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In 2025, the U.S.-led global fight against AIDS grew more complicated as the Trump administration dismantled most foreign aid and barred State Department employees from commemorating World AIDS Day.

As wannabe tyrants arise and the authoritarian logic of empire finds purchase among Christian Nationalists, sincere followers of Jesus should listen afresh to Mary this Christmastime.

A coalition of Catholic, mainline Protestant, historic peace church, and advocacy groups want Christians in the U.S. to remember Palestinian Christians this Advent by lighting a red candle.

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Church

In less than four months, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church has doled out more than $3.5 million in rent support to hundreds of people who have walked through its doors.

Numerous faith leaders across the U.S. say the immigration crackdown launched by President Donald Trump’s new administration has sown fear within their migrant-friendly congregations.

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.

Nation

Major sponsors include the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and various Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations. Nearly 250 units, serving more than 6,500 scouts, are sponsored by Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist organizations.

The decision received a mixed reaction from the coalition of plaintiffs that includes three faith-based refugee resettlement agencies.

As Sen. Josh Hawley makes a push to require every federal building across the country to post “In God We Trust,” this issue of A Public Witness looks back at the real history of our national motto.

World

The incident underscored how the church’s official teaching bumps against the reality that there are gay priests and plenty of LGBTQ+ Catholics who want to be fully part of the life and sacraments of the church.

As the world’s eyes turn to France, host of the summer games in two months, their unique approach to the role of religious symbols in the public realm is getting more scrutiny.

Given recent claims about how the Bible should guide U.S. policy decisions when it comes to Israel, this issue of A Public Witness reads through Scripture to determine how political leaders should treat various nations.

Editorials

We saw a prophetic example earlier this week at the United Nations. And like many of the Old Testament prophets, this modern one did not come from a prominent position of power. But God doesn’t usually speak through the powerful.

We really are living in a more profane age. And it’s not just the four-letter words or the using of God’s name in vain. The Bible clearly teaches us that our words matter.

Last week, Alabama Republican Governor Kay Ivey apologized for performing in blackface 52 years ago while a college student at a BSU party, an incident she couldn't recall. If, like Ivey, we can’t remember what our Baptist churches and institutions did in the past, how can we really improve things

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy makes the case that the most color-shifting term in our political vocabulary is 'rights.'

Ryan Whitaker’s new film 'Surprised by Oxford,' based on Carolyn Weber’s memoir of the same name, explores what happens when our plans and expectations are thwarted by the vagaries of life.

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell makes the case that children are walking around each day speaking the language of the world, so it is powerful when we can take those stories and translate them into our own religious language.

E-Newsletter

The first week of the new Trump administration was filled with attacks on the religious liberty rights of Episcopalians and Catholics. Over the weekend, another Christian group found itself in crosshairs: the ELCA.

Few people have thought as much about faith and politics as Danforth, who served as Missouri’s attorney general, special counsel for the DOJ, special envoy to Sudan, and ambassador to the UN for George W. Bush.

Katherine Stewart has created a collection of dispatches from the front lines of the current assault on American democracy.

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Recent Episodes

Books

The power of retrospectives to inform contemporary pursuits of justice motivated Sandhya Jha, a peace activist, community organizer, and Disciples of Christ pastor, to write "Rebels, Despots, & Saints: The Ancestors Who Free Us & The Ancestors We Need to

"Deliver Us: Salvation and the Liberating God of the Bible" by Walter Brueggemann is the first volume in a new series gathering the lesser-known works of one of the most influential figures in biblical studies and theology.

"Preaching and Praying as Though God Matters: In the Post-establishment Church" by Ronald P. Byars seeks to provide us with a word that ties preaching and worship together, with special attention given to the Lord's Table.

In "The Desert of Compassion: Devotions for the Lenten Journey" author Rachel M. Srubas draws on the images of the desert, which she knows so well as a pastor in southern Arizona, to provide the reader/spiritual seeker with a rich