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After decades of fierce controversies over sexuality and theology, some leaders of a conservative coalition say it's time to make a final break from what has long been one of the world's largest Protestant church families.

The Center on Faith & Justice at Georgetown University recently launched a campaign encouraging people to pledge not to shop on Amazon during this Advent season — and A Public Witness is one of the official partners.

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell reflects on the tragic juxtaposition of running in the beautiful Charlotte Marathon while ICE agents racially profiled and terrorized neighbors over the weekend.

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Church

‘Church employees who served their community for years deserve the retirement funds they were promised,’ responded a lawyer involved in the litigation.

The guidelines surfaced even as the denomination, over the past decade-plus, has tried to stake out a more compassionate approach on LGBTQ+ issues.

Almost half of US Orthodox churches remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to only 12% of all religious congregations.

Nation

Warren Throckmorton is concerned about the rise in citing pseudo-historian David Barton this year and next as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles wrote to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon asking her to investigate the prominent Christian college’s “Hope, Unity, and Belonging” program, which he claimed was diversity, equity, and inclusion in disguise.

The plaintiffs include five regional synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and three regional Quaker groups. Three denominations are also listed: American Baptist Churches USA, Alliance of Baptists, and Metropolitan Community Churches.

World

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.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you on a journey to Lebanon to consider the living cedars in a land filled with the ruins of empires — including the magnificent Baalbek.

Editorials

Bill WebbThe sympathetic words were in reaction to the news that 600 to 800 Southern Baptist overseas missionaries and home office employees would soon lose their jobs as International Mission Board leaders try

Bill WebbHave you noticed? The presidential primary battles are going full-tilt. And “tilt” may be one of the best ways to describe how candidates, particularly in crowded partisan fields (both Republicans and Democrats),

Bill WebbMost students and educators are back in school by now, whether public, religious, home-based or some other school. Pray for all of them

Word&Way Voices

Professor Marcia Pally makes the case that in nations descended from Abrahamic traditions like the U.S., religion is not somehow conservative and anti-democratic while secularism is progressive and pro-democracy. Abrahamic principles are at the core of democracy.

Lisa Sharon Harper writes that here, in the darkness, we acknowledge all the deaths that have occurred from gun violence. Here, in the darkness, we say to each fallen soul: We see you. The dark is clarifying. Isn’t it? When we allow ourselves to sit in the darkness and recognize

William Wright of the Faithful Politics Podcast writes that the Brittney Griner prisoner exchange and circumstances that surround it have so many layers to it that it’s a wonder people are naturally retreating to their respective political and cultural camps without spending too much time appreciating the full panoply of

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness tracks which denominations Lutheran congressional members are part of to consider what that reveals about Lutheran life and the broader Christian witness.

Some public figures also regularly tweet a random Bible verse on Sundays. And sometimes that creates an incongruity with the news. So this issue of A Public Witness gets biblical online to look inside this practice of tweeting the Bible.

This issue of A Public Witness shows up like a hotdish with, dontcha know, a look at Minnesota Nice Lutherans and why, gosh darn it, the attacks on Walz’s church are worse than Wisconsin.

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Books

So-called “premium” Bibles aren’t new. And while they may not carry a steep price tag, a number of new and traditional Bible publishers are stressing the beauty of an old-fashioned book and the experience of slowing down to read at a

Sarah Bessey and other contributors to A Rhythm of Prayer responded to the backlash with a statement Thursday evening, saying critics are missing the point of a controversial prayer by Chanequa Walker-Barnes.

Evangelicals who are questioning often do so in isolation — but some are now looking for community. And they’re finding it in book clubs, reading the growing market of deconstructionist and justice-oriented literature.

Maina Mwaura writes about interviewing pastor and theologian Timothy Keller about Keller’s new book out for Easter, ‘Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter.’