Lessons From Unsettling Advent
This issue of A Public Witness shares some of the meaningful insights we’ve learned from Unsettling Advent this year on the topics of state executions, political anxieties, and bloodshed in Israel.
Lawsuit: Priest Says First Gas Execution in US Poses Threat to Religious Liberty
The Rev. Jeff Hood, spiritual adviser to Kenneth Smith, argued the restrictions imposed during the execution would violate Hood’s right to the free exercise of religion.
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 6
Rev. Lauren Bennett reflects on her experience with a state execution this year and how faith requires us to bring softness to hard places while opening ourselves to meet Jesus in unlikely faces.
Unsettling Advent, Day 5
Many things have changed since ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’ was written, but not who receives the harshest punishments: those with the least social power.
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 4
Pastor and hospice chaplain Melissa Bowers reminds us that in the long, horrifying legacy of state-sanctioned murder in the United States, a tiny pinprick of light has broken through.
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 3
Rev. Carlos L. Malavé of the Latino Christian National Network contrasts our propensity for fear and fighting violence with more violence with an alternative reality revealed to us through this liturgical season.
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 2
Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood reflects on how there is nothing pure about the death penalty process. It ensnares us all. So, where does hope fit in?
Unsettling Advent 2023, Day 1
Brian Kaylor reflects on state executions during Christmastime and the modern parallels with a biblical character we often leave out of our nativity sets and pageants.
The Return of Unsettling Advent
We’re excited to announce that Unsettling Advent is coming back again with new themes. Once again, we’ve assembled a fantastic group of writers to help us all consider Advent in light of issues from the news this year: state executions, political anxieties, and bloodshed in
Religious Leaders Gather in Louisiana for World Day Against the Death Penalty
To commemorate World Day Against the Death Penalty on Tuesday, a number of prominent religious leaders gathered in front of the Louisiana governor's mansion in Baton Rouge to urge clemency hearings for 55 people on the state's death row.