Weekly Roundup: Aug. 29
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a review of a new book on the Book of Revelation that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a report on a Florida county decision to post a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments in government buildings.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Religious Leaders Urge Ohio Governor to Challenge ICE on ‘Interfaith Imam’ Chaplain Case. Jeremy Fuzy reported on Mennonite, Catholic, and Muslim faith leaders advocating for a children’s hospital chaplain targeted for deportation.
Clergy Rally To Defend Kilmar Abrego García as He Is Detained by ICE. Jack Jenkins reported on Baptist, Catholic, United Church of Christ, and Jewish clergy speaking out for a Maryland man wrongly deported earlier this year and now targeted again by the Trump administration.
Outside Newark’s 1,100-Bed Detention Center, a Weekly Prayer Service for Anxious Families. Fiona Murphy reported on Catholic and Episcopal faith leaders praying outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey.
Review: Staying at the Table. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Staying at the Table: Being the Church We Say We Are by Rev. Terri Hord Owens.
Black Faith Leaders March on Wall Street to Denounce Anti-DEI Campaign. Fiona André reported on Baptist clergy rallying in New York City on the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, D.C.
Dangerous Dogma
This week’s episode features a conversation with Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, a professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in North Carolina and author of the new book Authentic Christian Freedom: Deconstructing the American Gospel of Liberty. Listen to the audio version here (or wherever you listen to podcasts) or watch the video version here.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Once again, children were gunned down while attending school. This time, they were shot while in Mass to pray at their Catholic school. And once again, our politicians in Washington, D.C., will do nothing. Well, they claim they will pray, but they’re just hiding behind false piety as a shield for choosing to protect guns over children.
Adding insult to injury, figures like Vice President J.D. Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt act offended when people say we need more than “thoughts and prayers.” Those three political figures and others falsely claim that anyone saying we need more than prayers is anti-prayer. Yet, many Christian clergy are among those saying that, including Catholic leaders. None of this is new, of course, as many Christians have been saying for years that we need our politicians to quit offering just prayers and instead take meaningful steps for life-saving gun control.
So don’t fall for the cynical defenses of prayer. Vance, Johnson, and Leavitt are trying to make this about who supposedly believes in prayer to distract from the real issue that as a society we continue to sacrifice our children on the altar of a semiautomatic idol. Saying we need more than prayer is not anti-prayer; it’s a rebuke of those who claim they’re praying but clearly don’t mean it as they then do literally nothing to solve the problem. As the Book of James reminds us, “Faith without works is dead.” If criticizing fake prayers makes one anti-prayer, then Vance, Johnson, and Leavitt should watch out for that godless, woke, radical guy in the Bible named Isaiah.
“Stop bringing meaningless offerings!” the prophet wrote as God’s warning. “They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!”
Other News of Note
Daniel Holcomb wrote for Baptist News Global about spending time this summer learning about Christian Nationalism, including by attending a session led by Brian Kaylor during the general assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Two GOP congressmen are sponsoring a resolution to honor the Aitken Bible as they falsely claim it was endorsed by the U.S. Congress in 1782. False claims about that failed Bible project are popular in Christian Nationalistic circles.
A federal judge who previously ruled against an Arkansas law requiring the posting of a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments in public schools has ordered the Conway School District to remove the posters from classrooms.
The Department of Defense co-opted Psalm 23:4 in a video promoting the U.S. military. The Department of Homeland Security has similarly been misusing Scripture in promotional videos.
Clergy in Washington, D.C., are demanding immigration officials stop using church parking lots.
United Methodist clergy in Nebraska joined others in protesting outside the governor’s mansion to oppose a planned ICE detention center in the state.
The progressive nonprofit Faith in Public Life laid off 90% of its staff following a large decline in funding.
“How will non-Christians view a gospel whose messenger goes hand in hand with one of the most controversial political leaders of our time? Isn’t there a deep misunderstanding about the nature and the fruit of the gospel of Jesus?” —Léo Lehmann, the head of a Baptist denomination in Belgium, explaining his group is boycotting an upcoming Franklin Graham event because of the evangelist’s support for Donald Trump.
The Israel Defense Forces is demanding that everyone at the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza evacuate. The priests and nuns at the church are refusing, saying they would continue to shelter vulnerable Gazans.
Days after a Proud Boys billboard went up in Illinois, it was removed amid public outcry. United Methodists in Illinois then paid for a replacement message in that spot that declares, “Hate Divides, Love Unites.”
Harriet Torry of the Wall Street Journal reported on how church construction is actually on the rise in the U.S. as many congregations are building things like coffee shops, child care facilities, and other offerings to attract more people.
Photo of the Week
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