Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a look at historical echoes in Mississippi’s election results that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received an analysis of rightwing criticism of incoming clergy members of Congress.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
A Change of Heart to End the War Between Religious Freedom and LGBTQ+ People. Jonathon E. Sawyer wrote about a U.S. Supreme Court case recently heard by justices that supposedly pits religious freedom against LGBTQ+ equality.
Feeling Old, and the Responsibility That Comes With It. James Ellis reflected on aging, technology, and relationships.
A Jordan River Baptism Dream Come True. Daoud Kuttab wrote about a spiritual journey in Jordan for an envoy for the World Evangelical Alliance.
Review: Gifts of the Mother. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Gifts of the Mother: An Advent Journey with the Sacred Feminine by Sarah Engelbrecht.
Bystanders Defend Seattle Diwali Celebration Targeted by Far-Right Agitators. Trisha Mukherjee reported on an anti-Hindu incident by rightwing Christian Nationalists.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
This week, outgoing Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie formally pushed for the impeachment of Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself “secretary of war.” Massie lost his primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed candidate due to Massie’s outspoken opposition to the Iran war and his push to release the Epstein files.
Undeterred, Massie pushed forward with the impeachment articles. After officially introducing them on Monday (Nov. 9), he answered questions for reporters. Standing outside the U.S. Capitol, he urged Hegseth to actually address the substance of the charges. In doing so, Massie offered quite the rebuke.
“I hope he addresses the eight articles and doesn’t get up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and do some pullups and call everybody ‘fat’ and ‘gay’ for being for this impeachment. I may have just given you half his speech,” Massie joked.
Although none of Massie’s articles address Hegseth’s misuse of religion and attempt to establish his own faith through monthly worship services and more, I enjoyed hearing him mocking Hegseth for using a fake Bible verse from Pulp Fiction during a Pentagon service in April.
And since A Public Witness broke the news about that incident (since, as with most months, I was the only reporter watching and writing about the service), Massie’s joke had us feeling like, well…
That viral story about Hegseth reading from the Bible according to Quentin Tarantino only exists because A Public Witness reported on it. And, of course, that could only occur thanks to the support of our paid subscribers and donors. Our report sparked several jokes from late-night comics and countless online memes. The incident was also previously mentioned during a congressional hearing as Democratic Rep. Salud Carbajal brought it up to mock Hegseth while asking the Pentagon head a question.
But Massie’s impeachment articles didn’t land as well as his joke. When the issue came to a vote on Tuesday evening, he was the only Republican member to support it as his effort failed with a 204-211 vote. Even after the midterm drumming, Republicans aren’t willing to cross Trump.
Even worse, 11 Democrats missed the vote completely. Had they shown up on time, the impeachment could’ve been successful. Some of the Democrats claimed they had traffic issues, but they shouldn’t have pushed it that close. The whole thing left us feeling like, well…
Hegseth quickly claimed victory, but it might be short lived. When Democrats take over both chambers of Congress in January, they will likely advance their own impeachment articles. In the meantime, we’ll continue cover to Hegseth’s dangerous Christian Nationalism.
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Other News of Note
Brian Fraga of the National Catholic Reporter wrote about the religious left’s impact in the midterms (including comments from Brian Kaylor).
Church of the Resurrection explained changes now that its senior pastor, Rev. Adam Hamilton, has been elected to the U.S. Senate. Hamilton will continue to lead the church but will move to quarter time, take a much smaller salary, and only preach 12-18 weekends a year. The church is also increasing security at its facilities.
Ari Breland of The Atlantic reported on how some extreme Christian Nationalists are planning to push the Republican Party further to the right and see the midterm losses as helpful for their cause.
The nonprofit group American Atheists sued the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of the Interior to force the release of public records related to the “Rededicate 250” worship rally held on the National Mall in May.
Mark Wingfield of Baptist News Global reported on a presentation by Samuel Perry about how Jesus is “a huge problem” for Christian Nationalists.
“Does the arrest itself accomplish lots? On the surface, maybe not. But I can’t tell you the countless conversations I have had with people realizing that now they need to do something as well. There’s something about someone willing to take some sort of consequence that inspires people.” —Rev. Jessica Derise, a United Church of Christ pastor, who was one of seven pastors arrested for protesting at an ICE surveillance facility in Vermont.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has reportedly been spending his time in a U.S. prison reading the Bible and Quran and speaking with Christian and Jewish chaplains. While in office, he invoked the Bible to justify his authoritarian power.
The ongoing fight between a Dallas megachurch and the United Methodist Church continues to get messier, with the megachurch that voted to leave the denomination suing a new UMC church for adopting the old name the megachurch is no longer using.
Photo of the Week
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