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Scholar Matthew Boedy exposes a dangerous plan driven by prosperity preachers, extremist politicians, and right-wing power brokers to destroy democracy and turn America into a Christian Nationalist state.

Under the new restructuring plan, called 'regionalization,' the denomination's nine regions will be equal partners with greater freedom to tailor church life to their own customs and traditions.

This issue of A Public Witness unpacks the House speaker’s latest attack on church-state separation and a surprising voice singing some opposition to his Christian Nationalist worldview.

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Videos

Church

The Rev. Yehiel Curry, bishop of the ELCA’s Metropolitan Chicago Synod since 2019, will serve a six-year term as presiding bishop of the 2.7 million-member denomination.

The mayor mentioned the decline in attendance and membership in local churches as one reason why he wanted the city to take over the Christ Church property, saying the Episcopal diocese has more church buildings than it needs.

Newly strained finances are just one reality that Latino immigrant churches are adjusting to as the Trump administration accelerates a promised mass deportation campaign and other aggressive changes to immigration policy.

Nation

This issue of A Public Witness hits the streets to consider what some recent creative protests can teach us about how to prophetically resist authoritarianism.

The directive last year from former Superintendent Ryan Walters drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and prompted a pending lawsuit from a group of parents, teachers, and religious leaders.

In the first month of direct state aid for Missouri’s K-12 scholarship program, 98% of funds went to Christian, Jewish, and Islamic institutions.

World

Christian leaders stress that the council and its anniversary still have relevance in the modern day, despite theological divides.

Joining this year are dozens of leaders from different Christian denominations, making the journey not only an expression of personal devotion but a public show of unity and spiritual leadership in a region challenged by political instability, poverty, and insecurity.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at what’s happening with U.S. refugee resettlement and the South African Christians pushing back against the apartheid theology propping up the Trump administration.

Editorials

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.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on starting a third year of a global pandemic. Looking at coverage of this pandemic and the flu pandemic of a century before, he offers some lessons to consider.

Brian Kaylor reacts with satirical humor and sharp criticism to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filing lawsuits against dozens of public school districts after school officials enacted mask rules to keep children and teachers healthy amid the omicron surge.

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that Trump has outdone every shyster who ever told a tall tale, every con artist, every swindler, every unscrupulous insurance salesman, and every crooked televangelist.

The co-founder of the Prayers for Peace Alliance makes the case that Johnnie Moore, the recently appointed chairman of the embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is getting away with using the Gospel to justify genocide.

Hiccup from the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movie shows his community a better way to be a Viking in a manner that keenly echoes the life and teachings of Jesus.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness looks at how one Calvinist voice with connections to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is publicly doing violence to Scripture to justify some disturbingly unChristlike behavior.

Mara Richards Bim, the new Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, spoke about how to bridge what we talk about in church and political action.

The opening chapter to “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists,” which officially releases in eight weeks, is fortunately (and unfortunately) quite timely. We are sharing an excerpt from it here.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In “Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry,” Beth Allison Barr traces the history of the role, showing how it both helped and hurt women in conservative Protestant traditions.

In “Latter-Day Saint Theology Among Christian Theologies,” Grant Underwood asks the question: How do the beliefs of Latter-day Saints compare with traditional Christian theology?

In “Safe Church: How to Guard Against Sexism and Abuse in Christian Communities,” Andrew J. Bauman provides an honest look at how misogyny masquerades as biblical truth.

In “Evangelical Idolatry: How Pastors Like Me Have Failed the People of God,” Jeff Mikels is concerned by the evangelical church’s embrace of cultural and political idols.