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Featured
The Latina Women in Texas Reshaping the UMC
Latina United Methodist Church leaders in Texas are emerging with fresh models for ministry following years of schism, decline, and uncertainty within the denomination.
Not Your Mother’s ‘Little House’
A new Netflix series captures the edginess of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books while also reconsidering the narrative in the face of frontier America’s actual history.
Let’s Make Texas Senate Race About Character
James Talarico’s attempt to make the election about ethos — character, credibility, and integrity — throws a Nolan Ryan fastball at Ken Paxton and MAGA and showcases their departure from 1990s conservative Christianity.
Church
The Week of American Idolatry
For this issue of A Public Witness, we virtually trek deep in the heart of Texas to see how “God and country” too often looks more like country as god at Prestonwood Baptist Church.
Baptist Network Created to Oppose Nationalism, Foster Black Church Collaboration
‘We're a connector and a catalyzer, and not a denomination,’ its spokesperson said in an interview.
How LGBTQ-Affirming Churches Are Confronting Religious Trauma
Nearly half of Americans who left religion cite the mistreatment or rejection of LGBTQ+ people as an important reason. But how do the LGBTQ+ people who stay find healing?
Nation
Pro-Palestinian Interfaith Coalition Protests Christian Zionist Summit
Interfaith Action for Palestine gathered around 200 people to protest Christians United for Israel and US military support for Israel.
Between July 4 and Nov. 3, Faith Leaders Seek Fair Access to the Voting Booth
'Our churches, our mosques, our synagogues, our places of worship will become democracy hubs,' said Minister JaNaé Bates Imari, co-executive director of the interfaith group ISAIAH Minnesota.
When Blasphemy Flashes on the National Mall
This issue of A Public Witness strikes at the heresy in Trump’s Fourth of July remarks and thunders some disapproval for similar rhetoric recently offered by Speaker Mike Johnson.
World
‘They Have Already Suffered Enough’: Central African Clergy Respond to US Deportation
Faith leaders say they would welcome migrants deported from the United States but question the decision to send vulnerable people without ties to a nation still healing from years of sectarian violence.
Trump’s Meeting With Orthodox Christian Patriarch Sows Confusion
The Greek Orthodox leader expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month.
Christian Leaders in Lebanese City of Tyre Call for Quick International Action After Israeli Warning
‘The old city is not merely a residential area,’ the clergy said in a statement. ‘It is the historical and human heart of Tyre, home to thousands of civilians, including families, children, and the elderly.’
Editorials
Doug Wilson’s Wrong on Why I’m ‘Whizzed Up’ About His Pentagon Sermon
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor responds to Doug Wilson’s defense of Pete Hegseth holding Christian worship services in the Pentagon, including the one Wilson preached at earlier this month.
Michael W. Smith Worshipwashes Trump’s Profanity and Lies
After President Donald Trump rambled, lied, and cursed for 77 minutes at the National Prayer Breakfast, a prominent Christian musician went to the piano to bless it.
The Line From Enslaver Missionaries to an ICE Pastor
In 1845, a group of pro-slavery Baptists created the Southern Baptist Convention to defend enslavers serving as missionaries. One hundred and eighty years later, SBC leaders defend a pastor serving as an ICE leader. Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on this through line.
Word&Way Voices
‘Cast Aside the Clouds’ Removes the Veil on Baha’i Persecution in Iran
Set in modern-day Tehran, the new film premiering in Chicago this weekend is both a forbidden love story and a depiction of the steadfast faith of the Baha’i community amidst ongoing oppression.
The Challenges of Graduating From a Christian School in the Age of AI
We live in an era saturated with more means of communication than ever before, and yet we also face unprecedented threats to our genuine human connections.
Evangelical Politics and the American Spirit
The desire for a sustainable authoritarianism among MAGA Calvinists, such as the ‘Theobros’ and a coalition of Southern Baptist Reformed leaders, has lovers of democracy sounding the alarm.
E-Newsletter
J.D. Vance Quotes Violent ‘Pulp Fiction’ Scene to Explain His Faith Conversion
The first moment of the Quentin Tarantino film highlighted by the vice president during a recent interview occurs just seconds after the Samuel L. Jackson monologue used by Pete Hegseth as a prayer during a worship service at the Pentagon in April.
The Week of American Idolatry
For this issue of A Public Witness, we virtually trek deep in the heart of Texas to see how “God and country” too often looks more like country as god at Prestonwood Baptist Church.
Monthly Pentagon Worship Service Features Catholics for First Time
Jonathan Morris, a former priest and current Fox News commentator, and Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams led the service in Pete Hegseth’s absence.
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Southern Baptists, the Pentagon, & UFC
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 the Southern Baptist Convention's push against women in ministry, the Pentagon changing how it codes the faith of military members, and the latest in… -
Southern Baptists, Women in Ministry, & a Billboard
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. The conversation includes discussion of efforts in the Southern Baptist Convention to further target women serving in churches and how BWIM is advocating for women (including with a billboard to greet SBC messengers next week in Orlando,… -
Divergent Visions for Rededicating the Nation
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 Rededicate 250, gerrymandering, Adam Hamilton's Senate campaign in Kansas, and the MAHA movement. You can watch a video version of the conversation here. Here are a few pieces… -
The Christian Past That Wasn't
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Warren Throckmorton, a retired professor who has spent years debunking false claims by Christian Nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton. Throckmorton is the author of the new book, The Christian Past that Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths that Hijack History. You can watch a video version of… -
Trump vs. Leo
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 President Donald Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV, Leo's witness against the Iran war, Trump's AI image of himself as Jesus, and the electoral… -
Fight Like Jesus with Jason Porterfield (Reissue)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Jason Porterfield about his book Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace. This episode originally aired in 2023, except for a new introduction noting a violent prayer by Pete Hegseth during a recent Pentagon worship service and Palm Sunday comments by Pope Leo XIV. Note: Don't forget… -
Pete Hegseth's Crusader Bible (A Trick of State)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor considers Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's use of the English Standard Version of the Bible, patriarchy in the faith communities Hegseth has been a part of, and his Christian Nationalism. It also reveals that Hegseth's ESV Bible includes two Crusader symbols stamped onto the cover (and that match… -
An Unholy War
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 the Iran war, Christian opposition to the war, and viral claims of military leaders claiming this will bring "Armageddon." It also includes consideration of… -
Rewriting the Ten Commandments (A Trick of State)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor looks at legislation across the country that purports to want the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But the version mandated by lawmakers cannot be found in any Bible. Kaylor unpacks where the edited language came from, why such legislation is an attack on religious liberty, and the… -
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…
Books
Review: Love Your Neighbor
In this innovative synthesis of practical theology and psychological science, professors Katherine M. Douglass and Brittany M. Tausen bring wisdom from Scripture and cutting-edge research into conversation.
Review: Baal and the Gods of More
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.
Review: To Rebehold the Stars
For readers yearning for creative approaches to faith reconstruction, Tiffany Yecke Brooks points the way toward new and deeply meaningful encounters with God.
Summer Reads 2026
For this issue of A Public Witness, we offer our fifth annual list of books recommended by Word&Way writers that will be perfect for wherever you find your happy place this summer.