Weekly Roundup: Jan. 23
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. We published a report on a protest inside a church where a pastor is an ICE leader and broke the news about what was said during a worship service at the Pentagon.
Support our journalism ministry by upgrading to a paid e-newsletter subscription today!
Top 5 at wordandway.org
The Line From Enslaver Missionaries to an ICE Pastor. Brian Kaylor reflected on a theological through line from the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention to the news this week of a Southern Baptist pastor serving as an ICE leader in Minnesota.
Christian Leaders Urge Protecting Worshippers’ Rights After Protesters Interrupt Service. Giovanna Dell’Orto reported on some responses to Sunday’s protest in a Minneapolis church. Some of the protest leaders were later arrested.
Saying Ouch or Amen: How Druski’s Jokes Can Help the Church. James Ellis III wrote about a viral video that parodies a megachurch pastor.
Review: Naming the Spirit. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Naming the Spirit: Pneumatology Through the Arts by W. David O. Taylor and Daniel Train.
Jerusalem Historic Churches Call Christian Zionism a ‘Damaging’ Ideology. Michele Chabin and Yonat Shimron reported on the latest sign of division between historic Christian churches representing the predominantly Arab Christian community and mostly U.S. evangelicals who support Israel.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
There are two stories I’ve thought about in contrast with each other this week. The first was the Southern Baptist pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota, who is also the acting field director for the St. Paul ICE office. Later, I saw an article about a Minneapolis sex shop that pushed aside their adult toys and other products so volunteers can use the space to organize needs to help immigrants and other vulnerable people in the community.
“We are raising funds and supplies for families that are stuck at home because they’re scared of the ICE presence in the city or their kids are out of school because the schools are closed down,” a representative from the shop explained. “We’re just trying to make sure that everybody’s fed, every baby has a diaper on them that’s clean, and has baby formula. That’s all we’re trying to do.”
A pastor is a leader of the militarized force terrorizing his community. A sex shop has transformed itself to help serve its neighbors. The words of Jesus to the religious leaders are fulfilled.
“Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
Other News of Note
A federal appeals court heard arguments this week about whether Louisiana (and other states) can force public schools to post a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments. Meanwhile, a Christian Nationalist group in Louisiana donated posters to schools across the state to hang up in case the state wins the case. The posters featured the rewritten Ten Commandments also with images of Moses and U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
The House Education Committee in Arizona advanced a bill to allow public school board meetings to open with prayer.
The Texas Education Agency is set to vote on whether or not to require some Bible verses to be read in public schools.
A lawmaker in Indiana filed a bill to require the Bible to be taught in public schools, echoing legislation in other states. And the Senate Education Committee in West Virginia advanced a bill to require some public school classrooms to have a copy of the Aitken Bible, which was a Bible printing project that Christian Nationalists often lift up with false claims.
Holmeswood Church in Kansas City, Missouri, hosted a community training event to educate people about their rights if ICE shows up.
Katie Herchenroeder of Mother Jones wrote about Christian leaders who went to the U.S. Capitol to advocate against ICE’s actions in Minnesota.
Sarah Einselen reported for Sojourners on the “five-alarm fire” of ICE detaining lawfully resettled refugees in Minnesota.
“Jesus understood what it meant to live under an occupying force — in his case, the Roman Empire. He understood the helplessness. He understood the stakes, and yet he persisted in showing us, before ultimately dying from the violence, that another way — a way of love — is possible.” —Rev. Annie Taylor and Rev. Dan Johnson, two ministers at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, writing in the Minnesota Reformer about standing with their immigrant congregants and neighbors.
Ruth Graham and Vincent Alban of the New York Times profiled a Trumpian pastor in Alabama who is enjoying White House access.
The North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists is raising concerns about a Heritage Foundation proposal that local and state governments set aside Sunday as a “uniform day of rest.”
The prime minister of the Pacific Ocean island nation of Samoa wants to ban all non-Christian religions.
The Progressive National Baptist Convention, which was the denominational home of Martin Luther King Jr., named a new general secretary to lead the body.
Photo of the Week
Thanks for reading!
Has Ruth Graham ever profiled a non-Trumpian pastor?