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In 1845, a group of pro-slavery Baptists created the Southern Baptist Convention to defend enslavers serving as missionaries. One hundred and eighty years later, SBC leaders defend a pastor serving as an ICE leader. Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on this through line.

Comedian Druski’s latest viral church parody contains some truth in its critique, however uncomfortable it may be. The Church and the Christians within it should face that openly.

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.

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Church

The investigation cost the SBC's Executive Committee $2 million in legal fees and led to one former Southern Baptist seminary leader pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

An Arab word meaning ‘steadfastness,’ the Sumud devotional offers churches a six-week study to raise awareness of Israel’s military rule over Palestinians.

The statement is signed by a coalition representing a broad theological spectrum, from Mennonites to Methodists, Baptists, and Lutherans.

Nation

Latino Christian leaders meeting in Southern California discussed how best to pastor congregations newly traumatized by the Trump mass deportation policy.

For the second time in six weeks, a pastor was struck in the head with a pepper round fired by a US immigration agent as faith leaders protested the arrival of more than 100 US Customs and Border Patrol agents.

More than 210 people, mostly Chicago-area Christian clergy, signed a letter titled “Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview.” The letter railed against ICE and agents “hunting and terrorizing of immigrant communities” in the city.

World

There are 182,000 Christians in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department. The vast majority are Palestinians.

Buildings have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common image along the vulnerable West African coast.

This issue of A Public Witness explores how a hidden 17th-century church in Amsterdam can teach us lessons about the need for religious freedom and a pluralistic public square.

Editorials

(WW) — A recent CNN piece explored how contemporary Christian music largely ignores contemporary moral concerns. But one line in the piece particularly caught my eye — and not in a good way.

Imagine a world where Christians — both those running for office and those just planning to vote — actually applied the Golden Rule. With that goal in mind, Baptist and other denominational leaders are calling for Christians to act Christlike, even in political conversations.

There’s a fascinating, oft - overlooked parable in Judges 9. It might be one of the most profound teachings about political power and who we trust to rule found in the scriptures.

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

Joe Blosser’s recent book is challenging because it takes seriously the idea that the only way to love God well is to love our neighbors more by re-evaluating how much we’ve fallen in love with ourselves.

A debate in the Oklahoma Senate yesterday over the use of corporal punishment against children with disabilities turned into a lesson about how not to read the Bible.

A religious coalition won the first round of faith-based litigation against the Trump administration — but the scope of the preliminary injunction is limited.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In "Trauma-Informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers," authors Charles Kiser and Elaine A. Heath speak to the concerns of our day so that if we share our faith, we can bring into the conversation the realities of trauma that

In his book "Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy," author Rodney Kennedy brings his reading of scripture and philosophy into conversation with rhetorical criticism in order to better understand Trump's threat to democracy.

Every month we review and give away a signed copy of a book to a paid subscriber of A Public Witness. This month, we’re happy to make available a signed copy of what Kristin Kobes Du Mez called “an essential

In his book "The Sacred Meaning of Every Day Work," author Robert H. Tribken seeks to answer the question of how faith and work might relate to each other.