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We are excited to announce a new book unpacking seven types of misuses of Scripture by influential preachers and politicians pushing Christian Nationalism today, officially out Oct. 7 from Chalice Press and available for pre-order now.

‘Desperation is a spiritual gift, and so it gives you a chance to experiment with things that, you know, 10 years ago were off the table,’ said the Rev. Kenda Creasy Dean, a Princeton Theological Seminary professor.

Oklahoma’s new social studies standards for K-12 public school students, already infused with references to the Bible, were revised at the direction of state School Superintendent Ryan Walters.

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Church

One claim, about an allegedly defamatory tweet by another former denominational president, is still live. The SBC has spent more than $3 million in legal fees on the Hunt case.

Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, is best known as the church where former President Jimmy Carter taught Sunday School for decades. The church’s new pastor recently moved the U.S. and Christian flags out of the sanctuary.

They reject climate science but accept medical science, according to the National Survey of Religious Leaders published this week.

Nation

For years, churches and separation of church and state activists have been frustrated at the way the IRS has handled allegations of church electioneering.

For years, Rev. Shannon Fleck has been challenging Christian Nationalists in Oklahoma. Now, she’s ready to mobilize on the national level.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at what we know so far about the targeting of international college students for deportation and what it could mean for Christian schools.

World

A letter with more than 200 signatories, organized by Churches for Middle East Peace in the United States and Embrace the Middle East in the United Kingdom, was provided to A Public Witness ahead of its formal release today.

Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of Islamist insurgents.

Travis Timmerman of Urbana, Missouri, said he had gone to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and was not ill-treated while in Palestine Branch, a notorious detention facility operated by Syrian intelligence.

Editorials

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.

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.

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

A practical guide to navigating the chaos of modern politics with clarity, empathy, and purpose.

Faithful America’s executive director argues that since Trump and the religious right distort faith for their own gain, calling them out is not an attack on religion but rather a necessary democratic and Christian action.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that MAGA evangelicals have basically accepted the conclusion that Trump is not a good person — but this doesn’t change their vote due to the power of figurative language.

E-Newsletter

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.

This issue of A Public Witness cracks opens the books to study problems with the new social studies standards where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In “Hope Restored: Biblical Imagination Against Empire,” Walter Brueggemann points us toward understanding hope not as easy optimism but as an honest facing of the unjust structures that human beings have created and a call to lean into Scripture for

In “The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story,” Christopher B. and Richard B. Hays — son and father — take us on a journey through the Bible, helping us gain a better perspective on God and LGBTQ+

Sociologist Jason Shelton’s new book explains what has happened — and is happening — in ways that call for revising how we perceive the Black Church as an institution and social force.

In "Ministers of Propaganda: Truth, Power, and the Ideology of the Religious Right," Scott Coley trains a critical eye on the fusion of evangelicalism and right-wing politics.