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A chaplain is not just a pastor or a Sunday School teacher or a street preacher shouting through a bullhorn. This is a unique role, often in a secular setting that requires assistance with a variety of religious traditions.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the dustup over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma and the religious freedom arguments before eight black-robed justices.

In “Braving Difficult Decisions: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do,” Rev. Dr. Angela Williams Gorrell maps out a process for working through the most challenging aspects of complex choices.

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Videos

    Church

    The number of nondenominational churches has grown, as have the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated. As a result, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, and other historic mainline groups have had to do less with less.

    The investigation cost the SBC's Executive Committee $2 million in legal fees and led to one former Southern Baptist seminary leader pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

    An Arab word meaning ‘steadfastness,’ the Sumud devotional offers churches a six-week study to raise awareness of Israel’s military rule over Palestinians.

    Nation

    This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the Summit for Religious Freedom to hear from leading advocates about what is needed in this moment and how Christians can help.

    The 17th-century letter is widely considered to have inspired the religious freedom clause in the First Amendment.

    This issue of A Public Witness goes inside the ‘Sensitive Locations, Sacred Spaces Prayer Vigil’ to look at the faithful effort to block ICE raids in houses of worship.

    World

    Asked about Mike Huckabee potentially becoming the U.S. ambassador to Israel, the Rev. Munther Isaac called the prospect 'frightening,' adding, 'Huckabee presents himself, at least, as a man who does not live in reality.'

    For the second straight year, Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted: no giant Christmas tree in Manger Square, no raucous scout marching bands, no public lights twinkling, and very few public decorations or displays.

    The Pew Research Center’s annual report on government restrictions on religion highlights that governmental attacks on religion and social hostility toward religion usually ‘go hand in hand.’

    Editorials

    Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on dangers of rhetoric by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the Republican politician misquotes Ephesians 6 to demonize his opponents.

    On Sunday evening, a man opened fire in a shopping mall in Greenwood, Indiana, killing three people and wounding two others before also being shot dead. What city officials said in response sparked some odd headlines.

    Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor responds to comments by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, who attacked Americans United for Separation of Church and State while he advocated for government prayers in public schools.

    Word&Way Voices

    Reflecting on Advent in a time of rulers clinging to power, Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons explores the connections between “Wicked” and the story of Christmas.

    Reflecting on Advent in a time of rulers clinging to power, Jeremy Fuzy explores the lessons we can learn from a true 20th-century ‘power broker.’

    What is the true meaning of the Christmas story for all who claim to believe in and follow Jesus?

    E-Newsletter

    This issue of A Public Witness mounts a bully pulpit to warn about the dangerous Christian Nationalistic targeting of public schools.

    As we enter a season of Lent amid the chaos of Elon Musk and an oligarchy-fueled administration, this issue of A Public Witness reads the Bible and the Forbes Billionaire List to decide this day who we will serve.

    A Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem — yes, that Bethlehem — Rev. Munther Isaac denounced Trump’s recent Gaza proposal as “evil” on this week’s episode of Dangerous Dogma.

    Sign up to receive full essays in your inbox!

    Recent Episodes

    Books

    In “Hope Is Here!: Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community,” Luther E. Smith Jr. prepares us to engage racism, mass incarceration, environmental crises, divisive politics, and indifference.

    Jerome Copulsky’s “American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order” is a tour de force documenting the religious illiberalism that has challenged democratic values from the very beginning.

    In “The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening Our Democracy,” Matthew Taylor shows how some of the more extreme beliefs of American evangelicalism have begun to take hold in the mainstream.

    In “The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God,” leading Christian ethicist David Gushee examines forty teachings of Jesus to clarify exactly what Jesus said about the moral life.