Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a report on the first public school chaplain in Florida and an excerpt from a conversation with historian Randall Balmer that are free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at a problematic argument that uses biblical maps to decide who should control the Middle East today.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Jordan Shines as a Beacon of Tolerance for Baptists and All Believers. Daoud Kuttab reported from the European Baptist Federation meeting in Amman.
That’s What Moses Said: Exploring ‘The Promised Land.’ Juliet Vedral reviewed a new YouTube show described as “Michael Scott meets Moses.”
Review: Rereading Revelation. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Rereading Revelation: Theology, Ethics, and Resistance by Greg Carey.
Worship Leader Sean Feucht Mismanaged Millions in Ministry Funds, Former Associates Say. Deepa Bharath reported allegations against a leading Christian Nationalist musician.
Sarah Mullally Named the First Female Archbishop of Canterbury in History of Church of England. For the first time in its history, the Anglican Communion will be led globally by a woman.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
I regularly warn about Christian Nationalism as a danger to democracy and the Christian witness. I’ve even got a new book that officially releases next week to do exactly that. A big reason why I write and speak about Christian Nationalism is to help Christians reject this heresy done in our name. And a new study shows that efforts to speak out against Christian Nationalism can make a difference.
In the academic journal Political Behavior, Amy Brooke Grauley, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame, published a study looking at how people promoting or rejecting Christian Nationalism can shape how likely others are to identify with the ideology. The results show why we should continue to challenge Christian Nationalism.
“Persuasive anti-Christian Nationalist rhetoric can drive those who may otherwise be sympathetic to the movement away from identification. Discouraging the rising collective identity and insular encouragement of Christian Nationalism as a movement is possible,” she concluded.
Of course, she also found the opposite can be true as “statements endorsing Christian Nationalism can have an effect on American Christians, especially those who are not strong in their beliefs.” That’s why we must not cede the Bible to Christian Nationalists or allow politicians to redefine Christianity. Christian scholars, journalists, pastors, and others can make a difference.
Other News of Note
Laura Bullard wrote for Wired about conservative venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s obsession with the Antichrist and the religious-political influences on him.
Robert Downen of Texas Monthly wrote about a pastor dealing with complaints for not being political after Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Chanhee Heo wrote for Religion Dispatches about how Christian Nationalists in South Korea memorialized Charlie Kirk.
The White House on Monday issued a statement honoring the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel. As reported last year by A Public Witness, Michael has become the patron saint of far-right Catholics.
A Department of Homeland Security video using Isaiah 6 has been removed from X and had its audio deleted on other social media platforms (because of its unauthorized use of audio from a movie, not because of its heresy). It is just one of the videos DHS has created co-opting the Bible to justify militarized efforts to hunt immigrants.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth quoted Jesus’s Golden Rule in a speech to generals about building a more lethal military. Hegseth also said beards were not longer allowed in the military, which raises questions about whether he will honor historic religious exemptions for Orthodox Jews and Sikhs.
“‘Jesus don’t like killing, no matter what the reason’s for.’ … There’s lots of killing going on in the world today, just as in Jesus’s time. The difference now is that we have Jesus’s example and teachings, carried forward through two millennia by faithful disciples.” —Cynthia B. Astle of United Methodist Insight in a reflection contrasting the worldviews of Pete Hegseth and John Prine.
An Episcopal church in Southlake, Texas, is hosting the community’s first Pride event, which sparked attacks on the church by Republican activists.
Jason Wilson of the London Guardian reported on a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod minister involved with neo-Confederate groups.
Robert Morris, a Texas megachurch pastor who served on Trump’s evangelical advisory board, pleaded guilty to charges he sexually abused a girl in the 1980s. He will spend six months in jail.
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