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Featured
Pete Hegseth’s Crusader Bible
The defense secretary’s tattoos of the Jerusalem Cross and “Deus Vult” are frequently invoked as literal signs of his Christian Nationalism — and rightly so. But the same symbols on his Bible were overlooked until now.
Judge Grants Minneapolis Clergy Access to Detainees in ICE Holding Facility
'This is one important step in our struggle for justice and my call to live out Jesus’s command to care for the captives,' said the Rev. Susie Hayward, who is cited in the legal case and was in court for the ruling.
Interrupting Worship for a Candidate
This issue of A Public Witness heads down to Georgia to consider the devil in the details of the race to determine who will be the next Republican nominee for governor.
Church
A Volunteer Finds the Holy Grail of Abolitionist-Era Baptist Documents in Massachusetts
The resolution shines a spotlight on a critical moment in the history of the Baptist church, signed two years after the issue of slavery prompted southern Baptists to split from northern Baptists and form the SBC.
How to Challenge MAGA’s Biblical Authoritarianism
This issue of A Public Witness features a guest essay centered on four creative proposals to disrupt Christian Nationalism within a distinctively Christian vernacular.
Cooperative Baptists Remember Historical Injustices, Confront Contemporary Ones
This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the recent CBF annual gathering to consider how Christians can speak truthfully about the past and speak truth to power today.
Nation
Protests Inside Churches Are Unusual Despite Long History of Civil Disobedience in the US
Many faith leaders were dismayed when the government announced last January that federal immigration agencies can make arrests in churches, schools, and hospitals, ending the protection of people in sensitive spaces.
Inside the Effort to Organize Clergy Nationwide to Resist ICE
Hundreds of clergy from around the country gathered in Minneapolis to learn from Minnesota faith leaders how to protest against ICE enforcement. Then they took to the streets and helped block the city’s airport.
Hundreds of Clergy Descend on Minneapolis and Go on Lookout for ICE
The faith leaders, who hail from across the country and represent a range of religious traditions, deployed to neighborhoods with significant immigrant populations, where DHS agents have been most active.
World
The Spiritual Heart of Paris Awakens: Notre Dame Hosts First Mass Since 2019 Fire
Notre Dame’s journey from ruin to resurrection was defined by extraordinary craftsmanship, nearly $1 billion in global donations, and a collective, unyielding determination to rebuild.
Bolsonaro’s Indictment in Brazil Stirs Conservative Christian Supporters’ Outrage
After police indicted 37 individuals, including a Catholic priest, evangelical Christian supporters of the right-wing former president called the investigation an effort by the current president to persecute Brazil's conservatives.
The World’s Oldest Printing Presses
This issue of A Public Witness looks at the unexpected revolution of the printed word and how journalism has changed since Word&Way started over 128 years ago.
Editorials
I Just Don’t Know What Will Happen
Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on the sudden ending of the Gospel of Mark and what it means to have faith during a time of uncertainty like the coronavirus pandemic.
Playing the Cello
Between a global pandemic, massive protests against racial injustices, and a divisive election, Editor Brian Kaylor argues that 2020 is a year that demands more cellos.
Building Tombs for the Prophets Our Ancestors Killed
Editor Brian Kaylor reflects on the passing of Baptist civil rights giants C.T. Vivian and John Lewis, and what it would mean to really honor the legacy of those two and their fellow Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr.
Word&Way Voices
Mending Broken Hearts
Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell reflects on ancient understandings of the heart and how they relate to our modern grief.
Palestinian and Jordanian Evangelicals Hold Rare Meeting in Amman
Daoud Kuttab reflects on a gathering that took place as the war in Gaza — where at least 23 Christians have been killed — has alienated many Palestinian Christians, who feel their co-religionists around the globe have abandoned them.
Egyptian Evangelical Pastor Issues Prophetic Call for Freedom, Equality, and Justice
Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab documents a recent sermon from an influential pastor of the leading Protestant church in Cairo.
E-Newsletter
American Baptists Confront Past and Present Injustices
This issue of A Public Witness treks to the Cornhusker State to consider a lost scroll that gained widespread news coverage and a denominational gathering that didn’t.
How to Challenge MAGA’s Biblical Authoritarianism
This issue of A Public Witness features a guest essay centered on four creative proposals to disrupt Christian Nationalism within a distinctively Christian vernacular.
Cooperative Baptists Remember Historical Injustices, Confront Contemporary Ones
This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the recent CBF annual gathering to consider how Christians can speak truthfully about the past and speak truth to power today.
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The State of the Senate, from SC to ME to TX to KS
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 death of Sen. Lindsey Graham as well as issues of faith and morality in Senate races in Maine, Texas, and Kansas. You can… -
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…
Books
Review: Gospel As Work of Art
In "Review: Gospel As Work of Art: Imaginative Truth and the Open Text," David Brown challenges us to expand our understanding of scripture past source criticism and historical Jesus studies to include works of imagination.
Review: A Faith of Many Rooms
In "A Faith of Many Rooms: Inhabiting a More Spacious Christianity," Debie Thomas takes readers on a deeply personal and profoundly theological odyssey.
Review & Giveaway: Ministers of Propaganda
This issue of A Public Witness explores what Scott Coley’s forthcoming book “Ministers of Propaganda: Truth, Power, and the Ideology of the Religious Right” reveals about the antidote to Christo-authoritarianism.
Review: A Quilted Life
In "A Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper’s Daughter," Catherine Meeks describes the adventures and adversity she encountered on her path to becoming an empowered voice for change.