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After complaints by Mormon politicians, a revised list of recognized religions now excludes denominations like the Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ — whose churches boast membership among the founding fathers.

The reversal comes five years after the foster care and adoption agency first agreed to partner with LGBTQ couples.

Leading practical theologian Andrew Root reveals how Protestant churches have become dangerously dependent on growth-driven stabilization, a mindset inherited from the industrial revolution's golden era.

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Videos

Church

The sanctuary movement has deep biblical roots, but it has evolved from the 1980s in important ways.

'This is one important step in our struggle for justice and my call to live out Jesus’s command to care for the captives,' said the Rev. Susie Hayward, who is cited in the legal case and was in court for the ruling.

U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell will hear Friday from attorneys for Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and a Catholic priest.

Nation

Through Freedom 250 initiatives, Hillsdale has been enlisted by the Trump White House to shape narratives about American history.

Given Pete Hegseth’s insistence on co-opting a biblical term and employing it out of context as an insult against reporters doing their job, this issue of A Public Witness takes a look at the real Pharisees and the lesson the ‘secretary of war’ is missing.

‘Most — nearly all — serious historians agree that America was not founded as a Christian nation in any meaningful legal, philosophical, or constitutional sense,’ says the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

World

Experts and residents say some attacks target Christians, but most emphasize that in the widespread violence that has long plagued the West African nation, everyone is a potential victim, regardless of background or belief.

The Chicago-born pope was responding to a range of geopolitical questions, including what kind of spiritual rights migrants in U.S. custody should have, U.S. military attacks on suspected drug traffickers off Venezuela, and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.

While Christians are among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, where most attacks occur.

Editorials

This piece was originally published as the cover story of Word&Way magazine in October 2020, but which has never been published online. Read the piece online in our e-newsletter A Public Witness.

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.

Word&Way Voices

Advent proclaims that God does not arrive on the back of empire cloaked in Christian Nationalism but crying in the arms of a poor mother.

The first candle we light during Advent symbolizes hope: the hope of Christ’s coming, the hope of light always shining for the oppressed and the marginalized.

In 2025, the U.S.-led global fight against AIDS grew more complicated as the Trump administration dismantled most foreign aid and barred State Department employees from commemorating World AIDS Day.

E-Newsletter

Check out the first episode of ‘A Trick of State,’ a special occasional series from Dangerous Dogma investigating underexplored issues at the intersection of church and state that expose the false promises of Christian Nationalism.

While figures like Franklin Graham and Pete Hegseth bet on a holy war where God is on their side, many Christian leaders in the U.S. and around the world were quick to condemn the so-called ‘Operation Epic Fury.’

This issue of A Public Witness explores the theology behind viewing the United States as a nation that God asks to perform miracles, as expressed in the State of the Union address on Tuesday.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Historian Holly Berkley Fletcher — herself a missionary kid — unmasks the myths of White evangelicalism with penetrating research, sly wit, and an empathic gaze.

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!

This book follows Christy Berghoef on a journey from a conservative Christian upbringing in rural Michigan to the halls of Washington, D.C., and back again.

Greg Carey, a scholar of the New Testament and apocalyptic literature, shows how the Book of Revelation can serve as a guide to resisting imperial culture.