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This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside a recent academic gathering to hear from some of the nation’s leading scholars as they offer ways to push back against a dangerous ideology.

In “Evangelical Idolatry: How Pastors Like Me Have Failed the People of God,” Jeff Mikels is concerned by the evangelical church’s embrace of cultural and political idols.

Why does Charlie Kirk, the new face of Christian Nationalism, say the church is in ‘wartime’ when Trump is in the White House and his party controls D.C.?

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Videos

Church

Two commissions overseeing research into the denomination's part in the assimilationist schools are asking Episcopal bishops to grant access to archives in their regions and to recruit research assistants of their own.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before the election of the denomination’s next leader.

Pressler was one of the architects of the ‘Conservative Resurgence’ that took over the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and 1990s. He was later accused of sexual abuse.

Nation

Ravi Ragbir has helped thousands of immigrants as the co-founder of New Sanctuary Coalition. Now he faces the threat of deportation.

Johnson, a conservative Southern Baptist, is allegedly considering Becky Tirabassi, a nondenominational Christian and co-pastor of Viewpoint Church in Newport Beach, Calif., as the new chaplain.

Challenges to state-level Christian Nationalist measures are now working their way through the courts, which have grown friendlier to conservative Christian interests thanks to Trump’s judicial appointments.

World

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, multiple Christian church buildings and facilities have been damaged. Rev. Hanna Massad shared an update about the war’s impact on the small Christian community on the day after the “devastating explosion” at the only Christian hospital in the besieged territory.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby spoke as news emerged of a deadly rocket attack on al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the unethical calls for leveling Gaza and how the Christian community in that land is responding during this time of tribulations.

Editorials

As we ponder the story of Jesus' baptism, experts in Israel work to remove thousands of landmines from the area near the River Jordan and the traditional baptism site of Jesus. That’s right: One of the holiest sites remains surrounded by deadly landmines designed to keep people away.

Built around the same time as the birth of Jesus, the magnificent Tropaeum Alpium celebrated the victory of Caesar Augustus over the tribes in the Alpine region a decade earlier. Near the same time Augustus built the monument celebrating his military, political and religious might, the Roman leader did something else.

As the midterm campaigns end, I suspect that no matter who wins, many people will sigh with relief. The breaks in our television shows — for those who still watch live TV — will return to just airing cheesy local car commercials. But I worry we will not return to

Word&Way Voices

John Sianghio writes that we find hope in strange and unexpected places. There is something about sports, something about the stories of players like Hakimi and his mother, that captures the hearts and minds of the world and pierces our souls with its poignancy.

Adriene Thorne of Riverside Church writes that God’s people can choose to care for one another with lavish love and justice. That is the better world we dare to anticipate during Advent.

Thomas Lecaque writes that the AR-15 has been claimed as the sword Christ will wield in the Apocalypse. It is not a tool for revelation, but it is certainly a tool of Armageddon. It is a gun that ends worlds.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the Summit for Religious Freedom to hear about why church-state separation matters for democracy and the vitality of the Christian witness.

This issue of A Public Witness explores what Scott Coley’s forthcoming book “Ministers of Propaganda: Truth, Power, and the Ideology of the Religious Right” reveals about the antidote to Christo-authoritarianism.

This issue of A Public Witness reflects on Genocide Awareness Month and how we can’t stop atrocities if we refuse to see them.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Robert D. Cornwall reviews A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology: Introducing Beliefs and Practices Paperback by Eve Tibbs. The book is written with Protestants in mind and offers readers who might be unfamiliar with Eastern Orthodoxy a basic introduction

The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy by sociologists Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry is so important that we’re not just highlighting it in this review, but we’re also giving away a copy autographed

Robert D. Cornwall reviews My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church by Amy Kenny. The book uses the author's own story to call on the church to rethink how it understands and relates to disabled

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Chasing after Wind: A Pastor's Life by Douglas J. Brouwer. This book serves as a post-retirement memoir from a longtime Presbyterian (PCUSA) pastor that contains insights for clergy and non-clergy alike.