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This issue of A Public Witness shares the foreword, written by The Riverside Church's Rev. Adriene Thorne, to our forthcoming book "Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism."

Three Christian boarding schools in southern Missouri have shut down since 2020 amid wide-ranging abuse allegations levied by current and former students.

In "Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump," John Fea argues that the evangelical approach to public life is defined by the politics of fear, the pursuit of worldly power, and a nostalgic longing for an American past.

This issue of A Public Witness looks back at Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Baptists penned 202 years ago this week and explores why prominent figures deliberately misrepresent the metaphorical “wall of separation” between church and state.

Dangerous Dogma

Church

A new statistical report also found that many Southern Baptist Convention churches do little to address sexual abuse.

On the first Sunday after the conclusion of the denomination’s General Conference, many queer United Methodists celebrated their release from the tight and narrow spaces that had confined them.

The nation’s largest Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Lutheran denominations have all now removed barriers to LGBTQ participation in the pulpit and at the altar.

Nation

Three Christian boarding schools in southern Missouri have shut down since 2020 amid wide-ranging abuse allegations levied by current and former students.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and other congressional members are expected to attend the unveiling of the 7-foot tall bronze statue in the National Statuary Hall to represent North Carolina.

The chaplains at Ivy League and other top schools say the students have learned about the concerns of other faiths, while finding ways to express their own.

World

Christian pastors and social media influencers have connected the concert's sexual content with unprecedented floods that have devastated cities in Rio Grande do Sul state and killed 116 people.

The building, a striking fusion of the ancient and the modern, reflects a country determined to express its soul even in wartime.

The commissioners recommended the State Department also retain the dozen countries that are currently designated as ‘countries of particular concern.’

Editorials

The thinning of the UMC’s conservative ranks makes this week’s conference a perfect time to address the issue.

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.

Word&Way Voices

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell considers the religious implications of rare photos that capture in-between moments — when we do not know someone is watching — in which our lives are truly lived.

Lauren Draper of Churches for Middle East Peace reflects on attending an ancient ceremony marking Orthodox Easter alongside Palestinian Christians in the midst of harsh restrictions from Israeli authorities.

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy offers a unique rhetorical critique of how Trump acts and the danger this puts in the lap of his evangelical followers.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness shares the foreword, written by The Riverside Church's Rev. Adriene Thorne, to our forthcoming book "Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism."

This issue of A Public Witness looks at the Antisemitism Awareness Act making its way through Congress and unpacks a claim being made by some far-right politicians and Christian leaders that the bill bans the Bible.

It’s not just that more people are reading — our award-winning journalism is making a difference. So after lighting three birthday candles, this issue of A Public Witness looks back at the highlights of the past year.

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Podcasts

We had a lot of great podcast conversations this year. So let’s count down the top 10 most-downloaded of episodes of Dangerous Dogma in 2023.

In episode 104 of Dangerous Dogma, Jay Augustine, senior pastor at St. Joseph AME Church in Durham, North Carolina, talks about his book When Prophets Preach: Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit. He also discusses preaching about current events,

In episode 103 of Dangerous Dogma, Craig Lamar Brown and Andrea Summer talk with about their movie Between Mercy and Me. They also discuss issues of racism, church worship, and creating music and movies. 

In episode 102 of Dangerous Dogma, Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, talks about attending the ReAwaken America Tour and a Pastors for Trump meeting at Trump Doral in Miami, Florida.

Books

In "Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump," John Fea argues that the evangelical approach to public life is defined by the politics of fear, the pursuit of worldly power, and a nostalgic longing for an American past.

In "The Good News of Church Politics," Ross Kane combines Scripture, political theology, and personal experience to reframe politics around shaping our common life.

In "The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church," Sarah McCammon explores the rising generation of the children of conservative Christianity who are growing up and fleeing the fold.

In "Review: Gospel As Work of Art: Imaginative Truth and the Open Text," David Brown challenges us to expand our understanding of scripture past source criticism and historical Jesus studies to include works of imagination.