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This issue of A Public Witness looks at the false claims of Christian persecution leveled against Biden in the midst of an acrimonious campaign.

In "Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China," Glen L. Thompson introduces readers to the surprising history of the early Eastern church — referred to as Jingjiao, or the Luminous Teaching.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan who used to serve as a Baptist pastor, suggested at a town hall during Holy Week that the Gaza Strip should be nuked.

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Dangerous Dogma

Church

The Progressive National Baptist Convention, the denominational home of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., publicly endorsed calls for a ceasefire in Israel-Gaza on Monday.

Revelations about the decadeslong abuse by a prominent SBC leader have led to fears that the denomination's sex-abuse reforms are doomed to fail.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been sending thousands of migrants to cities like Chicago, Illinois. Many churches in the Windy City are stepping up to help care for the migrants.

Nation

Located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, the Bible museum was open less than three years and failed to attract large numbers of visitors.

U.S. religious institutions enjoy tax exemptions, most notably from property taxes. Debate has raged for decades over whether the exemptions are fair.

A strong majority of Americans, and majorities of many religious groups, still broadly support LGBTQ rights.

World

The change, enacted in legislation signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July, reflects both Ukrainians' dismay with the 22-month-old Russian invasion and their assertion of a national identity.

Vatican officials said about 70,000 people filled St. Peter's Square for Francis' noonday speech and blessing. They included many people flying Palestinian flags, as well as some Ukrainian ones.

Palestinian Christians have felt abandoned by global Christian church leaders’ statements on the Israel-Hamas war, with some viewing the war as a moment for Western denominations to reckon with their colonialist past.

Editorials

As a Jewish legal advocate and a Baptist minister, we support the arguments of Boston in this critical First Amendment case that Supreme Court justices will hear on Jan. 18. Read the Boston Globe op-ed by Rachel Laser (president/CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State) and Brian

In day 18 of our Unsettling Advent devotional series, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on the news of a camel escaping from a live nativity in Kansas.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor offers some seasonal advice to the music director at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, ahead of Sunday’s worship service that will include former President Donald Trump.

Word&Way Voices

Many things have changed since ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’ was written, but not who receives the harshest punishments: those with the least social power.

Rev. Angela Denker explores the phenomenon of non-ordained men married to women who are pastors. So simple. So revolutionary. So threatening to many American Christians.

Pastor and hospice chaplain Melissa Bowers reminds us that in the long, horrifying legacy of state-sanctioned murder in the United States, a tiny pinprick of light has broken through.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness will take you inside both the report and the event to see how some members of the House of Representatives are paying attention to Christian Nationalism (and reading A Public Witness).

Walter Brueggemann has written scores of books. If one wants to understand the insights of this biblical scholar, where does one begin? Beau Underwood suggests the best way to dive into Brueggemann is not through a book he wrote but with a book written about him.

This issue of A Public Witness takes a look at past efforts from Christian clergy to bless weapons of war before returning to a current conflict to hear from a pastor in the little town of Bethlehem.

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Podcasts

In episode 71 of Dangerous Dogma, Sarah Posner, author of God's Profits and Unholy, talks about covering religion and politics. She also discusses issues of Christian Nationalism, the U.S. Supreme Court, Donald Trump, and ongoing threats to democracy.

Bekah McNeel, an education journalist, talks about her new book Bringing Up Kids When Church Lets You Down: A Guide for Parents Questioning Their Faith. She also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on education, debates about critical race theory, and reacting to the Uvalde, Texas,

In episode 69, Jack Jenkins, a national reporter for Religion News Service about his work reporting on religion and politics on both the right and left. He also discusses his book American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and

In episode 68, Angela Denker, a Lutheran pastor and journalist, talks about her book Red State Christians: A Journey into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage It Leaves Behind. She also discusses Lutherans, racism, and the need for pastors to speak

Books

In "bell hooks' Spiritual Vision: Buddhist, Christian, and Feminist," Nadra Nittle offers readers a window into religion's role throughout the prominent social critic's writings.

In "My Body, Their Baby: A Progressive Christian Vision for Surrogacy," Grace Kao assesses the ethics of surrogacy from a feminist perspective, concluding that certain kinds of arrangements should be embraced.

In "Songs I Love to Sing: The Billy Graham Crusades and the Shaping of Modern Worship," Edith L. Blumhofer explores the stories behind some of the most beloved modern hymns.

In his new book "The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future," Robert Jones argues that truly understanding the sordid racial history of the United States requires reckoning with the Doctrine of Discovery.