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Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall is a longtime mainline Protestant. But on Sunday, he joined numerous rightwing evangelical pastors in attacking the United Methodist Church.

Conservative influencers have rallied to support Sey, who is being held for ICE in an Ohio jail, blaming his arrest on a clerical mix-up.

The executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society commemorates the 1776 Dissenters’ Petition of Ten Thousand Names and connects it to our religious freedom struggles today.

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Church

Budde, who shot to fame after urging President Donald Trump to have mercy on immigrants and others, will remain the Episcopal bishop of Washington until June 2028, when her replacement will be consecrated.

RNS found at least 25 immigrant pastors were detained, deported or otherwise separated from their churches. While Rev. Esdras Paredes ministers via video, his congregation sells tamales to raise funds and prays for a miracle.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at how some Republican politicians are attacking the faith of mainline Christians and how United Methodists are pushing back against the bigotry.

Nation

A survey released Tuesday (Oct. 20) found that Republicans and evangelicals increasingly see empathy as a danger that can lead society away from God. The survey found that more than half of Americans see President Trump as a threat to democracy.

While the idea of poll chaplains has been around for several years, 2026 will likely be different because there is widespread concern that the presence of federal immigration agents could create a chilling effect.

This issue of A Public Witness contemplates historical parallels between the Stasi secret police force in East Germany targeting activist Lutheran congregations and DHS agents spying inside ELCA churches today.

World

The trip marked Mullally's first visit to Africa and highlighted the Church of England's controversial reparations fund to address its historic links to slavery.

Churches are calling for restraint, humanitarian support, and law and order as xenophobic unrest deepens.

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.

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

James Talarico’s attempt to make the election about ethos — character, credibility, and integrity — throws a Nolan Ryan fastball at Ken Paxton and MAGA and showcases their departure from 1990s conservative Christianity.

The Israel-U.S.-Iran conflict has seen an appeal to scripture from many of the involved leaders. But the moment God is invoked as argument rather than moral motivation, the willingness to be wrong is surrendered.

Set in modern-day Tehran, the new film premiering in Chicago this weekend is both a forbidden love story and a depiction of the steadfast faith of the Baha’i community amidst ongoing oppression.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness features an interview with Kristin Kobes Du Mez about her new book 'Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made.'

The head of the U.S. military — who has Crusader imagery tattooed on his body and the cover of his Bible — spent the anniversary promising divine violence.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you through some of the highlights (or, uh, lowlights) of faith appeals at President Donald Trump’s ‘midterm convention.’

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Recent Episodes

Books

Author Jerry Zehr, a longtime interfaith leader, draws on his practical wisdom to explore the part of us that refuses to let fear have the final word.

This groundbreaking study digs beneath the surface of one of early Christianity's most enigmatic documents and finds there two texts hidden side by side for nearly two millennia.

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.