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Given Pete Hegseth’s insistence on co-opting a biblical term and employing it out of context as an insult against reporters doing their job, this issue of A Public Witness takes a look at the real Pharisees and the lesson the ‘secretary of war’ is missing.

Join us as we celebrate five years of our ‘A Public Witness’ newsletter and highlight the best from the 115 pieces we’ve published over the past 12 months exploring the intersection of faith, culture, and politics.

‘Most — nearly all — serious historians agree that America was not founded as a Christian nation in any meaningful legal, philosophical, or constitutional sense,’ says the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Church

The split reflects the dilemma immigration poses for evangelical leaders. Most evangelicals want reform that both secures the border and provides a path to citizenship — and want limited deportation. But few leaders want to clash with the MAGA movement.

‘‘Forever in the Path’ calls us to renew our covenant to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God,’ said the church’s pastor.

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.

Nation

Pastor Charles McKinzie II of Grace United Methodist Church in Winfield said he is confident the anti-trans law will be overturned, but ‘in the meantime, people are hurting, and people need to know that they are seen.’

In a surprise move, Gov. Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton — sparing the life of a Muslim during his faith’s holiest time of the year.

Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ sued the government in February for being ‘categorically denied’ the opportunity to provide pastoral care.

World

In light of President Trump’s imperialistic rhetoric and the potential negative consequences for both nations, Rev. Jean-Daniel Ó Donncada, the national pastor for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada, released an open letter.

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” Francis wrote in a letter to U.S. bishops.

This issue of A Public Witness explores what Trump’s outburst about taking over the Gaza Strip reveals about the oligarchic values of the new administration as well as the immorality of prominent MAGA Christians.

Editorials

As more cities and states consider enacting much-needed mask mandates during the growing coronavirus pandemic, Editor Brian Kaylor urges a healthy view of religious freedom that does not carve out unnecessary and dangerous exemptions.

Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, and the important role of Christians in bringing peace and the voice of God to a war-filled world.

In the life of various biblical tyrants, a moment emerges when they realize their grip on power is slipping away but they still struggle to hold on anyway. But with their antics, such rulers merely amplify their own humiliation.

Word&Way Voices

The story of Christ’s birth is deeply intertwined with the realities of occupation, displacement, and struggle.

Exploring Advent in a time of dangerous pregnancies, Angela Parker reflects on Black mothers dying preventable deaths.

Exploring Advent in a time of dangerous pregnancies, Angela Denker reflects on how pregnancy is both incredibly vulnerable and incredibly powerful.

E-Newsletter

How do we make sense of our confusing political moment? Scripture is constantly warped to advance purely partisan agendas. The underlying goal is advancing power at seemingly any cost. Luckily, we have a new book that deciphers it all.

Before the memorial service started, two hours of songs from the biggest worship artists today served to frame everything that followed as part of a church service — sending the message that Kirk’s politics were from God.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you to the heart of Texas to consider the promise of public education and church-state separation.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In “The Hero and the Whore: Reclaiming Healing and Liberation Through the Stories of Sexual Exploitation in the Bible,” trauma-informed educator and minister Camille Hernandez dives deep into the Bible’s stories of abuse.

In “Hope Restored: Biblical Imagination Against Empire,” Walter Brueggemann points us toward understanding hope not as easy optimism but as an honest facing of the unjust structures that human beings have created and a call to lean into Scripture for

In “The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story,” Christopher B. and Richard B. Hays — son and father — take us on a journey through the Bible, helping us gain a better perspective on God and LGBTQ+

Sociologist Jason Shelton’s new book explains what has happened — and is happening — in ways that call for revising how we perceive the Black Church as an institution and social force.