About Time
In this issue of A Public Witness, we borrow a principle from economics to help Christians consider the cost of our attention being absorbed by scandals that must be addressed or frivolous issues that should be ignored.
Messages from Hell
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor responds to critics of a Word&Way clergy statement urging Christians to get a COVID-19 vaccine. And Kaylor challenges the anti-vaxxer message of “faith over fear.”
Behind the Pulpit: Vicki Flippin
Senior Editor Beau Underwood interviews Vicki Flippin, who pastors First and Summerfield United Methodist Church in New Haven, Connecticut, for the latest installment of our “Behind the Pulpit” series intended to pull back the curtain on the minister’s life.
Russell Moore: Sickness, Death from COVID-19 Likely Reducing Some Vaccine Hesitancy
Russell Moore, Southern Baptist ethicist-turned-public theologian, said that knowing people who became seriously ill or died from COVID-19 may be causing some vaccine-hesitant individuals to change their minds.
In Sermon, Stacey Abrams Supports Texas Democrats ‘in Exile,’ Preaches on Voting Rights
Former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams used a virtual Washington, D.C., pulpit to preach a message supporting efforts to push back on voting rights restrictions.
Some Praise, Some Doubts as Facebook Rolls Out a Prayer Tool
Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers. The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as
Understanding Pandemic “Choice” Through Paul and MacIntyre
Columnist Rodney Kennedy weaves together a discussion of 1 Corinthians 8, where Paul’s subject is whether Christians should eat meat offered to idols, with the philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre to help us better understand the current ideological debate surrounding public health measures.
Warnock, Progressive National Baptists Focus on Voting Rights During Annual Meeting
The PNBC is considered the “spiritual home” of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and formed as a breakaway group from the National Baptist Convention in 1961 after the NBC opposed sit-ins and other civil rights protests.
Christianity Without Redemption
Belief in the possibility of redemption is lacking across American society. If Christians place their faith in a God who can redeem all things, then what response is required in this moment? This edition of A Public Witness calls for a renewed testimony to redemption's
Understanding Evangelicalism in America Today
What constitutes an evangelical, or what is evangelicalism in the United States today? Scholar Terry Shoemaker explores the various definitions and history of this decentralized, umbrella term within Protestant Christianity and what it means for our current religious landscape.