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Featured
Giving Up Billionaires for Lent
As we enter a season of Lent amid the chaos of Elon Musk and an oligarchy-fueled administration, this issue of A Public Witness reads the Bible and the Forbes Billionaire List to decide this day who we will serve.
Review: Knock at the Sky
In “Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis After Losing Faith in the Bible,” Liz Charlotte Grant interprets the Bible’s inspired book of beginnings as a work of art.
Most Greenlanders Are Lutheran, 300 Years After a Missionary Brought the Faith to the Remote Island
Most Greenlanders are proudly Inuit, having survived and thrived in one of the most remote and climatically inhospitable places on Earth. And they’re Lutheran.
Church
After Vote to Repeal LGBTQ Bans, Many Gay Methodists Are Now Fully Out
On the first Sunday after the conclusion of the denomination’s General Conference, many queer United Methodists celebrated their release from the tight and narrow spaces that had confined them.
Methodists End Anti-Gay Bans, Closing 50 Years of Battles Over Sexuality for Mainline Protestants
The nation’s largest Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Lutheran denominations have all now removed barriers to LGBTQ participation in the pulpit and at the altar.
Churches Tied to Civil Rights Awarded National Park Service Preservation Funds
Other grantees will use the NPS funding to conduct historical surveys, including one in Detroit that will explore 'the role of religion in the struggle for equality.’
Nation
Madison Faith Communities Gather for Candlelight Vigil for School Shooting Victims
Hundreds of people gathered at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Tuesday evening (Dec. 17), holding candles for the victims of Monday's shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School.
Death Row Inmate Joseph Corcoran Executed for Quadruple Murder
Rev. David Leitzel, Corcoran’s Wesleyan minister, was allowed within the execution chamber as Corcoran was killed.
Trump’s Cabinet Selections Represent an Unusual Slice of American Religious Life
Trump's cabinet selection includes everything from pastors to Catholic converts to one nominee who credits their spiritual rebirth to a book by a Swiss psychiatrist.
World
Amid Climate Change Concerns, Pope Francis Says He Is Updating His ‘Green’ Encyclical
The pope made the announcement while addressing the need for human rights protections in Europe.
Church Leaders Plead With Israeli Government as Anti-Christian Incidents Increase in Holy Land
The incidents have been organized by extremist groups who consider Christians to be enemies of the Jewish people.
Pakistan Arrests 129 Muslims After Mob Attacks on Churches & Homes of Minority Christians
Police in eastern Pakistan arrested 129 Muslims after a mob angered by an alleged Quran desecration attacked a dozen churches and nearly two dozen homes of minority Christians, officials said Thursday. Police also arrested the two Christian men suspected of defacing the Quran.
Editorials
Broken Tooth for Broken Tooth
I recently lost a tooth. And the tooth fairy didn’t even bother to give me a quarter — or whatever the going rate is these days.
The Myth of ‘Amazing Grace’
A popular myth surrounds the hymn “Amazing Grace.” It illustrates that how we tell a story matters, because the details teach us the moral of the story. The simple version makes it
Telling Good News — And Bad
As a journalist, there are stories I love to write. Like the stories from the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance last month in Bangkok, Thailand. These types of events inspire
Word&Way Voices
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 3
Andre Khudyakov, a Ukrainian Baptist pastor, reflects on how we tend to read the Bible as stories about what happened centuries ago as well as descriptions of events that will take place far in the future. So, we place ourselves in a “safe zone in the middle” and we become
Meet Elisabeth, Forgotten Prophet of the Christmas Story
With Christmas approaching, Christine Trotter explores part of the story that is usually omitted: Mary travels from Nazareth to Judea to visit her relative Elisabeth, an older woman who speaks prophetically to Mary and informs her that she is pregnant with the Lord. Trotter outlines what else we know about
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 2
For day 2 of our Unsettling Advent devotionals, Rob Schenck reflects on reading New Testament Advent story against its historical backdrop: An aggressively militant imperial occupier had invaded the ancient Levant, annexing it and subjugating various nations, bringing sorrow and suffering to countless peoples. Sound all too familiar?
E-Newsletter
Prayer Partners
This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside the Family Research Council’s “National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance” featuring Speaker Mike Johnson and a couple dozen other Republican lawmakers.
What Congress Reveals About the Methodist Schism
This issue of A Public Witness tracks which members of Congress are no longer part of the United Methodist Church to consider what that reveals about Methodist life as well as religion and politics more broadly.
The ‘Lesser Magistrates’ Threat to Democracy
This issue of A Public Witness heads to the border to consider an ongoing legal controversy and an obscure theological theory some hope will migrate into our political system.
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186. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty on Authentic Christian Freedom
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, a professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in North Carolina and author of the new book Authentic Christian Freedom: Deconstructing the American Gospel of Liberty. She discusses issues of Christian ethics, liberty, fundamentalism, ministry, and seminary education. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to our award-winning e-newsletter… -
185. Mara Richards Bim on Holding Prayer Vigils Outside an ICE Office
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Mara Richards Bim about a weekly interfaith prayer vigil being held outside an ICE office in Dallas, Texas. She talks about how denominations are fighting back in court and the how Department of Homeland Security is co-opting Bible verses to justify ICE actions. She also discusses… -
184. Warren Throckmorton on Getting Jefferson Right
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 coauthor of Getting Jefferson Right: Fact-Checking Claims About Thomas Jefferson and author of the forthcoming The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That… -
183. Shannon Fleck of Faithful America
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Shannon Fleck, the new executive director of Faithful America. She discusses Christian Nationalism in Oklahoma and nationally. You can watch a video version of his conversation on YouTube. Fleck's predecessor, Rev. Nathan Empsall, previously appeared on episode 61 of Dangerous Dogma. He also wrote several columns… -
182. Ruth Braunstein on When the Wolves Came
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with sociologist Ruth Braunstein about her documentary podcast When the Wolves Came. You can also find her writings at her Substack newsletter Democracy Is Hard. Mentioned in the episode is Caleb Campbell, who previously appeared on episode 150 of Dangerous Dogma. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to… -
181. Angela Denker on Disciples of White Jesus
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with journalist and Lutheran minister Angela Denker about her forthcoming book Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood. You can watch a video version of this conversation here. You can also hear an earlier conversation with Denker in episode 68, and a conversation with Caleb Campbell… -
180. David Swartz on Rebel on Main
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with historian David Swartz about his new narrative podcast project Rebel on Main, which offers a historical and contemporary exploration of a Kentucky county and its unusual Confederate statue. You can watch a video version of this conversation here. (You can also hear an earlier episode with… -
179. Munther Isaac on Christ in the Rubble
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, about his forthcoming book Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza. He also talks about Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza, the importance of using the terms "genocide"… -
178. State Senator Shows How NOT to Read Proverbs
On Tuesday (Feb. 25), a session of the Oklahoma Senate transformed into a spontaneous Bible study. Or perhaps more of a Bible study cosplay demonstrating how not to read the Bible, specifically how not to read the Book of Proverbs. In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor unpacks the errors in how Proverbs was cited… -
177. Countering Sean Feucht with Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood, a sociology doctoral fellow at Tulane University, about a protest march she organized to counter an event by Christian Nationalistic musician Sean Feucht in New Orleans on Feb. 8, 2025. You can learn more about Feucht at A Public Witness, including reports on his…
Books
Bible Teacher Beth Moore, Splitting with Lifeway, Says, ‘I Am No Longer a Southern Baptist’
The famed Bible study teacher said she no longer feels at home in the denomination that once saved her life. Moore’s criticism of the 45th president’s abusive behavior toward women and her advocacy for sexual abuse victims turned her from a
Tish Harrison Warren, a Rising Star in Christian Spiritual Writing
Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep is not a memoir, per se, but its deep theological insights are repeatedly grounded in Warren’s own experiences as a mother and an Anglican priest. And many of
Author Shauna Niequist Apologizes for Her Silence Following Allegations Against Father, Bill Hybels
Popular Christian author Shauna Niequist has apologized for her silence following the allegations against her father, Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of suburban Chicago megachurch Willow Creek Community Church.
South African Theologian Blasts Obama for Attacking ‘Preacher in a Wheelchair’
South African liberation theologian and anti-Apartheid activist Allan Boesak recently offered a blistering critique of former U.S. President Barack Obama, comparing the popular politician to biblical tyrants like Pharaoh and Herod. Boesak delivered his comments in response to Obama’s new