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This issue of A Public Witness unpacks the devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel, why Donald Trump recently posted about him, and what it means for our politics today.

While emergency officials continue to search for victims of Hurricane Helene, faith-based groups start the long, slow cleanup efforts.

Before Tim Walz and J.D. Vance took the debate stage on Tuesday, Faith for Harris-Walz held a vice presidential pre-show event featuring several influential religious leaders.

This issue of A Public Witness details the religious background of Kamala Harris, now one of the two leading contenders to be the 47th president of the United States.

Dangerous Dogma

Church

The building, built in 1923, was funded entirely by women.

A defamation lawsuit filed by Hunt has cost the nation's largest Protestant denomination $3 million so far. A trial date is set for Nov. 12 in Nashville.

At its 2024 synod in June, the Christian Reformed Church instructed LGBTQ-affirming congregations to repent and comply with the denomination’s beliefs on sexuality. Some are now choosing to leave.

Nation

This issue of A Public Witness unpacks the devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel, why Donald Trump recently posted about him, and what it means for our politics today.

While emergency officials continue to search for victims of Hurricane Helene, faith-based groups start the long, slow cleanup efforts.

Before Tim Walz and J.D. Vance took the debate stage on Tuesday, Faith for Harris-Walz held a vice presidential pre-show event featuring several influential religious leaders.

World

Responding to crisis, a coalition of church organizations is providing education, skills trainings, and farming equipment to help refugees become self-reliant.

Several evangelical pastors, Catholic priests, and human rights organizations have denounced the surveillance, harassment, and the imprisonment of Nicaraguan faith leaders in recent years.

An event advocating for the treaty was organized as part of the Season of Creation, an event observed annually by Christian denominations and Christian climate activists from Sept. 1 to Oct. 4.

Editorials

While messengers to last week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention debated how to treat churches with women in pastoral roles, Baptist Women in Ministry showed up to offer a counter witness.

The thinning of the UMC’s conservative ranks makes this week’s conference a perfect time to address the issue.

Missing in all the jokes and news reports about the Trump Bible is that this isn’t the first time a presidential stamp of approval was sought for the Good Book.

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy connects recent racist rhetoric aimed at immigrants to the early 20th-century Baptist pastor J. Frank Norris.

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell reflects on ancient understandings of the heart and how they relate to our modern grief.

Daoud Kuttab reflects on a gathering that took place as the war in Gaza — where at least 23 Christians have been killed — has alienated many Palestinian Christians, who feel their co-religionists around the globe have abandoned them.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness unpacks the devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel, why Donald Trump recently posted about him, and what it means for our politics today.

This issue of A Public Witness explores alarming new moves to implement Christian Nationalistic ideas in Indiana and Oklahoma before considering a glimmer of hope in Texas.

This issue of A Public Witness unpacks how Kamala Harris’s decision to skip the Al Smith Dinner — and the legacy of Smith (the first Catholic nominee for president) — offers important insights into this year’s campaign.

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Podcasts

We had a lot of great podcast conversations this year. So let’s count down the top 10 most-downloaded of episodes of Dangerous Dogma in 2023.

In episode 104 of Dangerous Dogma, Jay Augustine, senior pastor at St. Joseph AME Church in Durham, North Carolina, talks about his book When Prophets Preach: Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit. He also discusses preaching about current events,

In episode 103 of Dangerous Dogma, Craig Lamar Brown and Andrea Summer talk with about their movie Between Mercy and Me. They also discuss issues of racism, church worship, and creating music and movies. 

In episode 102 of Dangerous Dogma, Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, talks about attending the ReAwaken America Tour and a Pastors for Trump meeting at Trump Doral in Miami, Florida.

Books

In “Defiant Hope, Active Love: What Young Adults Are Seeking in Places of Work, Faith, and Community,” scholars investigate how faith communities can be more hospitable to the next generation of Christians.

Matthew Taylor makes a compelling case that the New Apostolic Reformation, whose leaders and ideas have migrated from the fringes to the center of American evangelicalism, is a dangerous threat to democracy.

In “The Quest of the Historical Muhammad and Other Studies on Formative Islam,” scholar Stephen J. Shoemaker attempts to approach the figure of Muhammad in a manner comparable to efforts to recover the historical figure of Jesus.

In “One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation,” Daniel Silliman cuts to the heart of Nixon’s tragedy: Nixon wanted to be loved by God but couldn’t figure out how.