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The Rev. Yehiel Curry, a former lay church planter, will be installed as presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in October.

Mara Richards Bim, the new Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, spoke about how to bridge what we talk about in church and political action.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy makes the case that fiction — short stories and novels — serves as a bridge to great preaching.

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Videos

Church

Many U.S. churches close their doors each year, typically with little attention. But the closure of Ryan Burge’s First Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, has a poignant twist.

A fire all but destroyed the historic church sanctuary at First Baptist Dallas, sending smoke billowing over the city but causing no deaths or injuries, Dallas firefighters said.

Kristin Stoneking will replace Bishop Karen Oliveto, the denomination’s first openly gay married bishop, who, at age 66, is retiring.

Nation

While a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, his evangelical supporters remain on his side, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the dustup over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma and the religious freedom arguments before eight black-robed justices.

While arrests of protesters at the Capitol is not unusual, the response to Barber’s prayer was unusually dramatic: After issuing verbal warnings, dozens of officers expelled everyone in the Rotunda — including credentialed press.

World

In a region that unfortunately needs advocates for peace and justice now more than ever with the outburst of another war, this issue of A Public Witness takes you to the holy land of Lebanon to see the inspirational work of God's people.

A review of 10 years of global polling looks at the complicated connection between spirituality and health.

After the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched a large, surprise attack on Israel on Saturday (Oct. 7), a Baptist who ministers in the Gaza Strip urged prayers amid the “unprecedented” conflict. More than 1,000 Israelis and Palestinians have been killed in just two days of fighting.

Editorials

Brian KaylorBy the time our April issue lands in mailboxes, we might have a ninth U.S. Supreme Court justice for the first time since Antonin Scalia’s death more than 13 months ago. The

Brian KaylorSeventy-five years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order on Feb. 19, 1942 that excluded Japanese Americans from the West Coast. The next month, he created the War Relocation Authority

Brian KaylorDuring a trip to Colorado as a child, I found gold. I had previously devoured Jack London’s “Call of the Wild,” imagining myself out in the Canadian Yukon or the Alaskan Klondike

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell believes we are teaching our young people a version of reading the Bible that resembles the game Operation. They often have little concept of “connective tissue” and can only pluck out quotations like the stylized versions of body parts in the board game.

Professor Greg Carey writes that hope is an essential strategy for Christians. As the apostle Paul said, three things abide: faith, hope, and love. Love may be the “greatest,” says Paul, but hope stands in the top three.

Terrell Carter writes that unfortunately, mass shootings and other acts of violence have become an ordinary experience in our world. Some might say that this upward trend in violence epitomizes the “ordinariness of suffering,” the fact that violent things regularly occur in the world.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness looks at an Episcopal Church resolution, a PC(USA) recommendation, and a regional UMC resolution to see how some mainline Protestant groups are wrestling — or not — with their own complicity in spreading Christian Nationalism.

This issue of A Public Witness explores how a hidden 17th-century church in Amsterdam can teach us lessons about the need for religious freedom and a pluralistic public square.

This issue of A Public Witness addresses the ways in which American Christians are part of the problem as explored in “The Religion of Whiteness: How Racism Distorts Christian Faith.”

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Recent Episodes

Books

In her new book, Shannon Dingle writes about leaning into grief, accepting uncertainty, connecting to feelings, expressing hard truths, and getting psychological help.

In God Spare the Girls, Abigail and Caroline are the daughters of celebrity evangelical pastor Luke Nolan. While they aren’t always able to abide by scripture exactly, Abigail and Caroline more or less believe in their religion and their father

Beau Underwood reviews Bruce Reyes-Chow’s new book, ‘In Defense of Kindness: Why it Matters, How it Changes our Lives, and How it Can Save the World,’ praising how Reyes-Chow pushes back against superficial understandings of “kindness.”

Senior Editor Beau Underwood reviews the new book 'Praying with Our Feet: Pursuing Justice and Healing on the Streets' by Lindsay Krinks, a street chaplain and social justice activist in Nashville, Tennessee.