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The president mixed Christian claims with threats of war and insults to immigrants during Holy Week, including a threat to send Iran to 'Hell' on Easter.

Restrictions imposed by Israel against large gatherings due to the Iran war is casting a long shadow on Easter celebrations, but Palestinian Christians may be feeling it most acutely.

Editor-in-Chie Brian Kaylor reflects on a recent violent prayer by Pete Hegseth during a Christian worship service at the Pentagon and Mark Twain’s satirical work “The War Prayer.”

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Videos

Church

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.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has been criticized for failing to fall in line with the MAGA agenda.

Nation

DHS has openly mocked the largely mainline Protestant protesters. A spokesperson referred to a minister as ‘pastor’ in air-quotes, and the agency referred to demonstrators at a faith-led protest as ‘imbecilic morons’ who needed to ‘get a job.’

A new Pew Research survey found that Trump’s approval ratings have dropped among major religious groups. But White Christians support the president more than other Americans.

The same board had supported opening a Catholic charter school in recent years, but a deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court allowed the state Court decision against it to stand.

World

While Trump fantasizes about retaking the waterway, this issue of A Public Witness digs into American colonialism and the roles Christian leaders and denominations played.

He’s been widely quoted — and misquoted. People have claimed Bonhoeffer would support their side on issues ranging from the Vietnam War to post-9/11 militarism to same-sex marriage to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Asked about Mike Huckabee potentially becoming the U.S. ambassador to Israel, the Rev. Munther Isaac called the prospect 'frightening,' adding, 'Huckabee presents himself, at least, as a man who does not live in reality.'

Editorials

Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on Samson, Wile E. Coyote, Al Mohler, John Piper, and Donald Trump. Will we stand for character, or give away our ethics for our political bedfellows?

Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on Christmas (yes, he thinks it is too early to celebrate) and the news that our country can’t find the parents of 545 children that our government separated from their parents at the border.

Trustees for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary followed the request of SBTS President Al Mohler and voted against renaming buildings that honor the school’s enslaver founders. But while Mohler and SBTS insist names are important, they keep ignoring some names: those enslaved by the founders.

Word&Way Voices

What is the true meaning of the Christmas story for all who claim to believe in and follow Jesus?

Reflecting on Advent in a time of rulers clinging to power, John Sianghio explores the key to understanding biblical leadership and leadership transition.

For this devotional entry, Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood considers how the pursuit of power is often accompanied by significant collateral damage — harm imposed on the most vulnerable communities among us.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness looks at how one Calvinist voice with connections to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is publicly doing violence to Scripture to justify some disturbingly unChristlike behavior.

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.

The opening chapter to “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists,” which officially releases in eight weeks, is fortunately (and unfortunately) quite timely. We are sharing an excerpt from it here.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Theologian and pastor Ross Kane articulates a vision of how Christians can engage in public life that begins with the premise that all politics is local.

In "Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life," Shai Held explores how a dramatic misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition has shaped the history of the West.

In "Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a More Hopeful Future," Shirley A. Mullen tackles the political and cultural polarization has led to suspicion and animosity in our churches.

In "The Emancipation of God: Postmarks on Cultural Prophecy," Walter Brueggemann grinds away at biblical texts that have been muffled, silenced, and disabled to free the text from its cultural entrapments.