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From the beginning, the U.S. has prided itself on being a haven for persecuted believers. But it has also demanded those believers demonstrate their loyalty in ways that blur the line between conscience and citizenship.

With the growth of worship services by leaders in a Christian Nationalist administration, it’s worth revisiting the most significant previous effort to craft religion within the federal government: the church of Nixon.

‘There was a request for clergy to show up’ at the scene, said one Minneapolis minister. ‘I was out the door.’

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Church

This issue of A Public Witness seeks sanctuary to understand the history of how ICE interacts with houses of worship and the pushback against Trump’s changes from various Christian groups.

Robinson has defended the gesture, with which he concluded his speech at the National Pro-Life Summit last week, as an ‘attempt at dry wit.’

The Eaton fire consumed the sanctuary of Altadena Baptist Church, one of at least a dozen houses of worship destroyed in the fires in Los Angeles County.

Nation

Speaking at a recent worship service at the Pentagon, Hegseth said the US needs to be ‘in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’

This issue of A Public Witness looks at four recent promotional videos created by the DoW that co-opt Bible verses to glorify the U.S. military.

The superintendent of public instruction, who recently pledged to put a Turning Point USA chapter in every high school to honor Charlie Kirk, will now ‘destroy the teachers unions’ from the private sector.

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 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 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

This issue of A Public Witness explores what Trump’s outburst about taking over the Gaza Strip reveals about the oligarchic values of the new administration as well as the immorality of prominent MAGA Christians.

In a month, the season of Lent will start and run through Easter on April 20. We have the perfect devotional book that calls for unsettling the biblical stories about Jesus’s teachings, ministries, death, and resurrection.

This issue of A Public Witness seeks sanctuary to understand the history of how ICE interacts with houses of worship and the pushback against Trump’s changes from various Christian groups.

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Recent Episodes

Books

"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

Barbara Mahany's "The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text" serves to remind us that before there was scripture, there was nature. It was nature that spoke to humanity about the presence of God the creator.