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With the growth of worship services by leaders in a Christian Nationalist administration, it’s worth revisiting the most significant previous effort to craft religion within the federal government: the church of Nixon.

‘There was a request for clergy to show up’ at the scene, said one Minneapolis minister. ‘I was out the door.’

This issue of A Public Witness looks at criticism of the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela by various Christian denominations and organizations, as well as pleas for peace by Venezuelan Christian leaders.

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Videos

Church

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.

The Rev. Yehiel Curry, a former lay church planter, will be installed as presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in October.

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

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the truth behind the Christian Nationalist fable of George Washington praying at Valley Forge.

West Virginia’s school vaccination policy has long been heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for children.

With Pentagon prayer services continuing into the Christmas season, this issue of A Public Witness peeks inside Pete Hegseth’s monthly effort to establish his brand of rightwing Christianity inside the government.

World

Christian leaders stress that the council and its anniversary still have relevance in the modern day, despite theological divides.

Joining this year are dozens of leaders from different Christian denominations, making the journey not only an expression of personal devotion but a public show of unity and spiritual leadership in a region challenged by political instability, poverty, and insecurity.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at what’s happening with U.S. refugee resettlement and the South African Christians pushing back against the apartheid theology propping up the Trump administration.

Editorials

As a Jewish legal advocate and a Baptist minister, we support the arguments of Boston in this critical First Amendment case that Supreme Court justices will hear on Jan. 18. Read the Boston Globe op-ed by Rachel Laser (president/CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State) and Brian

In day 18 of our Unsettling Advent devotional series, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on the news of a camel escaping from a live nativity in Kansas.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor offers some seasonal advice to the music director at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, ahead of Sunday’s worship service that will include former President Donald Trump.

Word&Way Voices

The co-founder of the Prayers for Peace Alliance makes the case that Johnnie Moore, the recently appointed chairman of the embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is getting away with using the Gospel to justify genocide.

Hiccup from the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movie shows his community a better way to be a Viking in a manner that keenly echoes the life and teachings of Jesus.

A new film by Mike Flanagan, based on a Stephen King short story, deals with the power and significance of one life and points to the Story within the story.

E-Newsletter

In life and in death, Charlie Kirk represented the worst of American politics. He stoked dangerous conspiracies, attempted to silence voices he disagreed with, and utilized violent rhetoric mixed with a godly veneer. Then, someone decided to respond with evil by picking up a gun to silence a life.

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.

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.

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Recent Episodes

Books

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.

In “The Fearless Christian University,” sociologist and educator John Hawthorne laments the fact that fear has become a defining characteristic of many Christian schools today.

In “Pilgrim: A Theological Memoir,” Tony Campolo traces his evolution as a believer, scholar, and evangelical leader who continually sought to engage thoughtfully with the challenges of his time.

In “Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis After Losing Faith in the Bible,” Liz Charlotte Grant interprets the Bible’s inspired book of beginnings as a work of art.