Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a look at three new documentary projects that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a consideration of proposals to inject Christian Nationalism into public schools.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
‘Torturous and Inhumane’: Arkansas Religious Leaders Denounce Gas Suffocation Executions. Jeremy Fuzy reported on an advocacy effort at the Arkansas Capitol.
Palestinian Baptist Lawyer From Israel Named New CEO of World Evangelical Alliance. Daoud Kuttab wrote about the election of the first Arab Christian to lead a 600-million-member community of evangelicals.
Review: How Did They Read the Prophets? Robert D. Cornwall reviewed How Did They Read the Prophets?: Early Jewish and Christian Interpretations by Michael B. Shepherd.
Fight Between Library and Church: Theft or Civil Disobedience? Jack Brammer reported on a Reformed church in Kentucky where pastors have urged members to check out books with LGBTQ+ themes from the local public library and then not return them.
Attendance Drops, Fear Rises in Immigrant Churches as Trump Takes Over DC. With National Guard soldiers patrolling the nation’s capital, church worship services have been negatively impacted.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
As lawmakers gathered for a gerrymandering session, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared people must stand for the opening invocation in the state Senate or else he’ll remove them from the chamber. He was apparently upset that some people didn’t stand, which of course raises the question about how he knew that. Was he also watching to make sure everyone closed their eyes?
I’m no fan of legislative prayers. But it’s even worse to compel participation, an ideal Patrick previously held when he didn’t like a prayer. When he was a senator, he left the chamber to protest a Muslim leader giving the invocation. But now that he’s in charge and it’s a Christian praying, Patrick wants to force others to participate.
His demand is also odd because he seems to think that if someone isn’t standing, then they aren’t praying. But some people prefer to pray while seated, kneeling, or in some other position. And for years I’ve seen the bumper stickers and t-shirts declaring we should stand for the flag and kneel for the cross. Apparently, we now also have to stand for prayer. It’s hard to keep up with the Christian Nationalist rules!
I would love to see some Texas clergy go en masse and remain seated during a Senate invocation. Dare the lieutenant governor to kick out clergy because of their prayer practices. Because when the government tries to mandate how we act during prayer, it’s time to take a stand … uh, or a seat … against such Christian Nationalism.
Other News of Note
A liberal pastor in Wisconsin wanted to use his Sunday sermon to endorse Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for president (even though she’s not actively running). But after he alerted reporters to his plans, his Evangelical Lutheran Church in America bishop told him not to. So the pastor resigned.
President Donald Trump said he hopes getting a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will help him get into Heaven.
Religious Right figure James Dobson died at 89. Anthea Butler wrote for MSNBC about his legacy.
A pastor in Maine is being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a Catholic priest in Florida with a valid religious worker visa was denied readmission to the U.S. after traveling overseas until his his archbishop engaged lawyers to get the decision overturned. These incidents add to the list of pastors targeted by ICE.
Clergy are gathering each Sunday evening outside of the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in Florida to protest and pray against the facility. Yesterday (Aug. 21), a federal judge ordered construction at the site to stop and ICE to wind down operations there.
“Churches should be beyond the reach of war. This was a blow to our faith and our peace of mind.” —Montaser Tarazi, a Gazan Christian who was inside Gaza’s only Catholic church when it was struck in a deadly strike last month. Huda Skaik of The Intercept spoke with survivors.
After a decade of work, Trinity Church in Manhattan has replaced its pipe organ damaged by debris from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, slowly moving in more than 8,000 pipes by forklift.
The number of members in the last active Shaker religious community in the U.S. just grew by 50% — as a third person joined the historic celibate Christian sect in Maine.
American Baptist College, a historic Black school in Nashville, Tennessee, has a new president.
Eric Killelea of the Houston Chronicle reported on how a watchdog group is investigating private jets owned by televangelists and megachurch pastors.
Danielle Tumminio Hansen wrote for The Christian Century after posing theological questions to various AI spiritual counselors.
Watch: Brian Kaylor reviews a new children’s Bible story book featuring an AI-generated voice of Donald Trump talking about Noah’s ark:
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