In this edition of A Public Witness, we take a look at Samford University’s past and find that its current justifications for excluding other Christians from campus rest on a revisionist whitewashing of its own history. After naming Samford’s struggle to face the ghosts in
Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer offers his thoughts on how American followers of Jesus should come to grips with the reality and implications of our country’s historical record of racist actions and structures. He determines that although offering reparations is certainly a societal collective responsibility
Fuller Theological Seminary, the nation’s largest interdenominational seminary, has chosen as its new president David Emmanuel Goatley, the first Black person to hold the office. Goatley comes to Fuller from Duke Divinity School, where he was hired in 2018 to direct the Office of Black
In episode 65, Jemar Tisby talks about his books How to Fight Racism and The Color of Compromise. He also discusses his response to a recent controversy at Grove City College, his new "Those Meddling Kids" video series on anti-CRT efforts in Christian higher education,
When the Rev. Megan Rohrer was elected bishop of the ELCA’s Sierra Pacific Synod in 2021, the election was celebrated as a revolution in and outside of the denomination. But what followed is a "perfect storm" of charismatic personalities and a heightened awareness of racism,
We review a book each month at A Public Witness and for this installment, Beau Underwood examines a memoir on family histories, racism, and what our society needs to do now. He highly recommends Lisa Sharon Harper.'s Fortune: How Race Broke My Family
As racism and violence against Asian Americans began to spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, groups like the Asian American Christian Collaborative formed to fight back with information and advocacy. Still, some Asian American Christian leaders believe there is more the church can be doing to
Darron LaMonte Edwards laments that he hasn't heard anything from potential white allies regarding the racially-motivated shooting targeting Black people in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr reminds us that we will long forget the words of our enemies, but we will always
Darron LaMonte Edwards argues that our response to the murder of George Floyd as well as the ongoing global pandemic amount to best understanding this moment as a failed group project. This means it is time to critically reflect on the past 24-25 months so
Founded in 1910, First Baptist Church of Venice corresponded with the area’s evolution as an early enclave of Black residents in the only area near the beach where Black people were allowed to historically buy property in LA.