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We’re excited to announce this year’s themes for our award-winning Unsettling Advent series, which begins in one month: Advent in a time of religious nationalism, starvation, and soldiers in the streets.

Dissenting former evangelical Christian women are forging a path different from those who have left the church in the decades-long decline in institutional faith.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the danger of religious attacks against politicians as MAGA comes after Republicans for non-Christian beliefs or for offering kind words to Americans celebrating a non-Christian religious holiday.

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Videos

Church

During a mid-June event at Otter Creek Church, musicians and activists praised PEPFAR for saving millions of lives and urged evangelicals to call their representatives and show their support for the program.

The resolution shines a spotlight on a critical moment in the history of the Baptist church, signed two years after the issue of slavery prompted southern Baptists to split from northern Baptists and form the SBC.

This issue of A Public Witness features a guest essay centered on four creative proposals to disrupt Christian Nationalism within a distinctively Christian vernacular.

Nation

Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who would Jesus deport?’

In the first of a three-part special podcast series produced in partnership with Moravian Theological Seminary, Randall Balmer discusses how church-state separation has been good for both government and religion.

This issue of A Public Witness heads to the land of swamps and alligators to see what public school ‘chaplains’ look like in practice.

World

Libya’s move signals its determination not to become a resettlement zone for migrants fleeing violence in East Africa. 

Modern churches still gather on the traditions and teachings of the generations who went before us. This is important to remember in a time when some ‘prophets’ invent new theologies and ways of interpreting the Bible.

The religious freedom watchdog urged the new Trump administration to appoint a new ambassador-at-large to address religious restrictions and persecution around the world.

Editorials

In day 18 of our Unsettling Advent devotional series, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on violent insurrections during the time of Jesus’s birth and what that can teach us today.

In day 9 of our Unsettling Advent devotional series, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on racial injustices in the U.S. and how this helps us understand the birth of Jesus.

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.

Word&Way Voices

The Trump administration often speaks of protecting Christians from discrimination worldwide. But that concern seems to vanish when Israel is involved — even with a Baptist pastor serving as the U.S. ambassador to Israel.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that if our democracy has a chance to return to a vibrant life in the future, its ambiguous and messy universal principles will need to be in fighting form.

Exploring the politics behind a new commission built on Christian privilege reveals competing understandings of religious liberty that have consequential implications for public schools.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness explores what the ending of a significant comedy institution means in light of the fact that Stephen Colbert is one of the most prominent Christians in popular culture today.

This issue of A Public Witness heads to Australia to offer highlights from the Baptist World Congress, where Christians from 130 nations came to worship, fellowship, dialogue, learn, and strategize together.

This issue of A Public Witness opens up the Epstein case to explore the dangers of phony, conspiratorial self-righteousness and how it captured so many conservative Christian figures.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In “Karl Barth — A Life in Conflict,” Christiane Tietz compellingly explores the interactions between Barth's personal and political biography and his theology.

Katherine Stewart has created a collection of dispatches from the front lines of the current assault on American democracy.

In “Journey to Eloheh: How Indigenous Values Lead Us to Harmony and Well-Being,” Randy and Edith Woodley help readers learn lifeways that lead to true wholeness and justice.

In “The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money Is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward,” Black Christian historian Malcolm Foley explores racial capitalism.