Nation

A fresh-cut natural Christmas tree usually graces the Grand Arcade at Convention Hall on Asbury Park’s historic boardwalk. But this year, in its place is art made of cardboard in the shape of a tree.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we cross-examine the rhetoric about Rittenhouse that moves from legal technicalities to dangerous promotions of vigilantism. And we rest our case with a call for Christians to reject the glorification of violence. 

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, both Democrats and one an ordained minister, made the religious case for protecting and expanding voting rights on Thursday, championing the “sacred” right to vote in a wide-ranging discussion that also touched on whether God is Black.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we testify about the uninspiring history of “one nation under God” and civil religion. And we preach about a better way to think about our Christianity and citizenship.

An attorney for one of the White men standing trial in the death of Ahmaud Arbery told the judge Thursday he doesn’t want “any more Black pastors” in the courtroom after the Rev. Al Sharpton sat with the slain man’s family.

Can a Democrat find the right mix of interfaith values voters to get him over the top in Texas? A former Republican aide and political pundit hopes to find out next year.

Conservative Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Tuesday about a Texas death row inmate’s demand that his pastor be allowed to pray out loud and touch him during his execution.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we roll up our sleeves to examine prominent Christian leaders challenging vaccination mandates. And we warn of the danger of an underlying spiritual-but-not-religious individualism infecting our society.

Two Kentucky seminaries filed a legal petition Friday (Nov. 5) to challenge the Biden administration’s private employer vaccination mandate. The Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit on behalf of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Asbury Theological Seminary.

Archbishop José H. Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, railed against “new social justice movements” during a speech Thursday, decrying them as “pseudo-religions” that ultimately serve as “dangerous substitutes for true religion.”