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We’re a small outlet, but we’re having an impact and covering stories that would otherwise not receive the attention they need. Here we count down our most popular pieces and offer some highlights from the year.

Listeners tune in from across the country and around the world to our Dangerous Dogma podcast. So let’s count down the top 10 most-downloaded episodes in 2025.

The fake ‘war on Christmas’ examples ginned up by culture war talk show hosts in recent years are nothing compared to misusing the birth of Jesus — and Christmas celebrations in general — to justify anti-immigrant policies.

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Church

In mainline Christian circles, winter solstice celebrations and longest night services are growing in popularity.

The Moravian Church is one of the world's oldest Protestant denominations. Its name comes from the historical provinces of Bohemia and Moravia in what is now the Czech Republic.

'During the holidays, we are practicing relational spirituality and engaging in our awakened brain,' said one professor of psychology.

Nation

As Sen. Josh Hawley makes a push to require every federal building across the country to post “In God We Trust,” this issue of A Public Witness looks back at the real history of our national motto.

‘May this be the first of many events like this at the Kennedy Center. May you use this place mightily to continue to glorify your name, Jesus,’ prayed Abigail Robertson, granddaughter of Pat Robertson, at the documentary premiere.

After their pursuit of taxpayer school funding failed to get approval from the U.S. Supreme Court, the plans to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School have been canceled.

World

Judges across Europe are having a tough time deciding whether asylum-seekers claiming religious persecution are ‘genuine’ Christians.

Eastern Orthodox leadership, despite lacking a single doctrinal authority like a pope, has been united in opposing recognition of same-sex relationships both within its own rites and in the civil realm.

'Israel’s right to self-defense has been invoked to justify that this operation is proportional, but with 30,000 dead, it’s not,' said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state.

Editorials

Brian KaylorIn the U.S. context, we often hear laments about the decline of Christianity, how younger generations are walking away from faith and about our culture’s increasing embrace of immorality. If we hear

Brian KaylorThe top religious advisor to President Donald Trump defended his policies on detaining immigrant children, claiming Jesus never broke the law. Rather than an aberration, Paula White, the Florida megachurch “prosperity gospel”

Brian KaylorIt seems that since people could write, we’ve had stories warning about powerful people using their power to abuse others and to gain or preserve their power, assets or lustful desires. Homer’s

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that we should see the cross and the rainbow flag together and identify Christ with a community of excluded people.

Marijuana will almost certainly be legalized throughout the United States and we should have a conversation about how we deal with church members who use it for medical or recreational purposes.

Tim Keller, an influential Presbyterian Church in America minister and bestselling author, has died at the age of 72. Despite their different beliefs, Juliet Vedral reflects on the points from his leadership that she will always treasure.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness offers short highlights from four notable reflections on the life of James Earl Carter Jr.

This issue of A Public Witness reflects on the moral exemplar Jimmy Carter offered not only after his presidency but also during his underappreciated time in the Oval Office.

In this review of 2024, we count down our most popular pieces and reflect on some other highlights from the year.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now" by James K. A. Smith. This book explores how we experience time and with past and future framing our life experience, the question

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "The Messiah Confrontation: Pharisees Versus Sadducees and the Death of Jesus" by Israel Knohl translated by David Maisel. This book makes the case that the trial of Jesus should not be a point of contention between

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "Strength for the Fight: The Life and Faith of Jackie Robinson" by Gary Scott Smith. The book not only serves to demonstrate the importance of religion in this story but also comes at the right moment,

Robert D. Cornwall reviews "The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope" by Kelley Nikondeha. This book is an expression of Nikondeha’s attempt to put the biblical Advent stories in a Palestinian context.