Nation

A coalition of religious and Native American organizations is uniting to support the nonprofit group Apache Stronghold in its fight to save the sacred site of Oak Flat, a 7-square-mile stretch of land east of Phoenix that a multinational corporation is seeking to turn into an underground copper mine.

Hamline retracted its characterization of an adjunct professor as “Islamophobic” on Tuesday and has revised a previous statement about academic freedom. This comes in the wake of a firestorm of criticism after the Minnesota university did not renew the contract of the adjunct, who showed a 14th-century painting of the Prophet Muhammad in her class.

Former President Donald Trump is chiding evangelical Christian pastors who previously supported him but haven’t endorsed his new presidential campaign, accusing the faith leaders of “disloyalty.” Trump also appeared to blame evangelical leaders for the Republican Party’s meager showing in the 2022 midterm elections.

There is no legal remedy for LGBTQ students who claim they were discriminated against at their religious universities, a federal district court ruled in a high-profile case late Thursday. The judge dismissed the class-action lawsuit filed in 2021 on behalf of about 40 students and former students at religious schools nationwide.

This issue of A Public Witness reviews the position of congressional chaplain before analyzing last week’s House prayers during the battle to elect a new speaker. Then it offers a benediction contemplating a better way of thinking about religion and politics.

Agape Boarding School announced it will shut down Jan. 20. The closure is long-awaited for dozens of former students who have gone public with their allegations of physical, mental, and sexual abuse at Agape, which opened in Missouri in 1996.

“Christian nationalist” once summoned images of fiery extremists — stark racists concerned with keeping immigrants out of the United States or politicians who argued that the Ten Commandments ought to coexist in law with the Constitution. Then came Jan. 6, and suddenly the term became a culture-war acid test.

The religious makeup of the new Congress bucks the trends seen in American religious life, a new report finds. The Pew Research Center says the Senate and House members are “largely untouched” by the continuing increase in the share of those who say they do not have a religious affiliation.

As the second anniversary of the insurrection arrives later this week, we are still grappling with what happened that day. So in this issue of A Public Witness, Brian Kaylor looks at the efforts of activists to baptize their political movement and what this teaches us about claiming God’s name.

The delays are just the latest frustration for former students who have publicly accused the school of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. The school, which has been subject to intense social media pressure from activists and at least 20 lawsuits, remains open and has vehemently denied allegations of wrongdoing.