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Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself ‘secretary of war,’ read a prayer during the latest government worship service that echoes a scene written by Quentin Tarantino calling for ‘great vengeance and furious anger.’

In significant sectors of American evangelical Christianity, Israel is a theological object beyond moral scrutiny. This is not political support for an ally. It is worship. And by Christianity’s own doctrinal standards, it is sin.

Drawing on her vocational insights and personal experiences, Episcopal priest, historian, and spiritual director Rhonda Mawhood Lee offers a compassionate vision for understanding and responding faithfully to suicide.

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Videos

Church

It's at least the second lawsuit challenging the federal government's policy of barring faith leaders from accessing some Department of Homeland Security facilities.

Rev. Jorge Bautista is seeking $5 million in damages from the federal government and plans to sue the unnnamed agent individually.

The statement’s signers include a mix of denominational leaders, seminary presidents, scholars, and leaders of prominent congregations.

Nation

This issue of A Public Witness considers how the military chaplain who authored a war prayer and the secretary of defense who appropriated it for himself performed violence against Scripture to justify violence against people.

The president mixed Christian claims with threats of war and insults to immigrants during Holy Week, including a threat to send Iran to 'Hell' on Easter.

In the last week, faith leaders were offered some of their first glimpses into ICE facilities, making use of a degree of access denied to most people — even members of Congress.

World

This issue of A Public Witness looks at criticism of the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela by various Christian denominations and organizations, as well as pleas for peace by Venezuelan Christian leaders.

Conservatives have long seen supporting Israel as an act of faith. Now, critics such as Tucker Carlson say Christian Zionism is a heresy, while more progressive Christian voices denounce Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Israeli strikes have decreased since the ceasefire agreement took effect in October, but deadly attacks have not entirely ended.

Editorials

Missing in all the jokes and news reports about the Trump Bible is that this isn’t the first time a presidential stamp of approval was sought for the Good Book.

Brian Kaylor reacts to claims that God is sending a message through a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook the northeastern part of the U.S. on Friday or a solar eclipse going across much of the U.S. on Monday.

During a recent debate in the Missouri Senate over a proposal to create rape and incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban, one lawmaker argued against such exceptions by defaming God.

Word&Way Voices

When we have created — and allowed — a world where the fearmongering of scarcity is rewarded far and above the possibility of abundance, we are indeed facing Advent in a time of starvation.

The good news of Advent is this: Christ entered the violence of human life, the very violence that says some folks are more valuable than others, and took on these abstractions.

Advent teaches us that a shiny, gilded facade only serves to cover up the other side of the story. If we keep our focus on the child sleeping in an animal feeding trough, we might be unsettled — but the truth we see will compel us to live differently.

E-Newsletter

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.

The head of the Missouri Senate Education Committee thinks we should force public schools to teach that the Constitutional Convention prayed after Benjamin Franklin said they should — even though it very much never happened.

The controversial ‘paleo-Confederate’ Christian Nationalist pastor stood at a podium on Tuesday as the guest preacher for the latest monthly Christian worship service held for leaders of the U.S. military.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In this book, Baptist theologian Myles Werntz explores the landscape of twentieth-century ecclesiology and shows how the four marks of the church were remade, contested, and reaffirmed in surprising ways.

Beau Underwood reviews The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy, which Matthew Boedy wrote to alert those who were ignorant or complacent about what was going on and what was at stake.

Written by Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastors and scholars, this collection of essays explores the mainline Protestant denomination’s diverse history, theology, worship, and mission.

As the world’s attention is on the devastation of Gaza, this book offers a powerful and enlightening perspective through the eyes of Palestinian Christian leaders and thinkers.