Weekly Roundup: April 25
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a highlight of tributes to the late Pope Francis and a review of a new book on churches being more inclusive of neurodiversity that are free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at competing Easter visions in this divisive political climate.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Blessed Are the Peacemakers. Juliet Vedral reflected on the 20th anniversary re-release of Joe Wright’s 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
When ‘Wrong’ Is on the Throne. Rodney Kennedy wrote about the problem of shifting ethical standards amid political scandals.
Review: The Church Must Grow or Perish. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity by Mark T. Mulder and Gerardo Martí.
Black Churches Back Embattled Smithsonian African American History Museum After Trump’s Order. Peter Smith reported on churches seeking to preserve Black history amid efforts by the Trump administration to edit historical displays.
Parents on Both Sides of Maryland LGBTQ+ Books Lawsuit Say Religious Beliefs Guide Their Positions. Reina Coulibaly reported on competing perspectives surrounding a case the U.S. Supreme Court justices heard this week.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
The rich are getting richer at fast rates. New analysis shows that last year the 19 wealthiest households in the U.S. gained an extra $1 trillion. These 19 households account for just 0.00001% of Americans but now hold 1.8% of U.S. wealth. In 2023, they only accounted for 1.2% of U.S. wealth. It took four decades for the richest 0.00001% to move from 0.1% in 1982 to 1.2%. But then in just one year, it jumped to 1.8%.
One of those included in the 19 households is the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. He also has been exerting significant influence in the Trump administration. Others in the list of richest households, like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, have also been backing the new administration.
The Bible has a lot to say about the sinful economic inequalities in our nation and world. As a pregnant Mary declared in her song prophesying about what God would accomplish with the coming Messiah: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” After her baby grew up, he similarly put it in stark terms after he told a rich man to give it all away: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” I’m not good at getting thread through a needle, but I’m confident it’s impossible for a camel to get through. And Jesus warned us we cannot serve two masters, that we cannot serve both God and musky Mammon. The Hebrew prophets also could be quite harsh in their condemnations of the wealthy. Isaiah even attacked people for worshiping God while oppressing their workers.
Despite all of that, issues that get much less treatment in the Bible (or none at all) often get more attention in pulpits and the public square. It’s going to be threading-a-needle hard to get things right in our society without addressing the problem of inequality.
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Other News of Note
Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham of the New York Times wrote about how progressive Protestant Christians are mourning the passing of Pope Francis.
Donald Trump’s main spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain, argued that women must submit to men — even as she, a woman, leads the White House Faith Office and has served as a senior pastor.
Christian Nationalist musician Sean Feucht thinks God spoke to him through a clock ahead of an invite to lead worship at the White House today.
Robert Downen of Texas Monthly reported on worship services in the Texas Capitol by a conservative group pushing Christian Nationalism.
Members of the Missouri Senate Education Committee advanced a bill to mandate the posting of an edited version of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms — after first voting to make another edit to the biblical text.
“Iowa House File 884, the school chaplains bill, immediately rings alarm bells. … Whatever intentions individual Iowa legislators may have, this bill is one of the many tentacles of the kraken of Christian nationalism in America.” —Thomas Lecaque, a history professor at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, about an effort by state lawmakers to push “chaplains” in public schools (which is similar to bills in several other states).
Haleluya Hadero of Christianity Today wrote about longstanding debates about tariffs and whether the Bible supports them or not.
Bibles are exempt from Trump’s tariffs against China. The “God Bless the USA” Bible that Trump endorsed and has profited from is printed in China.
The Trump administration is removing some civil rights artifacts from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, including a Bible from civil rights icon Rev. Amos Brown.
Justin Meyers wrote for The Presbyterian Outlook about how Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago is reckoning with a discovery of its past support for segregation.
Amid financial concerns, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently closed its historic foreign missionary body, Presbyterian World Mission, and terminated nearly 60 mission staff positions.
Mark Wingfield of Baptist News Global wrote about a legal fight inside a Southern Baptist megachurch in Texas after a longtime pastor installed his son as his successor.
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