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During the heyday of American churchgoing, some presidents sought to use religion to unite the country. In the age of Trump, it is one more thing to fight over.

The protest, organized by Christians for a Free Palestine, followed a Communion service held on Capitol grounds.

This issue of A Public Witness explores the problem with Trump’s call for Nov. 5 and proposes an alternative date for a more authentic “Christian Visibility Day.”

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Dangerous Dogma

Church

Jeff Iorg, the longtime president of the SBC’s only seminary outside of the denomination’s historic Bible Belt heartland, is the incoming president and CEO of the denomination’s Executive Committee.

In an open letter, the Chicago pastor compares the California pastor to King opponents George Wallace and J. Edgar Hoover, calling MacArthur 'them in postmodern dress.'

The happier, healthier future of ministry is in part-time clergy.

Nation

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the false claims of Christian persecution leveled against Biden in the midst of an acrimonious campaign.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan who used to serve as a Baptist pastor, suggested at a town hall during Holy Week that the Gaza Strip should be nuked.

Many chaplains and interfaith organizations oppose the campaign, calling the motivation offensive and dangerous — especially without standards around proselytizing or serving students from different religious backgrounds.

World

Judges across Europe are having a tough time deciding whether asylum-seekers claiming religious persecution are ‘genuine’ Christians.

Eastern Orthodox leadership, despite lacking a single doctrinal authority like a pope, has been united in opposing recognition of same-sex relationships both within its own rites and in the civil realm.

'Israel’s right to self-defense has been invoked to justify that this operation is proportional, but with 30,000 dead, it’s not,' said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state.

Editorials

As Brian Kaylor thinks about modern-day refugees fleeing a genocidal foreign dictator, he also wonders where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus spent the night on their journey from Bethlehem to Egypt. Where was their safe place to sleep and to enjoy a nice meal from strangers? And how were those people

In this issue of A Public Witness, Brian Kaylor introduces us to 10 gifts the proud “Christian Nationalist” on your list will love. But please don’t buy these unless you want to end up on the naughty list (and make the baby Jesus cry). Instead, these gift suggestions show us

For day 1 of our Unsettling Advent devotionals, Brian Kaylor reflects on the importance of learning from those who have lived under authoritarian occupation like what is happening today in Ukraine.

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 looks back at the 'kneel-ins' of the civil rights movement to consider recent protests at prominent churches.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the Poor People’s Campaign and its recent rallies around the country hoping to put issues of poverty on the public agenda in this election year.

This issue of A Public Witness gives you an inside look at disgraced former Lt. General Michael Flynn’s latest QAnon crusade called “Get in the Fight” being held in sanctuaries around the country.

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Podcasts

In episode 89 of Dangerous Dogma, Jason Porterfield talks about his new book Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace. He also discusses what peacemaking involves and how we sometimes misread stories about Jesus and violence.

Daniel Buttry, retired global consultant for peace and justice with International Ministries of the American Baptist Church, talks about his new book Healing the World: Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. He also discusses nationalism, truth-telling, and conflict transformation.

In episode 87 of Dangerous Dogma, Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, talks about his book American Crusade: How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom.

In episode 86 of Dangerous Dogma, Sara Billups talks about her new book Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home. She also discusses issues the impact of growing up with end-times theology, culture war politics,

Books

In "Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks Is the Key to Our Well-Being," Cornelius Plantinga makes the case that being grateful is the key to understanding our relationships with one another, the world around us, and God.

In "Being Real: The Apostle Paul’s Hardship Narratives and the Stories We Tell Today," Philip Plyming argues that there are profound lessons we can learn from Paul's critiques of the prevailing culture of Corinth.

In "Nice Churchy Patriarchy: Reclaiming Women's Humanity from Evangelicalism," Liz Cooledge Jenkins takes an unflinching look at the ways misogyny's subtler forms impact every aspect of women’s experiences in church.

Walter Brueggemann has written scores of books. If one wants to understand the insights of this biblical scholar, where does one begin? Beau Underwood suggests the best way to dive into Brueggemann is not through a book he wrote but