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Claire Hoffman chronicles the dramatic rise, mysterious disappearance, and near-fall of Aimee Semple McPherson, America’s most famous woman evangelist.

Newly strained finances are just one reality that Latino immigrant churches are adjusting to as the Trump administration accelerates a promised mass deportation campaign and other aggressive changes to immigration policy.

This issue of A Public Witness explores what the ending of a significant comedy institution means in light of the fact that Stephen Colbert is one of the most prominent Christians in popular culture today.

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Church

The new denomination, with 4,715 congregations, will meet to adopt a constitution and iron out its governance structure.

Brittany Packnett-Cunningham’s rise to be one of her generation’s best-known racial justice activists reflects the promise and power of the ministry of her late father, who was senior pastor of St. Louis’ historic Central Baptist Church.

Less than two months after the Southern Baptists’ policy arm issued an embarrassing retraction of an announcement of its leader’s firing, it gave him a strong vote of confidence this week.

Nation

‘Stir the conscience of our nation. Let justice rise up on these very steps, let truth trouble the chambers of the Capitol,’ Shane Claiborne said as he prayed.

President Donald Trump has appointed evangelical allies and a pair of high-profile Catholic clergy to join other faith leaders on a National Commission on Religious Liberty.

This issue of A Public Witness opens up the Aitken’s Bible to consider the tale of a flop and how Christian Nationalists misleadingly repackage it as ‘a Bible approved by Congress.’

World

Many Christian converts have lost their spiritual connection to the forests and lore. Meghalaya is 75% Christian in a country that is almost 80% Hindu.

The weeklong gathering outside Kenya's capital focused on gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS, saying the Anglican churches in Africa have been silent on these issues affecting many African women.

Nicaragua’s government released a prominent Catholic bishop and 18 other clergy members imprisoned in a crackdown by President Daniel Ortega and handed them over to Vatican authorities who welcomed them in Rome. 

Editorials

We are a nation led by people crossing by on the other side of the road.

To experience the Bahamas -- where this year's Baptist World Alliance annual meeting was held -- means more than just hanging out on the beach. This is a country, after all, where income inequality means most citizens can’t afford to spend a week at one of the lush resorts on

Over the past few years, some Christians have reduced the concept of religious liberty to merely serve as a counter-value to the rights of LGBTQ persons. This misinterpretation of what religious liberty actually means hurts the historic freedom to practice our faith.

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell makes the case that future Christians will point to the names of our colleagues and friends as those who first navigated the waters of leading a church and serving as a wife or mothering a family at the same time.

Contributing writer Laura Levens reflects on the recent denominational meeting of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and how the energy of people in attendance felt different than in previous years.

Ethicist, pastor, author, and advocate David P. Gushee reflects on the recent Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly and what makes the denomination distinct from the Southern Baptist Convention.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness explores alarming new moves to implement Christian Nationalistic ideas in Indiana and Oklahoma before considering a glimmer of hope in Texas.

This issue of A Public Witness unpacks how Kamala Harris’s decision to skip the Al Smith Dinner — and the legacy of Smith (the first Catholic nominee for president) — offers important insights into this year’s campaign.

Matthew Taylor makes a compelling case that the New Apostolic Reformation, whose leaders and ideas have migrated from the fringes to the center of American evangelicalism, is a dangerous threat to democracy.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Here at A Public Witness, it’s an annual tradition to share the best books we’ve read during the last calendar year. The table of contents is as follows: 1. Five books featured on our podcast Dangerous Dogma, 2. Five books

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "You Never Step into the Same Pulpit Twice: Preaching from a Perspective of Process Theology" by Ronald J. Allen. This book seeks to offer guidance to preachers who approach questions from a particular vantage point: Process

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "Buried Seeds: Learning from the Vibrant Resilience of Marginalized Christian Communities" by Alexia Salvatierra and Brandon Wrencher. This book explores the fact that many marginalized Christian communities live without the traditional trappings of institutional religion. Nevertheless,

Our democracy is in trouble and we need to elect pro-democracy candidates. But what if that isn’t sufficient? That’s why Christopher Beem wrote "The Seven Democratic Virtues: What You Can do to Overcome Tribalism and Save Our Democracy." A political