calls a sacrilegious assault on celebrations of the birth of the Prince of Peace.

Word&Way Voices

Nabil Costa details a ludicrous conflict that surfaced when the caretaker Prime Minister, in a surge of “altruistic” enthusiasm to ease Ramadan’s rituals on the fasting populace, decided to postpone daylight saving time.

Darron LaMonte Edwards argues that Christians should be opposed to harmful conversion therapy, which is more concerned with changing who a teen is sexually attracted to than with modeling how to live faithfully.

Angela Denker writes about not wanting to waste the time she has on this earth and the strong desire to engage in important work. The ironic part, though, is that real meaning often comes in the minutia.

E-Newsletter

Lebanon was set to switch clocks forward for daylight saving time early on Sunday, but on Thursday the Lebanese government suddenly announced it would delay the move due to Ramadan — then reversed that decision Monday morning.

This issue of A Public Witness scopes out the recent controversies in Russia and Ukraine about conscientious objectors before considering what lessons we might learn to see more clearly despite the fog of war.

Comparing Trump to Jesus misses the point of what is happening to Trump. And, more importantly, misunderstands the treatment of Jesus in the leadup to the cross.

Sign up to receive full essays in your inbox!

Podcasts

Daniel Buttry, retired global consultant for peace and justice with International Ministries of the American Baptist Church, talks about his new book Healing the World: Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. He also discusses nationalism, truth-telling, and conflict transformation.

In episode 87 of Dangerous Dogma, Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, talks about his book American Crusade: How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom.

In episode 86 of Dangerous Dogma, Sara Billups talks about her new book Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home. She also discusses issues the impact of growing up with end-times theology, culture war politics,

Stephen Bullivant, a professor religion and sociology at St Mary's University in London and the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, talks about his new book Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America.

Books

"Deliver Us: Salvation and the Liberating God of the Bible" by Walter Brueggemann is the first volume in a new series gathering the lesser-known works of one of the most influential figures in biblical studies and theology.

"Preaching and Praying as Though God Matters: In the Post-establishment Church" by Ronald P. Byars seeks to provide us with a word that ties preaching and worship together, with special attention given to the Lord's Table.

In "The Desert of Compassion: Devotions for the Lenten Journey" author Rachel M. Srubas draws on the images of the desert, which she knows so well as a pastor in southern Arizona, to provide the reader/spiritual seeker with a rich

Barbara Mahany's "The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text" serves to remind us that before there was scripture, there was nature. It was nature that spoke to humanity about the presence of God the creator.