News

The issue of who gets to be a Southern Baptist made international headlines last week after the denomination’s Executive Committee voted to oust one of the nation’s largest and best-known churches for having a woman preaching pastor.

On the shores of the Persian Gulf, a new complex houses a Catholic church, a Jewish synagogue, and an Islamic mosque in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

This issue of A Public Witness reports on three unconventional Ash Wednesday services focused on environmentalism, death penalty abolition, and slavery reparations. Each one serves as a glimpse into how this season of spiritual reflection can inspire public action.

A Missouri bill that would allow religious and other "belief-based" organizations to refuse membership to certain students raised concerns Wednesday evening that it could open the door to discrimination on college campuses, especially against LGBTQ students.

The president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has called for the excommunication of unrepentant white supremacists in the church’s ranks, rebuking an extremist effort to exert influence within the conservative Lutheran denomination.

Professor Charles J. Russo explores the context surrounding a U.S. Supreme Court case that will soon address the extent to which employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for the religious beliefs and practices of employees. What exactly that means has been unclear for decades.

With the announcement on Saturday that the 98-year-old Jimmy Carter would enter hospice care at home, this issue of A Public Witness reflects on the moral exemplar he offered not only after his presidency but also during his underappreciated time in the Oval Office.

The SBC Executive Committee has deemed Saddleback Church as “not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention.” The move comes less than a year after founding pastor Rick Warren left and was replaced by pastors Andy and Stacie Wood.

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President" by Allen C. Guelzo. This new book, an updated version of the 1999 first edition, offers one of the best portrayals of Lincoln the thinker, politician, and war-time leader.

After an estimated 50,000 Christian worshippers, celebrity pastors, and onlookers flocked to a rolling revival meeting at Asbury University, the school’s administration announced a limited schedule for services in hopes of restoring order to this tiny Central Kentucky town.