Weekly Roundup: July 3
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a report on an odd faith metaphor used by the vice president that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at a problematic Christian Nationalist Sunday service at a Texas megachurch.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Demanded by God: Bad Faith and the Weaponization of Sacred Text. Michael Mellette wrote about dangerous ways appeals to holy text have been made during the U.S.-Israel-Iran war.
The Bible Verses Dividing Washington: How Matthew 25 Became a Political Litmus Test. Jack Jenkins wrote about a partisan split in how a key Bible passage is interpreted.
PCUSA, American Academy of Religion Call Gaza War a Genocide. Chole Landen reported on a vote this week during the general assembly of the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States.
Bible Stories Are Approved As Required Reading in Texas Public Schools. The Texas Board of Education voted to require public schools to teach various Bible stories (as well as some picture books of Bible stories published by rightwing organizations).
Review: The Christian Past That Wasn’t. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed The Christian Past That Wasn’t: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths that Hijack History by Warren Throckmorton.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Ahead of the Fourth of July, Interfaith Alliance and Protect Democracy United released a new TV ad this week celebrating past and present faith-based activism. It’s the latest in the “Choose Love, Not ICE” campaign. The ad starts with scenes of abolitionists, the civil rights movement, anti-Apartheid protests, and more. It then highlights clergy over the past several months in the streets standing against ICE violence.
“The Trump administration is invoking Christian Nationalist myths about America’s founding to justify cruel and authoritarian abuses of power,” said Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance. “But throughout American history, people of faith have been at the center of many of our nation’s defining struggles for social justice and civil rights. As we mark America’s 250th anniversary, we’re making absolutely clear that religion continues to be a powerful force to defend and expand our democracy — and a counterweight to the authoritarian abuses of ICE and the Trump administration. The ‘Choose Love, Not ICE’ campaign is a direct rebuke to this administration’s cynical attempt to weaponize religion and an affirmation of the American values we are fighting to uphold.”
There is much to celebrate in American history. This ad lifts up some of those faithful voices worth remembering, honoring, and emulating.
Other News of Note
Brian Kaylor wrote a column for MS NOW: “The Christian Nationalist Vision of America Couldn’t be Further from the Founders’ Plan.”
Commissioners to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) general assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn White Christian Nationalism as “a theological error.” They also voted to hold their next general assembly in Puerto Rico in 2028.
Sociologist Nancy Ammerman analyzed decades of Southern Baptist Convention resolutions, finding a shift toward rightwing politics and Christian Nationalism.
Kiera Butler of Mother Jones reported on a contractor for the U.S. State Department seeking more Christians in diplomatic roles.
Melody Schreiber of The Guardian wrote about how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is invoking alleged “anti-Christian bias” to push for exemptions to laws governing abortions, vaccines, and LGBTQ healthcare.
Ruth Graham of The New York Times reported from Freedom Con, which preached messages of rightwing Christianity mixed with hypermasculinity.
“The best way to mark this year’s July 4 is twofold: First, we can lament all the ways this nation has fallen short of its founding ideals, including our current trajectory toward greater authoritarianism. Second, we should celebrate what the U.S. has gotten right, while recommitting ourselves to making those ideals real for everyone.” —Rev. Adam Russell Taylor in a Sojourners column.
ICE officers detained a Catholic nun who was walking to Sunday Mass in Texas, quickly releasing her after the incident sparked bipartisan outrage.
The U.S. is preparing to deport to Uganda (amid an Ebola outbreak) a 78-year-old retired Anglican priest in Colorado who came to the United States for asylum and is now ill after months in ICE detention.
Pope Leo declared a breakaway rightwing group schismatics and excommunicated them after the group appointed four bishops without papal approval.
Baptist News Global launched a new podcast, Bible Divas, featuring Angela N. Parker, Anna Sieges Beal, Jennifer Garcia Bashaw, and Cynthia Shafer-Elliott.
R.L. Stollar, a child liberation theologian and an abuse survivor and advocate, died by suicide this week. Stollar talked about his work and his book The Kingdom of Children on our Dangerous Dogma podcast in 2023:
Photo of the Week
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