Weekly Roundup: June 20
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a consideration of a biblical passage that declares “no kings” and a look at a problematic use of the Bible to justify war that are free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a report on the first meeting of the White House Religious Liberty Commission.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
How to Train Your Compassion. Juliet Vedral reviewed the new live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon.
Review: Green Street in Black and White. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Green Street in Black and White: A Chicago Story by Dave Larsen.
Minnesota Shooting Draws Attention to Bible School With Ties to Christian Nationalists. Bob Smietana wrote about the charismatic school in Texas attended by the man accused of shooting Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota.
What Is CREC? The Christian Nationalist Group Has a Vision for America — and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Support. Samuel Perry wrote about a conservative denomination gaining influence and power.
Rebuilding One of the Nation’s Oldest Black Churches Begins at Juneteenth Ceremony. Ben Finley reported on an effort to better memorialize the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Virginia.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
A congressional committee launching an investigation into Christian ministries might sound like the type of thing that would get the attention of the White House’s task force to combat “anti-Christian bias.” Instead, this is coming from Republicans upset that some Christians are caring for immigrants.
Rep. Mark Green is a Republican from Tennessee who is resigning from Congress soon to take an undisclosed job (and who is divorcing his wife after she found out he was having an affair). But first, Green wants to investigate Christians who help immigrants. As chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Green is launching a probe into more than 200 organizations, many of whom are religious. He sent them letters demanding information and threatening to take action against them if they don’t quickly respond.
The targeted groups include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, Global Refuge (formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service), and four United Methodist groups. Although Green claims to be interested in knowing how the groups spent taxpayer funds during the Biden administration, UM News noted that two of the targeted United Methodist groups don’t receive any federal funding.
Such an effort to harass Christian and other groups for assisting immigrants and refugees is sadly not surprising. In February, Trumpian figures signaled they wanted to take such actions. Disgraced former Lt. General Michael Flynn and Elon Musk went after Global Refuge and other Lutheran ministries, questioning their faith and accusing them of engaging in illegal behavior. Flynn made similar attacks on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities.
This move shows that Christian Nationalists don’t care about all Christians. They instead want to narrowly define what is allowed, even going after Christians faithfully living out their convictions.
Other News of Note
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which is popular with Christian Nationalists, recently flew on the flagpole atop the government building of the Small Business Administration.
A Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to create “The Day of the Bible,” to be observed on Sept. 12. She based her legislation on fake history about a colonial-era Bible.
Kara Voght of the Washington Post reported on the rhetoric at a Turning Point USA conference for teenage girls and young women.
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty held a webinar with an interfaith group of panelists to discuss problems with President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” being debated in the U.S. Senate.
The first U.S. bishop appointed by Pope Leo XIV is a refugee from Vietnam. Now, Bishop Michael Pham is calling on clergy to visit federal court buildings “to stand in solidarity” with immigrants.
The Catholic bishop of Nashville assured Catholics that they do not have to attend Mass if they fear for their safety amid ICE raids in the community.
“American democracy is under attack from an authoritarian movement, and this movement derives its power partly from the rhetoric and politics that provokes division, hatred, and — wherever mental health conditions line up, as they inevitably must — violence.” —Katherine Stewart writing at The Contrarian about the religious forces behind the shooter of Democratic politicians in Minnesota.
Jill Nelson of Christianity Today wrote about Russia’s campaign of abducting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children.
Cheyanne Daniels of Politico reported on how Black churches in the U.S. are pushing back against anti-DEI politics.
Hunter Walker of Talking Points Memo wrote about Black officeholders who ran for office after losing a loved one a decade ago in the White supremacist mass shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Eric Killelea of the Houston Chronicle reported on a nondenominational megachurch that hired a fulltime deaf pastor.
Photo of the Week
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