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Featured
Unsettling Advent 2025, Day 2
As wannabe tyrants arise and the authoritarian logic of empire finds purchase among Christian Nationalists, sincere followers of Jesus should listen afresh to Mary this Christmastime.
Groups Urge Christians to Light Red Candle During Advent for Palestine
A coalition of Catholic, mainline Protestant, historic peace church, and advocacy groups want Christians in the U.S. to remember Palestinian Christians this Advent by lighting a red candle.
Rian Johnson on Miracles, Mystery, and His Own Faith Story in ‘Wake Up Dead Man’
The third installment of the ‘Knives Out’ series examines the spiritual warfare within American Christianity and looks at writer-director Rian Johnson’s struggle with the essence of faith.
Church
United Methodist Building Celebrates a Century of Presence on Capitol Hill
The building, built in 1923, was funded entirely by women.
Settlement Talks With Johnny Hunt Fail. SBC and Former President Likely Headed to Trial.
A defamation lawsuit filed by Hunt has cost the nation's largest Protestant denomination $3 million so far. A trial date is set for Nov. 12 in Nashville.
After a Crackdown on Sexuality, Two Dozen CRC Churches Head for the Exits
At its 2024 synod in June, the Christian Reformed Church instructed LGBTQ-affirming congregations to repent and comply with the denomination’s beliefs on sexuality. Some are now choosing to leave.
Nation
Judge Rules Some Texas School Districts Don’t Have to Display Ten Commandments
A federal judge temporarily halted a law requiring public schools to display a version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom, echoing faith leaders and others who argue the statute violates the First Amendment.
Three New Documentary Projects Warn About Abusive, Nationalistic Faith
This issue of A Public Witness recommends two films and one miniseries exploring important issues of Christian Nationalism and religious abuse.
Fight Between Library and Church: Theft or Civil Disobedience?
Sixteen volumes go missing after a Kentucky church urges members to check out then never return library books about LGBTQ+ people.
World
Ukrainian Religious Freedom Threatened by Russian Bombs and Propaganda
This issue of A Public Witness offers a crash course lesson from one of the preeminent experts on Ukrainian religious freedom to consider what’s happening in the besieged nation and how religious freedom rights are undermined by Russia.
Art Simon, Founder of Christian Anti-Hunger Group Bread for the World, Dies at 93
‘We can be accidental accomplices in keeping people poor,’ TV travel host Rick Steves said he learned from Simon.
Jerusalem’s Church Leaders Call for Sober Christmas in Holy Land as War Rages
Leaders of Jordan’s Council of Churches issued a similar statement on Nov. 5, calling for the cancellation of Christmas celebrations in the kingdom.
Editorials
For Pete’s sake — vote!
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re coming down the final stretch of an election year.
Participate in the process and affirm you are exercising the right — if not the privilege —
A colleague who lived up to his name
John was well known for all the right reasons. His sons Michael and Mark gave testimony that he did not dishonor the family name. But he handled himself in all that he did to honor his
Hospitality is more than a spiritual gift
Hospitality is often identified as a spiritual gift with the emphasis on receiving or having the gift. But as much as any other gift, the biblical reference emphasizes that a person receives
Word&Way Voices
Cruelty Virtues or Empathy Virtues?
Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that the bully pulpit of yesteryear has effectively been replaced by bully politics — but we will never fully understand how this happened until we examine how cruelty is often disguised as a form of humor.
A Different Way To Honor MLK This Year
Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell makes the case that this MLK day, we should honor his great teacher Dr. Howard Thurman by walking in nature, sitting in reflective silence, looking at the ways creation works together, and then applying these lessons to our lives. We might even find ourselves talking to
Why I Prayed Outside the Capitol at Sunrise
Rev. Nathan Empsall of Faithful America reflects on why he sought to provide a Christian witness against the unholy and heretical political ideology of Christian Nationalism that helped inspire the deadly attack on the Capitol two years ago.
E-Newsletter
Truth-Telling in Greenwood
This issue of A Public Witness explores how challenging White supremacy and Christian Nationalism requires both honesty and repair.
Stopping the ‘Jezebel Spirit’
This issue of A Public Witness looks at the origins of the unbiblical phrase ‘Jezebel Spirit’ and the danger it poses in today’s politics.
Trump Invokes Patron Saint of Far-Right Catholics
This issue of A Public Witness unpacks the devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel, why Donald Trump recently posted about him, and what it means for our politics today.
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The State of the Senate, from SC to ME to TX to KS
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham as well as issues of faith and morality in Senate races in Maine, Texas, and Kansas. You can… -
Southern Baptists, the Pentagon, & UFC
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about the Southern Baptist Convention's push against women in ministry, the Pentagon changing how it codes the faith of military members, and the latest in… -
Southern Baptists, Women in Ministry, & a Billboard
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. The conversation includes discussion of efforts in the Southern Baptist Convention to further target women serving in churches and how BWIM is advocating for women (including with a billboard to greet SBC messengers next week in Orlando,… -
Divergent Visions for Rededicating the Nation
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about Rededicate 250, gerrymandering, Adam Hamilton's Senate campaign in Kansas, and the MAHA movement. You can watch a video version of the conversation here. Here are a few pieces… -
The Christian Past That Wasn't
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 the author of the new book, The Christian Past that Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths that Hijack History. You can watch a video version of… -
Trump vs. Leo
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about President Donald Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV, Leo's witness against the Iran war, Trump's AI image of himself as Jesus, and the electoral… -
Fight Like Jesus with Jason Porterfield (Reissue)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor talks with Jason Porterfield about his book Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace. This episode originally aired in 2023, except for a new introduction noting a violent prayer by Pete Hegseth during a recent Pentagon worship service and Palm Sunday comments by Pope Leo XIV. Note: Don't forget… -
Pete Hegseth's Crusader Bible (A Trick of State)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor considers Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's use of the English Standard Version of the Bible, patriarchy in the faith communities Hegseth has been a part of, and his Christian Nationalism. It also reveals that Hegseth's ESV Bible includes two Crusader symbols stamped onto the cover (and that match… -
An Unholy War
This episode of Dangerous Dogma features a conversation between Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor, Lutheran minister and journalist Angela Denker, and Disciples pastor and author Beau Underwood. The conversation includes discussion about the Iran war, Christian opposition to the war, and viral claims of military leaders claiming this will bring "Armageddon." It also includes consideration of… -
Rewriting the Ten Commandments (A Trick of State)
In this episode, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor looks at legislation across the country that purports to want the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But the version mandated by lawmakers cannot be found in any Bible. Kaylor unpacks where the edited language came from, why such legislation is an attack on religious liberty, and the…
Books
Review: Chasing After Wind
Robert D. Cornwall reviews Chasing after Wind: A Pastor's Life by Douglas J. Brouwer. This book serves as a post-retirement memoir from a longtime Presbyterian (PCUSA) pastor that contains insights for clergy and non-clergy alike.
Review: On the Spectrum
Robert D. Cornwall reviews On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith, and the Gifts of Neurodiversity by Daniel Bowman, Jr. The book was recently chosen by the Academy of Parish Clergy as its 2022 Book of the Year.
Review: The Making of Biblical Womanhood
Robert D. Cornwall reviews the book The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr. Part memoir and part history, the book serves as a strong rebuttal to patriarchalism and complementarianism.
Review: Tradition and Apocalypse
Robert D. Cornwall reviews Tradition and Apocalypse: An Essay on the Future of Christian Belief by David Bentley Hart. He argues that the book challenges our certainties and pushes our buttons, but with the war in Ukraine raising the profile