Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to a piece on growing opposition to Pete Hegseth’s misuse of Scripture and a report on an interfaith effort to protect voting rights that are free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at the surprising reasons why city council meetings in Iowa and Washington opened this week with “Hail Satan” invocations.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
For the First Time, a Catholic Archbishop Sues Trump Over Access to Immigrant Detainees. Archbishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski and the Archdiocese of St. Louis are suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Immigrant Who Helped Set Off Delaney Hall Hunger Strike Released From ICE Custody. Kathryn Post reported from an ICE detention center in New Jersey where faith leaders have been engaged in protests.
Review: Too Sick to Pray. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Too Sick to Pray: A Theology of Outlaw Country by C. M. Howell.
Andy Beshear Wants Americans to Emulate the Good Samaritan, Not Trump. Bob Smietana reported on the book tour of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.
Bishop Mariann Budde, in New Election Ad, Urges People to Vote. The Episcopal bishop of Washington said she’s “asking for your courage to love your neighbor, to respect the dignity of every human being, and now, to vote.”
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
A recent attack ad by U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican in Kansas, included a particularly egregious error. The ad falsely suggested that a Kansas campground affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was the site of an alleged sexual abuse incident. And the senator, who is a longtime member of a Disciples church in Kansas, refuses to apologize.
As Marshall finds himself locked in a tied race against Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest church in Kansas (and the largest United Methodist congregation in the United States), the Marshall campaign is going on the attack. Marshall accuses Hamilton of covering up sex abuse at his church. A Democratic state senator made this attack during the primary, but independent fact-checking by The Kansas City Star found that court records “paint a more complex picture that does not back up the core of [the state senator’s] claims.” Now, the Marshall campaign is recycling the misleading claims to score political points by attacking the largest church in his state. Of course, that’s not surprising as his campaign has even attacked the church’s theology in ways that drew rebukes from many United Methodist pastors.
But the Marshall campaign ad made another big error. It included images from campgrounds unrelated to the abuse. One image shows children inside the chapel at Tall Oaks Camp and Conference Center, a Disciples campground in Linwood, that was not connected to the abuse case in any way. Leaders of Tall Oaks quickly condemned the unauthorized and inaccurate use of the photo and sent a cease-and-desist demand to the campaign. While the online version was quickly changed, the old version continued to run on some TV stations even after the Marshall campaign said they had changed it. It was later discovered that images were also inappropriately used from another Kansas facility and a camp in Maine.
The Marshall campaign’s response has made the incident even worse. They’ve made excuses for the error and have refused to apologize. When Marshall first ran for office, he highlighted his time as a Sunday School teacher and elder at his local Disciples church. Since moving to Washington, D.C. (or maybe Florida), it seems he needs a Sunday School refresher course about not bearing false witness and about making amends with your brothers and sisters when you’ve wronged them.
Other News of Note
Christopher Mathias of Talking Points Memo reported on an Islamophobic pastor who spoke at a campaign event along with Republican Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.
CNN discovered that the Trump administration was planning to include a controversial “God Made Trump” campaign ad as part of a taxpayer-funded ad program. But after a backlash to the ads, a pro-Trump super PAC will now pay to air them ahead of the midterms.
Rev. Rob Schenck wrote for Mother Jones about clergy he met in various states who are leading efforts against ICE and Christian Nationalism.
An interfaith group of clergy led a 96-mile pilgrimage through southern California to protest conditions at immigration detention centers.
The Globe and Mail reported on the separatist movement in Alberta that includes rightwing Christian messages.
“The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.” —Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in response to the Pentagon announcing it would livestream the upcoming firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan.
Vikram Mukka reported for Christianity Today how India’s caste system is sparking controversies in churches as some continue to hold to the discriminatory system.
Eric Vanden Eykel wrote for The Conversation about why some Christians think a natural rock formation in Türkiye is actually Noah’s Ark.
A street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been renamed to honor Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1794.
Died: Jim Bakker, a charismatic preacher whose 1980s television empire collapsed amid sexual and financial scandals. After time in prison, he launched a new ministry show. He was 86.
Photo of the Week
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