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One of the removed panels featured images of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. Both born as enslaved persons, they were instrumental in starting their churches.

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.

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Videos

Church

This issue of A Public Witness explores the “Let Freedom Ring!” initiative’s remembrance of the past, which also serves as a warning about contemporary tyrannical threats.

In recent decades, many mainline Protestants have moved away from the Calvinist theory of penal substitutionary atonement, which summons up the idea of an angry God who needs to be appeased.

In the sessions, Black faith leaders are schooled on the differences between Sunni, Shia, and Nation of Islam sects and discuss the privileges Black Christians can enjoy compared to Black Muslims.

Nation

‘If you come for one United Methodist, you have come for all of us,’ said a Chicago area UMC pastor.

Although the Infancy Gospel of Thomas didn’t make it into the New Testament, it remained popular among Christians for centuries.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the DoL’s use of religion in its recent propaganda posters that push Christianity as part of a vision of a patriarchal, White nation.

World

This issue of A Public Witness treks to Latin America to consider the dangers arising from the political co-opting of sacred texts.

Surf Church was established by an ordained Baptist pastor to spread the Gospel in a once-devoutly Catholic country where about half of young people today say they have no religion.

The Salvation Army is exploiting a connection to the Beatles to draw more visitors to fund its mission and encourage people who would never consider stepping inside a church to find out about Christianity.

Editorials

Why should a person be punished because our lawmakers were slow to recognize their error? If a sentence is wrong, then it is wrong. We shouldn’t measure truth or justice by a calendar.

Daniel knew the danger of refusing an order from the king. But Daniel knew he must do what's right, regardless of the social pressures or the political consequences. 

On a recent road trip, I listened to Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. I’d heard the lead character, Elmer Gantry, used as an insult about fraudulent clergy, Soon I heard something that almost caused me to swerve off the highway.

Word&Way Voices

Azar Ajaj, president of Nazareth Evangelical College, brings our attention to overlooked Middle Eastern Christians as instruments that God is using to bring peace to the region.

Christmas reminds us it is precisely in the midst of the darkness of hatred that it is time for love to be born.

What does it mean to enter the Christmas story anew in these moments, as so many are desperate for God’s saving presence? To wrestle with this question is to live into this sacred season.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness goes inside the ‘Sensitive Locations, Sacred Spaces Prayer Vigil’ to look at the faithful effort to block ICE raids in houses of worship.

Modern churches still gather on the traditions and teachings of the generations who went before us. This is important to remember in a time when some ‘prophets’ invent new theologies and ways of interpreting the Bible.

Sociologist Ruth Braunstein recently decided to try a different way of analyzing religion, politics, and money: a documentary podcast exploring divergent evangelical responses to Christian Nationalism.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In "Songs I Love to Sing: The Billy Graham Crusades and the Shaping of Modern Worship," Edith L. Blumhofer explores the stories behind some of the most beloved modern hymns.

In his new book "The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future," Robert Jones argues that truly understanding the sordid racial history of the United States requires reckoning with the Doctrine of Discovery.

In "Disobedient Women: How a Small Group of Faithful Women Exposed Abuse, Brought Down Powerful Pastors, and Ignited an Evangelical Reckoning," journalist Sarah Stankorb outlines how access to the internet allowed women to begin dismantling patriarchal authority.

In "After Botham: Healing From My Brother's Murder by a Police Officer," Allisa Charles-Findley challenges us to listen to the cries of those who have experienced grief and to puts forth a call to join the struggle for justice.