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This issue of A Public Witness looks back at the 'kneel-ins' of the civil rights movement to consider recent protests at prominent churches.

Whether a humanitarian or a security emphasis resonates the most varies among and within Christian denominations.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy pens a love letter to Tim Alberta's "The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism" for its masterful understanding of the Trump alliance.

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Dangerous Dogma

Church

Former IHOP leaders say several women have credibly accused Bickle of clergy sexual abuse. Leaders of the Kansas City-based prayer group say they are aware of the allegations.

A friend-of-the-court filing has led to questions of whether the Southern Baptist Convention has changed its ways in dealing with abuse.

As First Baptist Church in Columbia, Missouri, celebrates its bicentennial, the church dedicated its worship service on Sunday to truth-telling and lament regarding its founders who practiced and defended slavery.

Nation

Osteen follows a thread of evangelical Christianity called the Prosperity Gospel, which believes that following God brings rewards to followers who devote themselves to him.

‘You’re not going to solve anything at the border when you start from the premise that migration is a threat to our country or that migrants are people to be feared,’ said Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at feedback we received on social media from proponents of the lesser magistrates philosophy and explores why Christians should instead value democracy.

World

This issue of A Public Witness takes you on a journey to Lebanon to consider the living cedars in a land filled with the ruins of empires — including the magnificent Baalbek.

Many faith-based organizations opposed to abortion are fighting for PEPFAR, an AIDS program that some Republicans now claim provides abortion services.

The tragedy was the latest to hit Iraq’s Christian minority, which has dwindled to a fraction of its former size over the past two decades.

Editorials

Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on appearing in a new CBS News documentary about Christian Nationalism — and about a moment from filming that did not make the cut into the documentary.

Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on efforts by lawmakers across the country to make it more difficult to vote. Such bills attempts to undo the work of faithful advocates during the civil rights movement, and some bills even target Black churches.

Editor Brian Kaylor reacts to comments by Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear, who on Monday attacked those in Southern Baptist life spreading “misunderstandings, distortion, and often outright lies.”

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that we should see the cross and the rainbow flag together and identify Christ with a community of excluded people.

Marijuana will almost certainly be legalized throughout the United States and we should have a conversation about how we deal with church members who use it for medical or recreational purposes.

Tim Keller, an influential Presbyterian Church in America minister and bestselling author, has died at the age of 72. Despite their different beliefs, Juliet Vedral reflects on the points from his leadership that she will always treasure.

E-Newsletter

The U.S. continues to not only ignore the Convention on Cluster Munitions but also to ship the weapons to Ukraine. So this issue of A Public Witness uncovers the history of cluster bombs and the moral failure of nations that continue to utilize them.

Sixty years ago Friday (Sept. 15), four Ku Klux Klan members planted 19 sticks of dynamite next to a Black church in Birmingham, Alabama. Inside 16th Street Baptist Church, people gathered for Sunday worship. Then an apocalypse came.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at how the campaign strategy of Brandon Presley is all shook up, leaving those of us with suspicious minds about a partisan pulpit crying in the chapel.

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Podcasts

In episode 31 of Dangerous Dogma, Daniel K. Williams, a professor of history at the University of West Georgia, talks about his new book The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship. He also discusses issues of abortion, marriage,

We had a lot of great podcast conversations this year. So, let’s count down the top five most-downloaded of episodes of Baptist Without An Adjective and the top ten most-downloaded episodes of Dangerous Dogma. 

In episode 30 of Dangerous Dogma, Bruce Chilton, professor of religion at Bard College, talks about his new book The Herods: Murder, Politics, and the Art of Succession. He also discusses the political issues at play in New Testament stories like

In episode 29 of Dangerous Dogma, Kevin Cosby, president of Simmons College of Kentucky and senior pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church in Louisville, talks about his new book Getting to the Promised Land: Black America and the Unfinished Work of the Civil Rights Movement.

Books

In "The Desert of Compassion: Devotions for the Lenten Journey" author Rachel M. Srubas draws on the images of the desert, which she knows so well as a pastor in southern Arizona, to provide the reader/spiritual seeker with a rich

Barbara Mahany's "The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text" serves to remind us that before there was scripture, there was nature. It was nature that spoke to humanity about the presence of God the creator.

Jeremy Fuzy reviews "Second Thoughts about the Second Coming: Understanding the End Times, Our Future, and Christian Hope" by Ronald J. Allen and Robert D. Cornwall. This book explores the apocalypse from a mainline Protestant perspective.

Christian ethicist Robin Lovin’s "What Do We Do When Nobody is Listening: Leading the Church in a Polarized Society" joins a growing number of important books warning of the threat tribalism poses to democratic society.