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In this issue of A Public Witness, we sing a song of lament for how some Christians are helping to dismantle democracy. By looking at Kari Lake, a candidate who represents the threat, we explore her use of religious rhetoric and practices before offering a pro-democracy chorus ahead of next week’s midterm elections.

During the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place in late October and early November in Mexico, the living remember and honor their dearly departed, but with celebration — not sorrow. Marigolds decorate the streets as music blares from speakers. It is believed that during the Day of the Dead — or Dia de Muertos — they are able to commune with their deceased loved ones.

Anti-Catholic rhetoric has long been a theme in nativist American thought, which includes some forms of extremist Protestant Christian agitators such as the Ku Klux Klan. But in the current Christian nationalist surge that fuels the ReAwaken gatherings and others like it, the ideology has served more as a glue holding together a wide range of right-wing coalitions.

Black church leaders in Georgia organized rallies Sunday (Oct. 30) in a push to get their congregants to vote — a longstanding tradition known as “souls to the polls” that is taking on greater meaning this year amid new obstacles to casting a ballot in the midterm elections.

In one of the most closely watched races in one of the most contested of battleground states, both gubernatorial candidates bring up religion. But in starkly different ways.

Three-quarters of Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction, and the majority of many religious groups agree with that sentiment, a new report shows. But they don’t all agree on what, exactly, has gone wrong. The 2022 American Values Survey by Public Religion Research Institute addressed questions of race, sexuality, abortion and immigration as well as sentiments about the country’s origins.

Forty-five percent of Americans believe the U.S. should be a “Christian nation,” one of several striking findings from a sweeping new Pew Research Center survey examining Christian nationalism. But researchers say respondents differed greatly when it came to outlining what a Christian nation should look like, suggesting a wide spectrum of beliefs.

The Reconstructing Evangelicalism conference, which drew about 400 pastors and other church leaders to Calvary Memorial Church in the Chicago suburbs, was inspired by a recent trend among evangelicals and other Protestants to “deconstruct” the faith they grew up with — examining core beliefs and often rejecting the conservative politics, sexism, and racial divides evangelicalism has come to be known for.

Andy Wood outlined his grand vision to build on Warren’s legacy and take Saddleback to the biggest cities in the U.S. and the world. He said he’ll encourage men and women to preach — an approach at odds with the male-leadership policies of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Historian Thomas Lecaque argues that how the various scandals surrounding Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker are understood by many evangelicals is based on a bad reading of Biblical narrative. The sins of Walker’s past are forgiven, regardless of the hypocrisy – and, in fact, they are an important component of what makes him important. Because beyond his utility, he gets to play the David card.