Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. This week we published a look at the Christian voices for and against livestreaming an execution and a reflection on government spying on churches in East Germany and today in Minnesota.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Why Christians Need the NFL. Sarah Blackwell made the case for teaching forensics.
Review: Devils of Democracy. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Devils of Democracy: America’s Love Affair with Political Demons from the Revolution to Today by Michael E. Heyes.
Oklahoma State Board Again Rejects Jewish Charter School in ‘Shocking’ Vote. Defying a federal judge, Oklahoma education leaders again refused to back the creation of a sectarian public charter school.
Black Church Leaders Broaden Voter Outreach Ahead of Midterm Elections. Adelle M. Banks reported on voting efforts in states like Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas.
Congregants Celebrate the Reconstruction of One of America’s Oldest Black Churches. A historic Baptist church building at Colonial Williamsburg has been rebuilt.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Ty Masterson, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Kansas, says his race is a “spiritual battle,” adding that “God’s armies are out there in this.” The state senator made this claim as he attacked his Democratic opponent for supposedly using “witchcraft spells” and “demonic stuff” to win the election next month.
That’s quite a claim! So why does Masterson think his fellow state senator, Cindy Holscher, is part of the “rising” level of “evil” in the state? Because he apparently was confused by a silly TikTok meme video created by Holscher’s 20-year-old daughter.
In the short video captioned “Casting a spell so my mom wins Kansas Governor except she’s so done with me,” Holscher’s daughter comically dances around her mom while wildly waving her arms — all while Holscher, who is Lutheran, stares with confusion. That’s it. That’s why Masterson decided to bring back the Salem witch trials in a campaign speech.
The demonization of political candidates isn’t new. And it’s definitely occurring in harmful ways right now in numerous races across the country. But if you’re going to cast your race as a divine battle of “God’s armies” against “evil” and “demonic” witches, don’t go all hellfire-and-brimstone over nothing more than a viral joke. What’s next? Seeing if she weighs the same as a duck?
Worse than Masterson not understanding a joke is his misuse of religious language. His rhetoric is dangerous. And he wrongly conscripts God as a partisan ally akin to a shadowy super PAC. It’s time to focus on the issues and leave God (and witches) out of it.
Survey Says…
Other News of Note
Robert Downen of Texas Monthly wrote about the national effort to dismantle church-state separation that’s led by several Texan politicians and activists.
While Texas Republican Senate hopeful Ken Paxton attacks the faith of his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, it’s not clear if Paxton even attends church beyond campaign events.
Ruth Graham of The New York Times reported from Kansas on the U.S. Senate campaign of Democratic nominee and United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton.
Alexei Koseff of The Washington Post reported on the financial and ethical questions about who is funding a ministry run by Speaker Mike Johnson’s wife.
A new study found that many people who are pushing Christian Nationalism in the United Kingdom don’t actually attend church.
“We’d all better be careful about how we use the Psalms. Because other people might be singing the same psalm to the same God, asking him to deliver them from the greatest empire the world has ever known, calling on him to make a mockery of greatness, to disarm modern warriors the way he once drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea.” —Brandon Ambrosino writing in The Christian Century about problems with Pete Hegseth’s use of Psalm 33.
Israeli settlers have been attacking historic olive trees owned by Christians in the West Bank.
Camillo Barone of The National Catholic Reporter covered a traveling installation of more than 100 crosses that represent people who died in U.S. immigration custody or during enforcement operations.
Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global wrote about a high school scouting student who created a sensory room for special needs children at a church in Dallas, Texas.
Sho Baraka of Christianity Today reported on a coffee house in Memphis, Tennessee, that is trying to serve justice in its community along with coffee.
Photo of the Week
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