Nation

In this issue of A Public Witness, we’ll consider our current context and what we might learn today from the rhetorical approach of an 18th century minister trying to save his flock from the ravages of an ancient disease.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we interrogate the arguments about military chaplains in the recent confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee. We also testify to the proper role of military chaplains and the problems with a misguided, sectarian approach favored by some senators. 

Voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams on Sunday (Oct. 17) urged Black churchgoers to turn out for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in next month’s Virginia governor’s election, saying that what happens in the most watched race this year will “show the world who we are” in future contests with even higher stakes.

While conservative evangelicals are the group most often criticized for equating American identity with adherence to Christianity, White progressive Christians have work to do to address their own Christian Nationalism, experts said at an ecumenical gathering this week.

In this edition of A Public Witness, we’ll brief you on Michael Farris’s career within the conservative Christian Right after stunning details emerged last week about his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we turn our spotlight on the race in Virginia to again plead for preserving the sacredness of sanctuaries. We will take you inside church services featuring Glenn Youngkin or Terry McAuliffe, and analyze the mini “sermons” they’re preaching.  

Three Black men — Pete Vinegar, George Robertson, and Isaac King — were lynched in Lawrence, Kansas, on June 10, 1882. On Saturday, soil was taken from the area of the lynching and placed in jars bound for the the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

In this edition of A Public Witness, we review the public careers of two well-known Christian figures in the public square — Pat Robertson and Francis Collins — who both announced their retirements in recent days. We will explore the lessons they taught and the spirits with which they led. 

The Christian flag’s co-optation at these events raises a banner of questions about its contemporary meaning to the Church. In this edition of A Public Witness, we unfurl the history of the Christian flag and raise up its usage by White Supremacists today.

For many Americans, Pat Robertson, the Christian television pioneer and onetime presidential candidate, will always be remembered for his wacky pronouncements made at inflection points of American history.