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Reporting from a meeting of the Middle East and North Africa Evangelical National Councils, Daoud Kuttab notes that pressure from Arab governments and other Christian groups has only contributed to evangelicals’ cooperation in the region.

By taking a step back, we can see a critical issue beyond the media’s focus in this latest Herschel Walker controversy. And this story is less about Walker and more about the churches helping him run down the electoral field. So, in this issue of A Public Witness, we look at Walker’s religious campaign strategy and his record of dishonesty to consider the danger of churches fumbling their moral witness.

“A priest, a truck driver, and a grandma walk into a game show.” It’s not the set-up to a joke, but rather to one of the five “Jeopardy!” episodes in which the Rev. David Sibley appeared last week. Sibley, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walla Walla, Washington, appeared on the beloved, long-running trivia competition Sept. 26-30, winning four straight episodes and $79,098.

The Native American International Caucus, which advocates for Native Americans both inside and outside of the UMC, is calling on lawmakers to get rid of Columbus Day. To replace the federal holiday, which this year falls on Oct. 10, the caucus is asking Congress to approve several bills formalizing Indigenous Peoples Day as a legal public holiday, according to a statement from the caucus posted on it website Tuesday.

On the morning after an explosive news report that Senate hopeful Herschel Walker paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009, the Georgia Republican attended a closed prayer event at First Baptist Church in Atlanta. Journalists who showed up at the church were told by church staffers they had to leave. But Word&Way found photos and videos shared on social media by attendees that give insights into the campaign event.

Although Doug Mastriano stands out for his extreme embrace of Christian Nationalist ideas, his co-opting of Esther 4:14 for his campaign is actually fairly standard campaign fare. So, in this issue of A Public Witness, we listen to the Esther moments showing up all the time in our politics today. Then we look in our Bibles to see what the passage actually teaches before offering a warning about the political misuse of this popular verse.

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "Theology and the Star Wars Universe" edited by Benjamin D. Espinoza. This book is part of a larger series of academic studies that explore the relationship between theology/religion and pop culture. The idea here is to invite a series of religion scholars to engage in conversation with Star Wars, where a universe centered in the Force has always provided intriguing theological possibilities.

Several students, faculty, and staff held a protest outside an event being held by Samford’s Office of Spiritual Life. The protest requested that LGBTQ-affirming churches be welcome at the ministry fair, that the school approve a gay/straight alliance, and that the school pass anti-discrimination policy to protect LGBTQ students. Advocates say that while Samford’s anti-LGBTQ stance might not be new, its rejection of ecumenism is.

Liz Cooledge Jenkins unpacks the hypocrisy in voicing support for Iranian women who protest oppressive patriarchy in their context while remaining strangely silent about oppressive patriarchy — and even hostile to those who speak up against it — in our own U.S. context. People in complementarian churches often hear feminist critique and feel like the good-hearted men in their lives are being personally attacked.

Though many congregations in the U.S. are relatively homogeneous, others are sharply divided. In some cases, divisions are becoming more pronounced as midterm election season heats up, leaving clergy to keep the peace while still meeting the spiritual needs of all of their members.