News

Sen. Raphael Warnock may have added a title to his name when he was elected to the U.S. Senate last year, but he says he remains first and foremost a preacher. Warnock spoke with Religion News Service about the influence of King on his life, the challenges of being a father to young children from afar, and how he finds sermon topics as he works in Washington.

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Churches and the Crisis of Decline: A Hopeful, Practical Ecclesiology for a Secular Age by Andrew Root. This book explores the question of what the church might look like in the future as it experiences a crisis of decline in the current secular age.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we both join with six other people to each suggest two books for your consideration. We hope you’ll find at least one good book to help in your own formation this summer.

Last year, leaders at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting pulled a resolution that would have had messengers declare they “denounce the Capitol insurrection.” This year, messengers might elect a new leader who amplified false claims about the 2020 election.

Survivors of sexual assault in church settings and their advocates have been calling on churches for years to admit the extent of abuse in their midst and to implement reforms. In recent weeks #ChurchToo has seen an especially intense set of revelations across denominations and ministries.

Tom Ascol has long argued Southern Baptist churches are filled with people who believe they are Christians but really aren't — a belief shaped by growing up with an abusive father who was also a church deacon.

After Trump lost the election in November, a report from the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Freedom From Religion Foundation concluded that Christian nationalism, also referred to as white Christian nationalism, was used to “bolster, justify and intensify the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” according to BJC’s Amanda Tyler.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we recount the politics animating the SBC, hop on the virtual bus to follow Tom Ascol’s campaign, and then consider what his victory could mean well beyond Southern Baptist life. 

Randy Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, called on the SBC to “break all ties” with the investigative firm Guidepost Solutions, which produced the long-awaited sexual abuse report, after the company posted on Twitter its support for LGBTQ+ Pride month.

A COVID-19 vaccine that could soon win federal approval may offer a boost for the U.S. military: an opportunity to get shots into some of the thousands of service members who have refused other coronavirus vaccines for religious reasons.