Home - Word&Way
logo
mobile-logo

Featured

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.

Sequola Dawson, senior pastor of St. Mary African Methodist Episcopal Church and a bereavement chaplain, offers a helpful discussion of death rituals, with a focus on honoring the environment while also acknowledging the traditions and needs of families.

This issue of A Public Witness highlights important voices of opposition to imperial plotting from a variety of religious groups, ranging from Lutherans to Baptists, Anglicans, Catholics, and others.

No posts were found.

Videos

Church

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.

Amid a collapse of loyalty to religious institutions, many churchgoers say they are attending multiple congregations on Sunday morning.

The American Baptist Home Mission Societies held a virtual session in their Justice Dialogues series titled “Being Church in the Face of Genocide,” focused on how to respond to the ongoing mass suffering in Gaza and the West Bank.

Nation

A mile apart, supporters of the Jan. 6 rioters and clergy whose churches were assaulted five years ago, commemorated the historic events at the U.S. Capitol.

Defenders of the IRS political campaign activity ban hope to block a proposed legal settlement that would allow churches to make partisan statements during worship services.

President Trump has become harsher with his contemptuous rhetoric and policy proposals, blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

World

While Trump attended Francis’s funeral, he and JD Vance have clashed with U.S. bishops in general and Francis in particular over the administration’s hard line stance on immigration and its efforts to deport migrants en masse.

Following the funeral, preparations began in earnest to launch the centuries-old process of electing a new pope, a conclave that will begin on May 7.

This issue of A Public Witness offers short highlights from four reflections by Catholic writers on Pope Francis and his papacy.

Editorials

In a guest piece for Americans United, Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor writes why on the Fourth of July, which falls on a Sunday this year, he won’t be attending church.

Russell Moore deserves many of the accolades he received recently, but Brian Kaylor argues the hagiographers miss the real lesson of this morality tale. As Southern Baptists gather this week for their annual meeting in Nashville, it is important to see there is more to the story.

Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor responds to Paige Patterson claiming during a sermon that a “lynch mob” was out to get him. Kaylor notes that not only is Patterson inaccurately using the metaphor, but Patterson’s words are an injustice to real victims.

Word&Way Voices

Biblical scholar Greg Carey makes the case that in a time of conspicuous Christian Nationalism, the rest of us need to articulate our most basic Christian values in ways that are affirmative rather than defensive.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy makes the case that the story of Titus in Crete is the best metaphor for what has happened to America since Donald Trump was elected again.

The event included a keynote presentation by Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, who highlighted the dangers of using religious texts to justify oppression.

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.

Sign up to receive full essays in your inbox!

Recent Episodes

Books

In “American Christianity Today: Establishment, Decline, and Revival,” Dyron Daughrity gives readers a panoramic view of current Christianity in the U.S. — its people, conflicts, differences, and common ground.

In “John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer,” James F. McGrath sheds new light on the historical John the Baptist and his world.

Amanda Tyler draws on her experiences, conversations with pastors and laypeople, research, Scripture, her Baptist convictions, and her work as a constitutional law expert to help us confront Christian Nationalist fervor.

In his latest book “Religion for Realists: Why We All Need the Scientific Study of Religion,” Samuel Perry challenges some of our most cherished assumptions.