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The CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute makes the case that there is simply no evidence to suggest Americans are becoming more religious, either in their affiliation with a particular faith tradition or in terms of attending religious services more regularly.

The encounter between Christianity’s two most famous religious figures would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, given the divisions between their two churches over women’s ordination.

A court of appeals ruling just overturned Supreme Court precedent on posting the Ten Commandments in public schools — and the majority opinion conscripted a legendary colonial Baptist figure who fought for church-state separation to justify their actions.

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Church

‘Just as Christ’s work on the cross was countercultural, this service is a counternarrative,’ said Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, who leads the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Episcopal Area.

New York Episcopalians profited from the transatlantic slave trade and were 'uniquely implicated in the odious institution and in anti-Black policies and practices that extend through generations,' according to a new report.

The photo of his arrest during a protest against ICE has given the Chicago-area pastor a platform to share a theology that centers immigrants and that harkens back to the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980's.

Nation

‘If they wanted this to be a unifying American project, there would have been a whole lot more attention to getting political diversity and ideological diversity,’ added Brian Kaylor of Word&Way.

The story about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reading a prayer based on a scene in a Quentin Tarantino film really did go viral in the U.S. and elsewhere. And it all started with our newsletter A Public Witness.

The state of Colorado said that faith-based schools are welcome to participate, but they must comply with nondiscrimination laws.

World

Hegseth has a history of defending the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims.

The Iran war could be the final blow to Bethlehem’s tourism industry — and to the already-dwindling Christian population as well.

Some evangelicals’ cooling relationship with Chavismo stems from a 2024 meeting where Nicolás Maduro favored the pastors of the largest megachurches.

Editorials

Brian Kaylor didn’t expect World magazine to like his new book, "The Bible According to Christian Nationalists." But he did anticipate that if the influential conservative Christian publication reviewed it, they would at least do so honestly. Apparently, that was expecting too much.

Somehow, the plan allegedly rooted in faith values to represent Christians means driving out of office one of only three ministers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When Jesus said to go pray in a closet, he didn’t mean you should then show it off to Fox News or The Associated Press.

Word&Way Voices

Advent reminds us that God comes into a world already organized by power and exclusion — and does not accept its terms. If Christianity is used today to justify separation, the gospel calls us back to its center.

The cruel spectacle churns on for now, but Advent prepares us to see anew that there are countless ordinary acts of love happening quietly, out of sight, more than you and I will ever know.

It must have seemed hopeless in first-century Palestine for plenty of people, but that is where the light of the world chooses to be born. God is still coming into being, even amidst the cruelty of ICE and the terror of state violence.

E-Newsletter

We’re partnering with Moravian University’s School of Theology to offer a four-week online course (with synchronous and asynchronous options) to explore how religion is covered and communicated in the media today.

If HGTV decided to cast a show about fixing up your old religion, few could compete with James McGrath to be the star who transforms outdated edifices into contemporary spiritual structures.

In the first Defense Department service since the start of the Iran war, Pete Hegseth prayed that God would ‘break the teeth’ and kill those ‘who deserve no mercy’ and should be ‘delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.’

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Recent Episodes

Books

Drawing on cutting-edge work in biblical studies and ethics, David Dault makes the case that the recent rise in Christian Nationalism and religious violence demands new approaches to scriptural interpretation.

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.

In this book, W. David O. Taylor and Daniel Train bring together a remarkable group of theologians, scholars, and artists to offer a fresh perspective on pneumatology through the creative lens of the arts.

Through insightful reflections, practical exercises, and thought-provoking questions, Richard Voelz redefines how to do theology outside of a church context.