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‘I don’t think Jesse Jackson saw his political life as something different from his call from God as a preacher,’ said the Rev. Valerie Bridgeman.

A new report from the Public Religion Research Institute shows deep divides over the place of Christianity in the U.S.

For the second time in a year, a federal judge has issued an injunction to block the Department of Homeland Security from conducting warrantless immigration enforcement actions at some houses of worship.

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Church

The Church at the Crossroads conference, organizers said, is aimed at moving US Christians from feeling bad about the war in Gaza to taking action to end it.

The Rev. Tracey L. Brown of New Jersey became the first woman ever to preach at a worship service during the annual meeting, NBCUSA leaders said.

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.

Nation

Like religious leaders in cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, and elsewhere, local clergy were quick to muster resistance to the rapid influx of immigration enforcement agents, even as they wrangle with the unusual geography of Maine.

One of the removed panels featured images of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. Both born as enslaved persons, they were instrumental in starting their churches.

On Monday, the top federal judge in Minnesota issued a blistering critique of three Trump administration officials for repeatedly violating court orders. One of the three is David Easterwood, the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office. Easterwood is also a pastor at Cities Churches in St. Paul.

World

On a rare solidarity visit, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa asserted that Israeli authorities ‘facilitate and enable’ the presence of settlers who have intensified attacks.

The attack has raised fears of a mass exodus of Christians similar to what happened in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the rise of sectarian violence.

Catholic and Protestant leaders in Germany are challenging a connection among far-right politicians in Germany and the U.S. that is built on a common rejection of immigrants.

Editorials

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.

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.

Word&Way Voices

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.

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.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness looks at Lance Shockley’s extensive history of Christian leadership while in prison, as well as the role restorative justice should play in our criminal legal system.

Some Christians today argue that empathy is wrong, even calling it a sin and unbiblical. For Angela Parker, associate professor of New Testament and Greek at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, this idea is absurd.

With the weaponization of Scripture regularly making headline news, “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists” officially releases today to point to better ways of reading and applying sacred texts.

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Recent Episodes

Books

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.

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.

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.