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Featured
United Church of Christ Brings a Still-Speaking God Into the Christian Nationalist Era
This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the UCC synod to explore the specific issues that were discussed and how they are relevant to all ecumenical Christians in these troubling times.
Review: Delivered Out of Empire
In “Delivered Out of Empire: Pivotal Moments in the Book of Exodus,” Walter Brueggemann shows how Exodus consistently reveals a God in radical solidarity with the powerless.
One of the Last Remaining Christian Villages in Palestine Is Under Attack
Unless the international community acts decisively and swiftly, Al-Taybeh risks being overrun by Israeli settlers, its lands confiscated, and its people forcibly displaced.
Church
Can the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Survive Trump 2.0?
Years of controversy during the Trump era have some Southern Baptists arguing that the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is more trouble than it is worth.
Forced Out of His Pulpit Weeks After Trump’s Election, He’s Starting His Own Church
Ben Boswell promises his new church will ‘dismantle systems of oppression and create justice, equity, and freedom for everybody — for all people.’
Priest Dismissed for Nazi-Like Salute Is Restored To Service by ACNA Jurisdiction
‘I do not personally believe The Rev. Robinson is a good representative of the Anglican Church in North America,’ said ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood.
Nation
Haitian Congregations Relieved After Judge Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Deport Migrants
The decision gives Haitian migrants ‘a little bit of relief,’ said Springfield, Ohio-based Pastor Viles Dorsainvil, one of the plaintiffs.
New Lawsuit Claims Social Studies Standards Violate Oklahomans’ Religious Freedoms
A group of 33 parents, teachers, and faith leaders asked the state’s highest court to block the controversial new standards, which dictate what topics public schools must teach starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Whose Ministry Was Toppled by Prostitution Scandals, Dies at 90
Swaggart’s downfall came in the late 1980s as other prominent preachers like Jim Bakker faced similar scandals.
World
Five Centuries of the Radical Reformation
This issue of A Public Witness looks back at Anabaptism and what it still offers for Christians on the 500th anniversary of stirring the waters of a little fountain in Zürich.
1 in 7 Global Christians Faces ‘High-Level’ Persecution: Open Doors Report
Christians around the world are being attacked and killed, forced to flee and driven underground, the annual report finds.
Despite Growing Consensus, Many Jewish and Christian Groups Loath To Admit Genocide in Gaza
A growing list including the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, and dozens of Holocaust scholars have concluded that Israel is committing genocide.
Editorials
Unsettling Advent, Day 1
In day 1 of our Unsettling Advent devotional series, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on starting Advent amid a second year of COVID surges and deaths.
Judas Arrested for Capitol Insurrection
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on the news that an actor who plays the part of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar was arrested for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Do Not Conform?
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on the choice of Robert Jeffress as the keynote preacher for the 2021 Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference organized with the theme of Romans 12:2, a passage where Paul warned against conforming to the patterns of this world.
Word&Way Voices
Unsettling Advent 2024, Day 6
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.’
At Christmas, We Celebrate Light Dispelling Darkness
What is the true meaning of the Christmas story for all who claim to believe in and follow Jesus?
Unsettling Advent 2024, Day 5
Reflecting on Advent in a time of rulers clinging to power, John Sianghio explores the key to understanding biblical leadership and leadership transition.
E-Newsletter
The Fight for the Empty Tomb
This issue of A Public Witness explores an intra-Catholic Easter weekend as well as multiple Easter sermons from progressive ministers around the United States.
Tributes to Pope Francis
This issue of A Public Witness offers short highlights from four reflections by Catholic writers on Pope Francis and his papacy.
Churches to Ring Bells to Recall Start of Revolutionary War
This issue of A Public Witness explores the “Let Freedom Ring!” initiative’s remembrance of the past, which also serves as a warning about contemporary tyrannical threats.
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186. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty on Authentic Christian Freedom
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, a professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in North Carolina and author of the new book Authentic Christian Freedom: Deconstructing the American Gospel of Liberty. She discusses issues of Christian ethics, liberty, fundamentalism, ministry, and seminary education. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to our award-winning e-newsletter… -
185. Mara Richards Bim on Holding Prayer Vigils Outside an ICE Office
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Mara Richards Bim about a weekly interfaith prayer vigil being held outside an ICE office in Dallas, Texas. She talks about how denominations are fighting back in court and the how Department of Homeland Security is co-opting Bible verses to justify ICE actions. She also discusses… -
184. Warren Throckmorton on Getting Jefferson Right
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Warren Throckmorton, a retired professor who has spent years debunking false claims by Christian Nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton. Throckmorton is coauthor of Getting Jefferson Right: Fact-Checking Claims About Thomas Jefferson and author of the forthcoming The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That… -
183. Shannon Fleck of Faithful America
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Shannon Fleck, the new executive director of Faithful America. She discusses Christian Nationalism in Oklahoma and nationally. You can watch a video version of his conversation on YouTube. Fleck's predecessor, Rev. Nathan Empsall, previously appeared on episode 61 of Dangerous Dogma. He also wrote several columns… -
182. Ruth Braunstein on When the Wolves Came
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with sociologist Ruth Braunstein about her documentary podcast When the Wolves Came. You can also find her writings at her Substack newsletter Democracy Is Hard. Mentioned in the episode is Caleb Campbell, who previously appeared on episode 150 of Dangerous Dogma. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to… -
181. Angela Denker on Disciples of White Jesus
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with journalist and Lutheran minister Angela Denker about her forthcoming book Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood. You can watch a video version of this conversation here. You can also hear an earlier conversation with Denker in episode 68, and a conversation with Caleb Campbell… -
180. David Swartz on Rebel on Main
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with historian David Swartz about his new narrative podcast project Rebel on Main, which offers a historical and contemporary exploration of a Kentucky county and its unusual Confederate statue. You can watch a video version of this conversation here. (You can also hear an earlier episode with… -
179. Munther Isaac on Christ in the Rubble
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, about his forthcoming book Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza. He also talks about Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza, the importance of using the terms "genocide"… -
178. State Senator Shows How NOT to Read Proverbs
On Tuesday (Feb. 25), a session of the Oklahoma Senate transformed into a spontaneous Bible study. Or perhaps more of a Bible study cosplay demonstrating how not to read the Bible, specifically how not to read the Book of Proverbs. In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor unpacks the errors in how Proverbs was cited… -
177. Countering Sean Feucht with Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood, a sociology doctoral fellow at Tulane University, about a protest march she organized to counter an event by Christian Nationalistic musician Sean Feucht in New Orleans on Feb. 8, 2025. You can learn more about Feucht at A Public Witness, including reports on his…
Books
Review: American Christian Nationalism
In “American Christian Nationalism: Neither American nor Christian,” Michael W. Austin offers us a better form of civic engagement.
Looking Back and Forward
The upcoming election is certainly important, but the journey of addressing Christian Nationalism in our churches and nation will continue in the weeks, months, and years to follow.
Review: Hope Is Here!
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.
Review & Giveaway: American Heretics
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.