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Beyond supporting families in distress, the group hopes to activate Christians — especially White or English-speaking evangelicals — who have been sitting on the sidelines in aiding immigrants as mass deportations have ramped up.

This issue of A Public Witness contemplates historical parallels between the Stasi secret police force in East Germany targeting activist Lutheran congregations and DHS agents spying inside ELCA churches today.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday (Oct. 15) that the Pentagon will not livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter, backing away from a proposal that triggered widespread pushback from prominent religious leaders.

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Videos

Church

'When I go to their house, they have to make sure it's me before they even go to the door,' Pastor Jean-Daniel Berard, who leads Passionate LightHouse of God, said of his church members. 'The fear is real.'

Faith groups suing President Donald Trump’s administration filed a motion Thursday (Aug. 20) alleging the Department of Homeland Security committed “multiple egregious violations” of a court order that largely barred warrantless surveillance at their churches. 

During a gathering in Nashville, scholars looked at the theology, money, and music reshaping how Americans worship and experience God.

Nation

The defense secretary’s conscription of Isaiah 6:8’s ‘send me’ to promote military recruitment has also drawn rebukes from Christian Nationalist figures such as pastor/commentator Joel Webbon and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

According to court documents, Feucht sought a donation for his Kingdom to Capitol Tour, which he planned to take to all 50 states. The donor agreed to fund five tour stops for a total of $250,000, but later discovered that Feucht’s entire concert tour had been fully funded.

A federal judge recently ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to report about any protected church where it has conducted an immigration enforcement action. But the agency told the court it had no idea how many incidents there may be, insisting it had no reasonable way to check its own records.

World

In addition to heading the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church in the U.S.

This issue of A Public Witness considers some dangerous voices against climate action and then the Christians working to love their neighbors and the Creator by addressing our pressing environmental crisis.

Trump delivered an extraordinary online attack against Leo on Sunday night after the first U.S.-born pope suggested that a ‘delusion of omnipotence’ is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran.

Editorials

Brian Kaylor reacts to claims that God is sending a message through a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook the northeastern part of the U.S. on Friday or a solar eclipse going across much of the U.S. on Monday.

During a recent debate in the Missouri Senate over a proposal to create rape and incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban, one lawmaker argued against such exceptions by defaming God.

For the final devotional exploring Advent in a time of bloodshed in Israel, Brian Kaylor reflects on how Gaza is significant in a biblical story that doesn’t explicitly mention the place.

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that Trump's war against Iran, like his entire presidency, is an exercise in blowing things up. He has shown that he is a demolition expert, not a deal maker.

In significant sectors of American evangelical Christianity, Israel is a theological object beyond moral scrutiny. This is not political support for an ally. It is worship. And by Christianity’s own doctrinal standards, it is sin.

Stanley Hauerwas writes that ‘war is America’s central liturgical act necessary to renew our sense that we are a nation unlike any other nation.’ Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy connects this idea to our TV habits.

E-Newsletter

In light of advocacy from figures like Doug Wilson and Micah Beckwith, it’s worth remembering why the American experiment includes a ban on religious tests for office.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at how the head of the Russian Orthodox Church nukes God’s grace and mercy before considering how it serves as a warning about militaristic Christian Nationalism more broadly.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside a hyperpartisan church for a taste of how the gospel of Jesus is being supplanted by an imperial lust for political power.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Through sharing her personal story of deep loss, Hannah Miller King reflects on how the ancient Christian practice of communion can reframe our grief by embedding it in a larger picture of gospel hope.

The latest book from Amos Yong recasts what Christians call the missiological question first and foremost to those who would be true believers, including all who might wish to bear appropriate witness to their faith in a pluralistic world.

Drawing on her vocational insights and personal experiences, Episcopal priest, historian, and spiritual director Rhonda Mawhood Lee offers a compassionate vision for understanding and responding faithfully to suicide.

L. Daniel Hawk exposes the belief systems and practices that settlers developed to justify the displacement, destruction, and cultural erasure of Indigenous peoples, beginning in the early American colonial period and extending to the present day.