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Shortly after Elon Musk officially took charge of Twitter last month, Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, joined a group of civil rights advocates for a meeting with the newly minted social media mogul. Among advocates’ chief concerns: that Musk, a self-declared “free speech absolutist,” would reactivate previously banned accounts — including that of former President Donald Trump.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy offers lessons we can glean from the upcoming Georgia runoff election. He argues that the Social Gospel, “the politics of Jesus,” needs rediscovering. In this recovery, it will not be about whether Warnock or Walker wins the Senate seat. The Social Gospel will not center on how people vote but rather on how the church takes the opportunity to be an alternative to the politics of the world.

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "Buried Seeds: Learning from the Vibrant Resilience of Marginalized Christian Communities" by Alexia Salvatierra and Brandon Wrencher. This book explores the fact that many marginalized Christian communities live without the traditional trappings of institutional religion. Nevertheless, they often thrive – so, perhaps there is much to learn from them.

Our democracy is in trouble and we need to elect pro-democracy candidates. But what if that isn’t sufficient? That’s why Christopher Beem wrote "The Seven Democratic Virtues: What You Can do to Overcome Tribalism and Save Our Democracy." A political scientist with a background in religious ethics, Beem brings the best of both traditions to bear on one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Two scholars, Jill Hicks-Keeton, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, and Cavan Concannon, a professor at the University of Southern California, have teamed up for a second time to examine and explore The Museum of the Bible’s exhibits, theatrical experiences, publications, funding and partnerships. The book argues that the museum is part of a larger 100-year-old project of white evangelical institution-building.

The ongoing decline of organized religion in America has led to an existential crisis for tens of thousands of congregations. Over the past two decades, the median size of a congregation has dropped from 137 people to 65 people. Rather than owning a building that was empty most of the week, Embrace Church is part owner of a thriving third space — filled every day with the sounds of conversation and friendship.

One is an ordained pastor in Brooklyn, the other a single mother and children’s book author in New Jersey. Both drive for Lyft. Both share the word of God as roving preachers. 

Many reasons have been suggested as to why highly religious Americans are less likely to be worried about climate change or work to try to stem it. But in the end, a new Pew Research survey concludes, it’s all about politics. Massive gaps in views among people claiming the same type of religion point to political partisanship as the crucial factor driving their environmental opinions.

In this edition of A Public Witness, we’ll coach you up on the history of the men’s World Cup and the particular details around the 2022 tournament in Qatar that begins in just a few days — and we’ll explain why the penalty cards should come out for these games. Then we ask an important question: Should Christians (and others) watch the contests knowing the blood, sweat, and tears required to make them possible?

Among U.S. faith leaders and denominations, there are sharp differences over the bill advancing in the Senate that would protect same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law. The measure, a high priority for congressional Democrats, won a key test vote Wednesday.