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Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse.

On Friday, a group of religious leaders met outside First Baptist Church in Batavia, New York, to denounce the arrival of General Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken America Tour. What made this different from previous events put on by the group Faithful America is that the leaders speaking out against Christian nationalism came from both within and outside of Christianity.

A Christian pastor in western New York said he felt intimidated and harassed after the state’s attorney general, a Democrat, sent a letter saying she believed a planned far-right political event at his church this week could lead to racial violence.

In episode 63 of Dangerous Dogma, Greg Carey, a professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary, talks about issues of biblical interpretation and current events. He also discusses the book of Revelation and his book, Using Our Outside Voice: Public Biblical Interpretation.

Church

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse.

A predominantly Black denomination and prominent union have joined forces in a new voter mobilization initiative ahead of the midterm elections. Reviving a partnership they had in the 1960s, the laborlab Convention and the AFL-CIO are launching a faith and labor alliance focused on battleground states.

When the Rev. Megan Rohrer was elected bishop of the ELCA’s Sierra Pacific Synod in 2021, the election was celebrated as a revolution in and outside of the denomination. But what followed is a "perfect storm" of charismatic personalities and a heightened awareness of racism, all brewing in one of the country’s whitest denominations.

Nation

On Friday, a group of religious leaders met outside First Baptist Church in Batavia, New York, to denounce the arrival of General Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken America Tour. What made this different from previous events put on by the group Faithful America is that the leaders speaking out against Christian nationalism came from both within and outside of Christianity.

A Christian pastor in western New York said he felt intimidated and harassed after the state’s attorney general, a Democrat, sent a letter saying she believed a planned far-right political event at his church this week could lead to racial violence.

Two of the most influential evangelical Christian magazines in the country named new leaders last week. Russell Moore, the former Southern Baptist ethicist, was named editor in chief at Christianity Today. Lynn Vincent, a motorcycle-riding Navy veteran and New York Times best-selling author, was recently named executive editor at World Magazine.

World

The feuding that the Partition initiated between Indian and Pakistani Hindus and Muslims has not ceased. Increasingly it is fueled by governments on both sides that stoke religious nationalist feelings among their citizens. But in this 75th anniversary year of the Partition, many Indians and Pakistanis are looking to oral history to preserve the memory of interfaith collaboration as an essential part of their two countries’ histories.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we take off on an Australian adventure. We kick things off like kangaroos to discover the relationship between church and state for the Aussies. Then we curl up like koalas to reconsider the wild text known as the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer practice and the new debate around it offers fertile ground for thinking about faith and government.

Nicaraguan authorities ordered the closure of six radio stations belonging to the Roman Catholic Church on Monday and surrounded one with riot police, church officials said. 

Editorials

On Sunday evening, a man opened fire in a shopping mall in Greenwood, Indiana, killing three people and wounding two others before also being shot dead. What city officials said in response sparked some odd headlines.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor responds to comments by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, who attacked Americans United for Separation of Church and State while he advocated for government prayers in public schools.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on starting a third year of a global pandemic. Looking at coverage of this pandemic and the flu pandemic of a century before, he offers some lessons to consider.

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell examines how to go about learning who we truly are at our core through engaging in a few specific practices that might help bring clarity to the view from within. There may be an instinctive draw to know ourselves better, but often we do not really

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy tackles the theological and rhetorical problem of dealing with speakers who will say one thing today and another tomorrow and whose words and actions are contradictory. Until we can put language and actions together as a consistent performance, we will struggle to properly understand contemporary evangelical

Greg Carey asserts that democracy in the United States is in a world of hurt and Christians who treasure democracy must make crucial contributions to the healing process. This truth particularly applies to White Christians because they form the political base for the forces that aim to restrict democratic activity

E-Newsletter

We review a book each month at A Public Witness and for this installment, Beau Underwood examines and recommends Beth Allison Barr's The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. He also discusses some of the strong reaction to the book by Barr's opponents.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we take off on an Australian adventure. We kick things off like kangaroos to discover the relationship between church and state for the Aussies. Then we curl up like koalas to reconsider the wild text known as the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer practice and

In this edition of A Public Witness, we interrogate the encroaching secularism Samuel Alito fears. Then we cross-examine recent Supreme Court rulings to identify how Alito’s logic is already at work. Finally, we appeal the verdict rendered by some in the media that Alito and other justices are taking the high

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Podcasts

In episode 63 of Dangerous Dogma, Greg Carey, a professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary, talks about issues of biblical interpretation and current events. He also discusses the book of Revelation and his book, Using Our Outside Voice: Public

In episode 62 of Dangerous Dogma, Thomas Lecaque, professor of history at Grand View University, talks about alarming issues of religious and political support for violence. He also discusses the importance of studying history.

We published two new episodes of Baptist Without an Adjective featuring conversations with Polish Baptist pastors talking about their nation and efforts to minister to Ukrainian refugees. Episode 161 is with Mateusz Wichary of Warsaw, and episode 162 is with

In episode 61 of Dangerous Dogma, Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America, talks about advocacy and Christian witness. He also discusses the dangerous and heretical ReAwaken America Tour, which has been covered at A Public Witness.

Books

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence by Diana Butler Bass. This book is her attempt to free Jesus from the captivity she has experienced in life and in doing so

We review a book each month at A Public Witness and for this installment, Beau Underwood examines and recommends Beth Allison Barr's The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. He also discusses some

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine by Randy S. Woodley. This book serves as a helpful introduction for those who are not familiar with an indigenous/Native American vision of Christianity

Robert D. Cornwall reviews That We May Be One: Practicing Unity in a Divided Church by Gary B. Agee. In this book, Agee reminds us that unity is not easy to achieve and that shortcuts that avoid difficult conversations about