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2025 in Review
We’re a small outlet, but we’re having an impact and covering stories that would otherwise not receive the attention they need. Here we count down our most popular pieces and offer some highlights from the year.
Top Podcast Episodes of 2025
Listeners tune in from across the country and around the world to our Dangerous Dogma podcast. So let’s count down the top 10 most-downloaded episodes in 2025.
Department of Herod Security’s War on Christmas
The fake ‘war on Christmas’ examples ginned up by culture war talk show hosts in recent years are nothing compared to misusing the birth of Jesus — and Christmas celebrations in general — to justify anti-immigrant policies.
Church
For a Small Charlotte Church, Selling Some Land Has Meant Finding Its Soul
Newell Presbyterian is part of a growing trend of declining congregations with underutilized space, excess land or deteriorating buildings that are selling or leasing some of their land for affordable housing.
How a Former Schoolteacher Became the Next Lutheran Presiding Bishop
The Rev. Yehiel Curry, a former lay church planter, will be installed as presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in October.
Dallas Clergy ‘Bear Witness’ With Prayer Vigils Outside ICE Office
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.
Nation
Bible Sales Keep Growing, Even As Many Americans Lose Their Religion
About 18 million Bibles have been sold this year, part of a five-year boom in Bible sales.
As ICE Descends on Charlotte, Faith Leaders Draw on Other Cities’ Actions to Aid Immigrants
As many as 500 people, a mix of clergy and other volunteers, have appeared at the training sessions on how to counter ICE.
The Ten Commandments Are Up in Texas Schools. They’re Also Being Taken Down
Federal courts have ordered more than two dozen school districts to not hang the posters, including on Tuesday when a judge ruled that the mandate violates the First Amendment.
World
Berliners Are Rediscovering Their Faith Outdoors Through Local Pilgrimages
Christian pilgrimage walks are a way for Berliners and visitors of all ages to engage with their faith without stepping foot in a church.
Queen Mary vs. King David
This issue of A Public Witness explores a monument that upsets the political and historical stories being told (or not told) and challenges the religious claims we often make.
On Anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, Christian Leaders Seek to Return to Ecumenism
Christian leaders stress that the council and its anniversary still have relevance in the modern day, despite theological divides.
Editorials
Pandemic Year #3
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.
Eric Schmitt Fails a Moral Test on School Masks
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.
A Private Definition
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on comments made about school prayer as the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a significant church-state case. Some conservative Christian groups are wrongly calling public prayer just a “private” act.
Word&Way Voices
The Angels Are Playing Armstrong
Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell reflects on the connections between jazz, supporting young people, church life, and the kingdom of God.
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.
The Gilded Salesman of Idolatrous Excess
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.
E-Newsletter
‘Where Were Those Thousands of Christians?’
This issue of A Public Witness covers a 1979 Sunday School lesson from President Jimmy Carter — with concerns eerily fitting for 2025 — taught at the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.
Make Measles Great Again
This issue of A Public Witness dons a mask before carefully treading into the dangerous medical — and religious — anti-vax world of Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.
An ‘Essential,’ ‘Must-Read’ Book
With ‘The Bible According to Christian Nationalists’ coming out soon, we’re honored to share these prepublication endorsements. Trust these experts on why you should pre-order the book today!
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198. American Christianity Divided in Responses to ICE
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about ICE actions in Minneapolis, how many clergy are leading protests against ICE while others are supporting ICE, and new research worried about the loss… -
197. Anna Piela and Michael Woolf on Confronting Islamophobia in the Church
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with American Baptist ministers Anna Piela and Michael Woolf on Islamophobia, immigration, and how Christians can better engage with interfaith efforts. Anna and Michael are coauthors of the new book, Confronting Islamophobia in the Church: Liturgical Tools for Justice. Watch a video version of this conversation here.… -
196. Martha Bardwell on Faith Communities Responding to ICE in Minneapolis
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Martha Bardwell, pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on how faith communities are responding to ICE violence in the Twin Cities and the ICE killing of Renee Good. Watch a video version of this latest conversation here. The episode includes a discussion on… -
195. Attacking Venezuela & Gambling on Jesus
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes consideration of the U.S. attack on Venezuela and how Christians are responding, Pete Hegseth's pledge to change the military chaplaincy program, and how people are now… -
194. Dangers of Faith in the Pentagon & AI in Faith
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes consideration of U.S. strikes against Venezuelan boats, Pete Hegseth's Christian prayer services at the Pentagon, the use of AI in churches, and alarms about AI Christian… -
193. News Roundup: Elections, Government Shutdown, & Clergy Challenging ICE
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes consideration of religious attacks in elections this week, impacts of the ongoing government shutdown on churches, and clergy protesting against ICE. Watch a video version of… -
192. Hannah Kardon, United Methodist Pastor Arrested During Anti-ICE Protest
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister in the Chicago area. Kardon was violently arrested during a protest outside an ICE facility on Oct. 17. Video of the incident can be viewed here. Other issues discussed in this episode include ICE actions at churches, the legal pushback… -
191. William Stell on Evangelicals & Antigay Christianity
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with William Stell, a religious studies professor and author of the forthcoming book, Born Again Queer: A History of Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity. Kaylor is also joined by guest cohost Jared Burkholder, scholar in residence at Moravian Theological Seminary. This is the… -
190. Angela Parker on Evangelicals, Biblical Interpretation, & White Supremacy
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Angela Parker, an associate professor of New Testament and Greek at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, the author of If God Still Breathes, Why Can't I?: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority, and coauthor of the Unsettling Lent devotional. This is the second… -
189. Randall Balmer on Evangelicals & Church-State Separation
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Randall Balmer, a historian of American religion and author of the new book, America's Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State. Kaylor is also joined by guest cohost Jared Burkholder, scholar in residence at Moravian Theological Seminary. This is the first in a three-part series…
Books
Review: Latter-Day Saint Theology Among Christian Theologies
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?
Review: Safe Church
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.
Review: Evangelical Idolatry
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.
Review & Giveaway: Disciples of White Jesus
In her new book, journalist and pastor Angela Denker ventures into contested spaces to help readers understand what is going on with the radicalization of American boyhood.