News

Allegations that two evangelical pastors have used their influence with Brazil’s Education Ministry to steer federal funding to friends — and in at least one case seek a bribe — are causing a new election-year controversy for the government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Senior Editor Beau Underwood interviews Vince Amlin, co-pastor of Gilead Church in Chicago, Illinois, for the latest installment of our “Behind the Pulpit” series intended to pull back the curtain on the minister’s life.

The Supreme Court said Thursday that states must grant the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their pastors pray aloud and even touch them during their executions. 

We interpret the Constitution and rule Graham’s questions out-of-bounds. Then we give a second hearing to a related misstep by Sen. Dianne Feinstein in questioning now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Finally, we render our verdict about the role religion should play in U.S. judicial hearings. 

For years, Calvin University, a leading evangelical school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has tried to walk a fine line of being welcoming to LGBTQ students while still enforcing traditional Christian Reformed Church views on sexuality. But a same-sex wedding led the university to split with its longtime research center over Christian teaching on sexuality.

In this edition of A Public Witness we’ll consider the church politics going on in the Tar Heel state, detail how one Baptist-preacher-turned-candidate is taking the Lord’s name in vain, and analyze why campaigns are corrupting congregational life.

Two Baptist preachers known for their claims that the nation’s largest Protestant denomination is becoming too liberal will be nominated for top roles in the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Living Under Water: Baptism as a Way of Life by Kevin J. Adams. Cornwall makes the case that this book can help us gain a better sense of what baptism means so that we can live into its imaginative promise – regardless of our specific theology.

Across Europe, Ukrainians gathered for church services on Sunday to pray for peace in their war-torn country. Newly arrived refugees mingled with long-time members of Europe’s 1.5 million-strong Ukrainian diaspora at houses of worship all over the continent from Germany to Romania to Moldova.

Members of the Congressional Freethought Caucus met with a group of scholars and activists on Thursday evening to review a new report detailing the role Christian Nationalism played in the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.