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‘We have to try to make it so big it can't be rigged,’ Michigan Baptist leader the Rev. James C. Perkins said of voter turnout efforts.

Hundreds of residents gathered for a community-wide re-dedication of the original First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, which was established in 1776 by enslaved and free African Americans in defiance of laws that prevented them from congregating.

This issue of A Public Witness pulls back the curtain to explore self-defeating efforts from the religious right in Washington and Iowa.

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Church

'I think it is imperative on me, as a faith leader, to proclaim that human beings are not targets and that God is a God of justice and of love,’ said the Rev. Rebecca Girrell, a United Methodist pastor who was among those arrested.

‘All I want is to see my husband back,’ said Denise Gedeon, whose pastor-husband, Joubert Adrien, was detained by ICE — one of two pastors arrested during a weekend that also brought a death, prayers, and vigils for a Haitian community under siege.

Two years after a schism led 7,600 churches to leave the United Methodist fold, its reverberations are now being felt in a battle between one of its most elite churches and a Texas conference.

Nation

According to court documents, Feucht sought a donation for his Kingdom to Capitol Tour, which he planned to take to all 50 states. The donor agreed to fund five tour stops for a total of $250,000, but later discovered that Feucht’s entire concert tour had been fully funded.

A federal judge recently ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to report about any protected church where it has conducted an immigration enforcement action. But the agency told the court it had no idea how many incidents there may be, insisting it had no reasonable way to check its own records.

A group of Reformed pastors and influencers has wedded old-school segregationist theology with the hypermasculinity of the manosphere and the savvy of the attention economy to preach and sell White supremacy, antisemitism, and patriarchy to angry young men. Its audience is small but growing, and their movement has ties to powerful religious and political figures.

World

Despite the fact that many Venezuelan faith leaders have been impacted themselves by the ongoing disaster, they’ve sprung into action to provide food, psychological support, and other basic needs to the large population of victims.

‘For three years, the police saw me as a nudnikit (pest),’ said Yisca Harani, founder of the Religious Freedom Data Center, which tracks and aims to prevent incidents targeting Christians in Israel. ‘After the incident with the nun, I feel they are taking me a little more seriously.’

A group including leaders from the World Council of Churches, the Anglican Communion, the World Methodist Council, and the PCUSA recently paid a solidarity visit to Cuba, aimed at highlighting Cuban suffering and condemning U.S. sanctions.

Editorials

Somehow, the plan allegedly rooted in faith values to represent Christians means driving out of office one of only three ministers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When Jesus said to go pray in a closet, he didn’t mean you should then show it off to Fox News or The Associated Press.

A chaplain is not just a pastor or a Sunday School teacher or a street preacher shouting through a bullhorn. This is a unique role, often in a secular setting that requires assistance with a variety of religious traditions.

Word&Way Voices

We live in an era saturated with more means of communication than ever before, and yet we also face unprecedented threats to our genuine human connections.

The desire for a sustainable authoritarianism among MAGA Calvinists, such as the ‘Theobros’ and a coalition of Southern Baptist Reformed leaders, has lovers of democracy sounding the alarm.

Besides being an enjoyable and charming moviegoing experience, the new film — based on a German book called ‘Three Bags Full’ by Leonie Swann — is full of unexpected Christian imagery.

E-Newsletter

The Department of Homeland Security insists its surveillance at University Baptist Church and other houses of worship was only about alleged criminal violations unrelated to immigration.

In this forthcoming new release, journalist and author Sarah Stankorb puts women’s voices and experiences of American Christianity front and center.

The leader of Pete Hegseth’s denomination recently said at a book promotion that ‘if America is a creedal nation, then you have to have creedal standards.’

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Recent Episodes

Books

Warren Throckmorton, whose fact-checking of David Barton's book 'The Jefferson Lies' convinced the publisher to pull it from the shelves, picks a fight with fables told about the past by those who are trying to erase the separation of church

Drawing from personal experience, theological insight, and psychological depth, Richard Beck challenges the fear-based, legalistic interpretations that have long dominated many Christian traditions.

In his new book, acclaimed sociologist Robert Wuthnow seeks to both illuminate what has been hidden and to add complexity where a story has been too simply told.

In this innovative synthesis of practical theology and psychological science, professors Katherine M. Douglass and Brittany M. Tausen bring wisdom from Scripture and cutting-edge research into conversation.