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Featured
Review & Giveaway: Furious Minds
Political theorist Laura Field provides an intellectual tour of the MAGA New Right, a movement that has twice carried Donald Trump into the White House.
Prayer App Hallow Faces Backlash Over Lenten Partnership With Tucker Carlson
Some Christian users said they planned to stop using Hallow because of its partnership with Carlson, while others praised the collaboration. Multiple users called for boycotts of the app and other sponsors.
Minnesota Faith Groups Sue DHS Over Access to Immigrant Detainees
It's at least the second lawsuit challenging the federal government's policy of barring faith leaders from accessing some Department of Homeland Security facilities.
Church
Judge Rules Against Former SBC President Johnny Hunt in Guidepost Defamation Suit
One claim, about an allegedly defamatory tweet by another former denominational president, is still live. The SBC has spent more than $3 million in legal fees on the Hunt case.
Jimmy Carter’s Church Removes Flags From Sanctuary
Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, is best known as the church where former President Jimmy Carter taught Sunday School for decades. The church’s new pastor recently moved the U.S. and Christian flags out of the sanctuary.
Are Evangelical Clergy Outliers on Science? Yes and No
They reject climate science but accept medical science, according to the National Survey of Religious Leaders published this week.
Nation
Christ the Christian Nationalist Sunday?
This issue of A Public Witness looks at the not-so-immaculate conception of Christ the King Sunday and the theological conflict today between different visions of Christ as King.
No Amazon for Advent
The Center on Faith & Justice at Georgetown University recently launched a campaign encouraging people to pledge not to shop on Amazon during this Advent season — and A Public Witness is one of the official partners.
At Least Seven Faith Leaders Arrested at Broadview ICE Facility Protest
'I've got bruises all over my body,' the Rev. Michael Woolf, who was thrown to the ground and arrested by police, told RNS.
World
Pope Francis Appeals for Urgent Humanitarian Aid for Gaza and Backs Cease-Fire Proposals
He recalled that Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary of a peace prayer he hosted in the Vatican gardens, attended by then-Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Ivory Coast Splits With UMC but Kenya and Other African Conferences Slow To Follow
‘You don’t throw away the relationship of your sibling because you do not agree on an issue,’ said a former UMC bishop from Nairobi.
The Barmen Declaration Turns 90
As we mark the anniversary of a powerful confessional statement, this issue of A Public Witness considers how it still speaks to us today with a deep theological assessment of the dangers of uniting church and state.
Editorials
Moral Courage to Lead
Finding the moral courage to be first can be difficult. We need more Deborahs, Jaels, and Jackies.
Which Way Will We March?
In the book The Last Week, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan suggest that on that Palm Sunday there were actually two processions entering Jerusalem. "The two processions, they state, "embody the central conflict of the week that led to Jesus’s crucifixion.”
Supreme Court Gets Its Logic Crossed
Last week, a majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court decided to flip to a calendar in their quest to discover truth. Well, they didn’t admit that, but that’s essentially what they did in the case of the 94-year-old cross in Bladensburg, Md.
Word&Way Voices
Speaker Mike Johnson’s Biblical Interpretation Problem
Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that the new Speaker of the House has missed some important lessons in hermeneutics — the Bible is not self-interpreting.
What It Means to Love Your Neighbor
Edward Walsh reflects on his experiences in the Middle East and what following the teachings of Jesus should look like in this time of conflict.
The Gift Youth Sports Offers the Church
Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell champions the idea that churches can offer counter-cultural recreational programs to put youth sports back at the right size and scale.
E-Newsletter
Palestinian Pastor Confronts Empire Theology in U.S. Politics & Churches
A Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem — yes, that Bethlehem — Rev. Munther Isaac denounced Trump’s recent Gaza proposal as “evil” on this week’s episode of Dangerous Dogma.
Setting the Standard for Christian Nationalism in Schools
This issue of A Public Witness cracks opens the books to study problems with the new social studies standards where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.
Review & Giveaway: To Love Our Neighbors
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.
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The State of the Senate, from SC to ME to TX to KS
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham as well as issues of faith and morality in Senate races in Maine, Texas, and Kansas. You can… -
Southern Baptists, the Pentagon, & UFC
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about the Southern Baptist Convention's push against women in ministry, the Pentagon changing how it codes the faith of military members, and the latest in… -
Southern Baptists, Women in Ministry, & a Billboard
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. The conversation includes discussion of efforts in the Southern Baptist Convention to further target women serving in churches and how BWIM is advocating for women (including with a billboard to greet SBC messengers next week in Orlando,… -
Divergent Visions for Rededicating the Nation
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about Rededicate 250, gerrymandering, Adam Hamilton's Senate campaign in Kansas, and the MAHA movement. You can watch a video version of the conversation here. Here are a few pieces… -
The Christian Past That Wasn't
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Warren Throckmorton, a retired professor who has spent years debunking false claims by Christian Nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton. Throckmorton is the author of the new book, The Christian Past that Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths that Hijack History. You can watch a video version of… -
Trump vs. Leo
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about President Donald Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV, Leo's witness against the Iran war, Trump's AI image of himself as Jesus, and the electoral… -
Fight Like Jesus with Jason Porterfield (Reissue)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Jason Porterfield about his book Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace. This episode originally aired in 2023, except for a new introduction noting a violent prayer by Pete Hegseth during a recent Pentagon worship service and Palm Sunday comments by Pope Leo XIV. Note: Don't forget… -
Pete Hegseth's Crusader Bible (A Trick of State)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor considers Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's use of the English Standard Version of the Bible, patriarchy in the faith communities Hegseth has been a part of, and his Christian Nationalism. It also reveals that Hegseth's ESV Bible includes two Crusader symbols stamped onto the cover (and that match… -
An Unholy War
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about the Iran war, Christian opposition to the war, and viral claims of military leaders claiming this will bring "Armageddon." It also includes consideration of… -
Rewriting the Ten Commandments (A Trick of State)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor looks at legislation across the country that purports to want the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But the version mandated by lawmakers cannot be found in any Bible. Kaylor unpacks where the edited language came from, why such legislation is an attack on religious liberty, and the…
Books
Review & Giveaway: Corpse Care
In "Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead," Cody Sanders and Mikeal Parsons spark new conversations that reclaim responsibility for faith communities from the funeral directors and other deathcare providers that professionally process our corpses without much reflection on their
Review: We Will Be Free
In "We Will Be Free: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth," Nancy Koester brings to life the powerful story of a complicated woman whose voice still needs to be heard — especially at this moment when so many Christians
Review: Elusive Grace
In "Elusive Grace: Loving Your Enemies While Striving for God’s Justice," Scott Black Johnston brings healing to the divides present in our congregations so that together we might become agents of justice and voices of healing.
Review: Resisting Apartheid America
In "Resisting Apartheid America: Living the Badass Gospel," Miguel A. De La Torre challenges readers and makes a strong case that EuroChristianity, defined by White Supremacy, is the greatest threat to the United States.