NOTE: This piece was originally published at our newsletter A Public Witness.
After a three-week hiatus, Saturday Night Live returned this past weekend with a press conference skit for the cold open that featured Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel. Colin Jost — who for months has hilariously played Hegseth — arrived at the podium in character with his quintessential machismo and petulance, this time holding an oversized glass of scotch on the rocks to mock Hegseth’s excessive drinking habits.
He quickly took his first question from the comedians posing as the White House press corps: “Uh, yeah. When you recited that Bible verse from Pulp Fiction about ‘vengeance and furious anger,’ um, did you know it was fake and it wasn’t really in the Bible?”
“Yeah!” Jost’s Hegseth responded aggressively and unconvincingly.
“But also, I do believe that someday it will be. In Bible 2: Electric Bible-aloo. Now, I’m not going to apologize because I wear my religion on my sleeve literally. I have a tattoo on my forearm of Jesus choking out Jimmy Kimmel,” he added, alluding to Hegseth’s Crusader tattoos that he also has stamped into the leather of his olive green bespoke ESV Bible.
This adds to the growing list of jokes stemming from a viral story that broke here at A Public Witness with our reporting on April’s Pentagon worship service. We thought we had reached new heights when our reporting on March’s government worship service landed one of us (Brian) an interview with On the Media. But now the fact that he was the only journalist to watch these services live has paid off on a scale we could never have predicted.
Since we last wrote about the Pulp Fiction prayer phenomenon, both Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel have joked about it on their late night talk shows (adding to the SNL skit and earlier jokes by Stephen Colbert). And this viral story even made its way into congressional hearings last week, with Democratic Rep. Salud Carbajal of California saying directly to Hegseth: “We have something in common. I’m also a fan of Pulp Fiction. And no, the movie is not an accurate portrayal of the Bible. You know what I’m talking about.” (Hegseth did not respond to the quip.)
Our award-winning journalism is clearly making a difference. And this week we’re marking the fifth anniversary of the start of A Public Witness. So after lighting five birthday candles, this issue of A Public Witness reflects on the highlights of the past year as we look forward to again inspiring members of the U.S. Congress, national journalists, and late night comics.
Quite a Year
Over the past 12 months, we published a weekly roundup and 115 pieces exploring the intersection of faith, culture, and politics. Of those 115 pieces, about 30% went only to paid subscribers (who can also write comments on any post to add to the conversation). We covered a lot of important ground, including events and topics that would’ve otherwise been overlooked.
Our path to discovering Hegseth’s Pulp Fiction prayer came as we’ve often been the only outlet covering government prayer services, as some federal agencies organize, host, and conduct Christian worship. So we’ve covered the various services at the Pentagon and have produced the only reports on multiple services at the Department of Labor. Our reporting helped inspire lawsuits from Americans United for Separation of Church and State against both agencies.
Building on previous reporting, we’ve continued to cover issues around immigration and the U.S. government’s crackdown on immigrants and their allies. This has included reports on churches winning decisions in lawsuits against DHS, the misuse of the Bible and the co-option of Christmas by DHS, the deporting of pastors and lay church leaders, the silence of Kristi Noem’s church as she oversaw DHS violence, an anti-ICE protest in a church, and DHS violence against clergy peacefully protesting.
Similarly, we’ve covered issues of war, including Christian opposition to the Iran war (as well as earlier criticism of a U.S. raid on Venezuela), a faith-based rally against war, the misuse of the Bible by the Pentagon (and by Israeli leaders), and profane pro-war claims by President Donald Trump.
In this year of celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary, we’ve unpacked the bad history and problematic policies pushed by Christian Nationalists. Like the inaccurately named “Religious Liberty Commission” (and antisemitism that erupted on it), a popular fake prayer story about George Washington, efforts to teach inaccurate “Christian” history in schools, anti-Muslim bigotry by lawmakers, and efforts to put a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments (as well as an atrocious ruling to allow Texas to mandate such “Ten Commandments” posters).
We also considered a number of other important issues at the intersection of faith and politics, including the death penalty (in Missouri and Alabama), anti-vaccine efforts, the promotion of Confederate leaders, climate change, and attacks on late night comics like Stephen Colbert.
We also published reviews of 12 books, with a paid subscriber each month randomly chosen to receive an autographed copy of that month’s book. These reviews included works on greed, faith and science, rethinking how to lead churches today, the emergence of the MAGA movement, the Book of Revelation, and more (including, of course, the now award-winning book The Bible According to Christian Nationalists).
Another way of looking back at what we’ve published over the last year is to consider our most popular pieces. We like to count down for suspense, but everyone should be able to guess our most-read piece this time. Here are the top stories from the past 12 months:
10. Bombing God’s Love (June 22)
9. The Silence of Kristi Noem’s Church (Jan. 29)
8. Not Worth It (Sep. 11).
7. At Pentagon Christmas Service, Franklin Graham Praises ‘God of War’ (Dec. 17).
6. Doug Wilson Preaches at Pentagon, Compares Services to Day of Pentecost (Feb. 17).
5. At Pentagon Worship Service, Hegseth Casts Iran Conflict as Violent Holy War Against God’s Enemies (March 25).
4. At National Prayer Breakfast, Hegseth Says US Soldiers Gain Salvation by Dying for ‘Christian Nation’ (Feb. 5).
3. Chris Tomlin’s Worshipwashing of Charlie Kirk (Sept. 22).
2. Protesters Disrupt Southern Baptist Church of Pastor Who Leads ICE Office in Minnesota (Jan. 18).
1. Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer From ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service (April 15).
Community Effort
We appreciate everyone who has been reading and sharing our work. The viral Pulp Fiction prayer story is just one example of the influence of A Public Witness. Our work is also often cited by larger publications as we provide unique, in-depth news and analysis. In just the past 12 months, that has included cites for stories other than the Pulp Fiction prayer in articles by the Associated Press, The Christian Century, CNN, The Guardian, MS NOW, New York Magazine, Religion News Service, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and others. Pretty impressive impact on national conversations for a publication with such a small staff and budget!
Additionally, we just won several awards from the Religion Communicators Council and Religion News Association for pieces published at A Public Witness (in addition to other awards for our seasonal e-newsletter Unsettling Advent and more). These awards help show our commitment to bringing you quality Christian journalism.
We’ve covered a lot, not just this year but throughout the five years of publishing A Public Witness. And a quick look at current events shows how desperately our work is needed. So we’re just getting started.
The community that is growing here encourages and inspires us to keep up the work. We appreciate all of you for reading. Together, we are creating a public witness as a counter to Christian Nationalism and other heresies. And we literally could not do this without the support of our paid subscribers and donors. So if you’re not yet a paid subscriber, you can upgrade today to help continue our award-winning (and late night comedy-inspiring) journalism.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor & Jeremy Fuzy
A Public Witness is a reader-supported publication of Word&Way. To receive new posts and support our journalism ministry, subscribe today.
