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This issue of A Public Witness hits the streets to consider what some recent creative protests can teach us about how to prophetically resist authoritarianism.

The directive last year from former Superintendent Ryan Walters drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and prompted a pending lawsuit from a group of parents, teachers, and religious leaders.

While some scholars argue over which theological positions to include in a definition of “evangelical,” religious studies professor William Stell finds such “belief-based models” too vague and problematic.

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Church

This issue of A Public Witness explores Bishop Mariann Budde’s viral call for Trump to show mercy, the attacks on her and the Episcopal Church that followed, and the Washington National Cathedral’s history of advancing Christian Nationalism.

'It really has to be an all-hands-on-deck community engagement to rebuild and restore and return,' said one Los Angeles pastor.

We are rebuilding what we've lost and bringing people back to our denomination and to our local churches,’ Kimber said in an interview.

Nation

Clergy are accompanying immigrants to court appointments to provide comfort and information and, in cases where their worst fears are realized, to pick up the pieces of a shattered American dream.

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.

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.

World

‘You don’t throw away the relationship of your sibling because you do not agree on an issue,’ said a former UMC bishop from Nairobi.

As we mark the anniversary of a powerful confessional statement, this issue of A Public Witness considers how it still speaks to us today with a deep theological assessment of the dangers of uniting church and state.

‘A core practice of nonviolent resistance, including within our tradition, is economic non-cooperation with injustice,’ the Christian organizations wrote.

Editorials

When my son was younger, he had a few verbal ticks where he would say one thing when he meant another. A common example of this verbal confusion pops up today as I frequently hear people say “political” when they really mean “partisan.”

On Tuesday (Dec. 17), the state of Missouri installed a false god on top of the Capitol building. Or, at least that’s what a state representative claimed. But I wonder if the case should remind us of the difference between influence and worship.

Dear Luke, I am writing to complain about the start to your book — the one that, according to you, is a “Gospel,” not the sequel on the acts of the apostles. It’s mostly good. Some good stories, clever lines, interesting characters. However, I take offense at how you decided

Word&Way Voices

Pastor and hospice chaplain Melissa Bowers reminds us that in the long, horrifying legacy of state-sanctioned murder in the United States, a tiny pinprick of light has broken through.

Rev. Carlos L. Malavé of the Latino Christian National Network contrasts our propensity for fear and fighting violence with more violence with an alternative reality revealed to us through this liturgical season.

Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood reflects on how there is nothing pure about the death penalty process. It ensnares us all. So, where does hope fit in?

E-Newsletter

Amid the vitriol against Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde from Trump and other Republicans this week, a few proposals stick out since they attempt to empower the federal government to decide which religious beliefs should be allowed or not.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the evolution of the WHO, its religious connections, and why it matters in the face of Trump ordering the U.S. to leave the valuable global agency.

This issue of A Public Witness explores Bishop Mariann Budde’s viral call for Trump to show mercy, the attacks on her and the Episcopal Church that followed, and the Washington National Cathedral’s history of advancing Christian Nationalism.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In "What Jesus Learned from Women" author James F. McGrath fleshes out the nature of Jesus’s person and helps us recognize the role of women in the biblical story.

Greg Carey's "Death, the End of History, and Beyond: Eschatology in the Bible" understands that we need to address the present, but the future does impact the present — thus, the study of Last Things is not something we can

In "Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art," author Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt helps us view art through a theological lens, whether the artwork is religious in orientation or not.

In "Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation," authors Robert Chao Romero and Jeff M. Liou provide the foundation for a conversation that must take place if we wish to understand and address the ordinariness of racism