Weekly Roundup: Nov. 14
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a reflection for Veterans Day that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at the Christian messaging in recent controversial propaganda posters created by the U.S. government.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
In the White Shadows of Schirach and Kirk. Duane Larson reflected on parallels between the late Charlie Kirk and Nazi Youth leader Baldur von Schirach.
U.S. Christians Should Look Past the Wall of Distortion to See the Truth About Palestinians in the Holy Land. Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, an Orthodox nun who has served in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, hopes the ceasefire in Gaza can bring a new chapter of peace and justice.
Review: The Seven Mountains Mandate. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy by Matthew Boedy.
Methodist Pastors March Into Courtroom to Support ‘Boring Suburban Dad’ Indicted for Protesting. Jack Jenkins reported on a group of clergy who showed up to support a fellow minister arrested during an anti-ICE protest.
Nicolas Cage’s ‘The Carpenter’s Son’ Turns an Apocryphal Text About Jesus’s Youth Into a Horror Film. A new movie features an action hero actor in a horror-flick interpretation of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
R.I.P. to the Lincoln.
On Wednesday (Nov. 12), the last penny was produced at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. After more than 230 years, no more one-cent coins will be added to circulation since they’ve essentially lost any real value and cost nearly four cents just to make one.
As U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach prepared to push the button to strike the last penny, a reporter asked if he had “any final words for the penny.” As Beach seemed unable to think of something, someone suggested “God bless America.” He quickly embraced the idea: “Yeah, God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million.”
Not the most poetic send-off for the copper, but perhaps a revealing one. The ease with which people throw around that phrase for non-religious moments shows how much such Christian Nationalism devalues the name of God. As Beau Underwood and I documented in Baptizing America, “God” first showed up on the penny and other coins during the Civil War as an effort to force the Almighty to side with the Union against the Confederacy. Imagine thinking we can control God with Mammon! We also wrote in the book about the use of the phrase “God bless America” and how it spikes during times of war, again showing how we use God’s name in vain with such statements to demand God serve America like some sort of ancient tribal deity.
So here’s my two cents: In addition to ending production of the penny, we should also stop stamping “God” on any of our money. Let’s stop pretending such a move makes us a godly nation.
Other News of Note
Marissa Greene and Cecilia Lenzen of the Fort Worth Report wrote about a conservative Christian church training Christians to run for political office.
Although conservative and liberal religious groups urged the U.S. Supreme Court to back a prisoner whose religious rights were violated, the conservative justices seemed skeptical of his case during oral arguments.
President Donald Trump quoted the Bible’s teaching about caring for children, which seems ironic given his record.
Even though Oklahoma did not pass legislation to allow spiritual “chaplains” in public schools, a school district in the state has been caught after appointing a pastor as a “chaplain.” Four states have passed such laws, which have sparked controversies.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a public school district for not posting copies of a highly gerrymandered version of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. But has Paxton, whose wife is divorcing him because of his adultery, read the Ten Commandments?
NPR reported how ICE’s crackdown in Chicago has led many immigrants to avoid attending church out of fear of being targeted.
During a vigil outside an ICE facility in the Chicago area this morning, Rev. Michael Woolf, an American Baptist pastor, was slammed to the ground by police officers. Last week, A Public Witness reported on Woolf getting shot with a pepper ball by Illinois State Police.
“It’s interesting that right now it’s mainline Protestants and Jewish clergy who are on the front lines, protesting this government and this attack on migrants. … It is very clear that, in one sense, you could say it’s an attack on our religious freedom. On the other hand, it’s also an attack on a certain school of thought of Christianity.” —Rev. Jorge Bautista, a United Church of Christ minister who was shot with a pepper round while peacefully protesting against ICE.
Craig Nash of Good Faith Media reported on the unveiling of a new Memorial to Enslaved Persons at Baylor University, a Baptist school in Texas whose namesake founder and other earlier leaders were enslavers. The memorial follows a trend at other schools to remember those enslaved by institutional founders.
A Catholic congregation in Wisconsin returned land to a Tribal nation.
A Presbyterian church in Indiana used its bicentennial celebration to raise funds used to cancel more than $1.78 million in medical debt for families in the state.
The United Methodist building in Washington, D.C., is hosting an exhibit about the Sand Creek Massacre, an 1864 U.S. Army attack led by a Methodist pastor against Cheyenne and Arapaho people in Colorado.
Caroline O’Donovan of the Washington Post reported on a progressive United Methodist church in Kansas reaching LGBTQ+ people.
Gallup found a large drop in U.S. religiosity over the past decade.
Mark Wingfield of Baptist News Global reflected on addressing child sexual abuse after a day in a courtroom in a jury pool.
Photo of the Week
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