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Featured
How LGBTQ-Affirming Churches Are Confronting Religious Trauma
Nearly half of Americans who left religion cite the mistreatment or rejection of LGBTQ+ people as an important reason. But how do the LGBTQ+ people who stay find healing?
As Supreme Court Clears Way to Deport Haitians and Syrians, Faith Leaders Grieve, Prepare for What’s Next
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can end temporary protected status for Haiti and Syria, leaving hundreds of thousands vulnerable to deportation.
Monthly Pentagon Worship Service Features Catholics for First Time
Jonathan Morris, a former priest and current Fox News commentator, and Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams led the service in Pete Hegseth’s absence.
Church
As Polyamory Gains Visibility, Monogamy Faces a Vote in the Presbyterian Church (USA)
A separate proposal on the docket at the mainline Protestant denomination’s General Assembly this summer calls for a broader theological framework on human relationships.
These Houses of Worship Are Older Than America. How They Outlasted Wars, Schisms, and Lawsuits.
Only about 1% of houses of worship in the U.S. today existed in 1776. Here are four that predate the revolution — and still hold services.
How Worship Music Became the Soundtrack of Today’s Political Right
One of the most popular worship songs, ‘How Great Is Our God,’ has moved from churches to political rallies in recent years.
Nation
Hegseth Conscripts Call of Prophet Isaiah to Serve U.S. Military Interests
This issue of A Public Witness considers the theological problems with the defense secretary regularly quoting Isaiah 6:8 and how his use of Scripture aligns with Bible quotes in violent movies.
Defense Department Rejiggers List of Recognized Religions After Backlash, Narrows It to 30
The fast-evolving list was met with blowback from critics who suggested its changes were an attempt to impose Christian Nationalism on the military.
Defense Department to Drop Atheists, Pagans, 175 Others From List of Military Faiths
Unitarian Universalists and Deists, who were reportedly excluded from the latest list, are among two categories represented among signers of the Declaration of Independence.
World
Pete Hegseth’s Christian Rhetoric Draws Renewed Scrutiny After the US Goes to War With Iran
Hegseth has a history of defending the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims.
Shuttered Stores, Canceled Pilgrimages: Can Bethlehem’s Christians Survive Another Easter?
The Iran war could be the final blow to Bethlehem’s tourism industry — and to the already-dwindling Christian population as well.
Chavismo Faces Split Among Evangelical Christian Political Allies in Venezuela
Some evangelicals’ cooling relationship with Chavismo stems from a 2024 meeting where Nicolás Maduro favored the pastors of the largest megachurches.
Editorials
Unsettling Advent 2024, Day 1
For the first devotional exploring Advent in a time of rulers clinging to power, Brian Kaylor reflects on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declaring Christmas in October to distract from his false election claims.
Speaker of the House Takes Southern Baptist Approach to Covering Up Gaetz’s Alleged Sex Crimes
Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on Speaker Mike Johnson working to cover up a House Ethics Committee report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gaetz to serve as U.S. attorney general.
On the SBC Sidewalk
While messengers to last week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention debated how to treat churches with women in pastoral roles, Baptist Women in Ministry showed up to offer a counter witness.
Word&Way Voices
What ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ Teaches Us About Religious Liberty Today
From the beginning, the U.S. has prided itself on being a haven for persecuted believers. But it has also demanded those believers demonstrate their loyalty in ways that blur the line between conscience and citizenship.
Unsettling Advent 2025, Day 24
In our familiarity with the birth narrative, we often do not consider the long-term consequences for the secondary figures in the story. It was an unsettling time that left long and permanent scars on their lives.
Unsettling Advent 2025, Day 23
Advent reminds us that God comes into a world already organized by power and exclusion — and does not accept its terms. If Christianity is used today to justify separation, the gospel calls us back to its center.
E-Newsletter
Hegseth’s War on Pharisees, Journalists, and Reality
Given Pete Hegseth’s insistence on co-opting a biblical term and employing it out of context as an insult against reporters doing their job, this issue of A Public Witness takes a look at the real Pharisees and the lesson the ‘secretary of war’ is missing.
SNL, Congress, and a Newsletter
Join us as we celebrate five years of our ‘A Public Witness’ newsletter and highlight the best from the 115 pieces we’ve published over the past 12 months exploring the intersection of faith, culture, and politics.
Marching Against an ‘Illegal and Unholy War’
This week, Rev. William Barber II gathered in front of the White House along with dozens of other clergy to protest the conflict that the Trump administration started against Iran.
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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 & Giveaway: Furious Minds
Political theorist Laura Field provides an intellectual tour of the MAGA New Right, a movement that has twice carried Donald Trump into the White House.
Review: Dispatches From Mormon Zion
Combining gifted storytelling with keen analysis, Ryan Davis illuminates lived experiences within the LDS community and offers thoughtful reflections on what it might mean to share one heart and one mind in today’s polarized world.
Review: Under Her Wings
Jennifer Houston McNeel explores the literary, historical, feminist, and theological significance of mothers and motherhood in the New Testament.
Review: The Accessorized Bible
Drawing on cutting-edge work in biblical studies and ethics, David Dault makes the case that the recent rise in Christian Nationalism and religious violence demands new approaches to scriptural interpretation.