News

In this edition of A Public Witness, we revisit one of the most famous quests for political absolution in recent history. We then go to church with Andrew Cuomo to consider his plea for mercy. Finally, we meditate on the larger, troubling pattern of our unapologetic political culture. 

Since 1997, 13 men have served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. But during that time, only one person has held another important position for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination: Recording Secretary John Yeats. However, that will change in June.

More than 275 Russian Orthodox priests and deacons from around the world have signed an open letter expressing their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, challenging the Russian government and breaking with the tacit support of the military action by church leadership in Moscow. 

The United Methodist Church has delayed its General Conference meeting for a third time due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. In response, some conservative United Methodists have announced they will preemptively leave the denomination rather than wait for the long anticipated meeting.

in this edition of A Public Witness we speak as Christians appalled at the incivility of our public life. We cut through the noise to show how our nation is growing accustomed to such antics from Rep. Boebert to the point that media outlets treat it as just a normal day in Congress. Finally, we (politely) level our own protest against such behavior, which followers of Jesus can neither ignore nor condone.

Kyiv, bracing for a potentially catastrophic Russian attack, is the spiritual heart of Ukraine. Among the sites at risk in the Ukrainian capital are the nation’s most sacred Orthodox shrines, dating back nearly 1,000 years to the dawn of Christianity in the region.

Baptist churches and missionaries in Poland have jumped in to help assist refugees from neighboring Ukraine fleeing the attacks from Russia. Some of those the Baptists have met coming out of Ukraine include Ukrainians the Polish Baptists met during summer camps in previous years.

Ed Litton, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, announced Tuesday he will break with tradition and not seek a second term in the top convention role.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we listen to numerous calls for prayer from Christian leaders, denominations, and parachurch organizations. And we meditate on what it means to prophetically pray for peace instead of uttering generic calls that coddle the ones who broke the peace.

Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Ukraine, leader of the independent Orthodox Christian Church based in Kyiv, celebrated Ukrainians’ defense of his country against Russian invaders on Sunday while likening Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Antichrist and deriding the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.