Weekly Roundup: July 3
We’re wrapping up the week a bit early to grill some hot dogs and watch some fireworks. This week at A Public Witness, we published a report on a gathering with remarks from Traci Blackmon, Robert P. Jones, Angela Denker, Amanda Tyler, Paul Raushenbush, and others as well as an essay by Drew Strait on misuses of the Bible by Christian Nationalists.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
When Humanitarian Aid Becomes a Death Trap: A Christian Response to the Betrayal of Gaza. Samuel Kuttab criticized the Christian head of a relief organization for justifying genocide.
Review: Religion in the Lands That Became America. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Religion in the Lands That Became America: A New History by Thomas A. Tweed.
Haitian Congregations Relieved After Judge Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Deport Migrants. A lawsuit filed by the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association and other groups has blocked efforts to force nearly 350,000 Haitians to leave the United States.
New Lawsuit Claims Social Studies Standards Violate Oklahomans’ Religious Freedoms. Nuria Martinez-Keel reported on a suit by clergy and others opposed to a Christian Nationalist effort to reshape public schools.
A Volunteer Finds the Holy Grail of Abolitionist-Era Baptist Documents in Massachusetts. Michael Casey reported on the discovery of a long-missing anti-slavery document signed by 116 American Baptist ministers in 1847.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart died Tuesday (July 1) at the age of 90. A big star in the 1980s, he’s mostly known for his sex scandals involving prostitutes. That got him defrocked by the Assemblies of God and saw lots of stations cancel his show, but he continued to preach as an independent Pentecostal minister in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
While most obituaries about Swaggart this week basically skipped from his scandals to his death, he’s not only continued to lead a church with his son and grandson but also has been popular in recent years with MAGA figures. Here are three examples:
When pillow-hugger Mike Lindell was running for chair of the Republican National Committee largely on a platform of election denialism, he made a campaign stop during a Sunday worship service at Swaggart’s church. Lindell was repeatedly recognized from the pulpit.
As the Christian Nationalist “Take Our Border Back” convoy went to Texas last year for a rally, a lead organizer posted a picture on social media of a Bible passage about building a wall that inspired him. The Bible he was reading was Swaggart’s 2005 study Bible.
Donald Trump himself praised Swaggart last year during a faith campaign event, saying, “I love Jimmy Swaggart. ... A talented guy.” Paula White-Cain, Trump’s spiritual advisor and moderator of the campaign event, then recognized Swaggart’s son (and copastor), who was at the campaign event.
So while it might be tempting to think of Swaggart as just a holdover from the 1980s, he actually fit in well with the current religious-political movement enjoying access to power today. Yet, it still should strike us as wild that a televangelist who got caught in multiple sex scandals involving prostitutes remained popular with MAGA figures like Lindell, a border convoy leader, and Trump. It’s just another sign of the moral bankruptcy of the MAGAchurch faith.
Other News of Note
Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood appeared on Faith for Normal People with hosts Pete Enns and Jared Byas to talk about Baptizing America and Christian Nationalism.
Michelle Boorstein, Robert P. Jones, and Ian Millhiser appeared on 1A to talk about the Trump administration and the separation of church and state.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts is seeking information about the decision recently to fly a Christian Nationalist flag over the headquarters of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Venture capitalist and conservative activist Peter Thiel has some unusual thoughts about the antichrist, but he’s basing his theory on a misreading of some Bible verses.
“Posting the Ten Commandments in public schools is un-American and un-Baptist. … My children’s faith should be shaped by family and our religious community, not by a Christian Nationalist movement that confuses God with power.” —Rev. Griff Martin, pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas, explaining why he’s a plaintiff in a new lawsuit challenging Texas for passing a law requiring public schools to post a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments.
Emily Belz of Christianity Today reported on how clergy are finding it difficult to gain access so they can minister to congregants held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.
A United Methodist pastor in St. Petersburg, Florida, protested outside a county jail serving as an ICE holding site. Three days later, over a dozen vehicles from the Sheriff’s Office sat in the church’s parking lot for nearly four hours — even after the pastor told them to leave. Since they refused, he sent them a $10,000 bill for parking there.
Photo of the Week
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