Word&Way News: April 19

Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a review of a forthcoming book about the Religious Right and a report on the Summit for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C.

Review & Giveaway: Ministers of Propaganda

Strengthening the Church-State Wall to Protect Democracy

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Top 5 at wordandway.org

1. Review: A Faith of Many Rooms. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed A Faith of Many Rooms: Inhabiting a More Spacious Christianity by Debie Thomas.

2. After Traditionalist Churches Left, UMC May Be More — Not Less — Diverse. Yonat Shimron reported on the new makeup of the United Methodist Church.

3. New Leader of Jesse Jackson’s Civil Rights Organization Steps Down Just Months on the Job. A Texas Baptist pastor said it was “necessary” for him to move on.

4. Florida Will Open Schools to Volunteer Chaplains. Brendan Farrington reported on the latest church-state action in the Sunshine State.

5. Prominent Baptist Pastor in Military-Ruled Myanmar Detained Again Hours After Release From Prison. Grant Peck reported on the latest persecution of a Kachin Baptist leader.

Dangerous Dogma

This week: Trey Ferguson on Theologizin’ Bigger

by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief

Kari Lake, a failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate now running for the U.S. Senate, wants her followers to arm themselves — literally — in the name of God. The election-denying candidate running for the seat held by the retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema told her supporters to get ready for November’s election.

“We are going to put on the armor of God. Then maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us, just in case,” Lake said.

The partisan twisting of the Ephesians passage about the “armor of God” is not uncommon in our politics today (as we documented at A Public Witness in 2022). Nor is it surprising coming from Lake, who has a history of weaponizing Christian language and symbols for her campaigns. But this moment still reveals a couple of important issues.

First, Lake’s comment shows she doesn’t actually believe the very biblical passage she invokes. Like other politicians, she misuses the armor of God as part of a partisan struggle instead of recognizing the language being about God’s people. But she goes further by demonstrating she doesn’t actually trust God. Fearful the armor of God won’t work, she wants her supporters to also carry a Glock. As the psalmist noted, some trust in God, but others trust in chariots and horses (and guns).

Second, Lake’s comment dangerously uses God and the Bible to justify physical violence in a quest to gain power. As we previously warned, the use of the armor of God in politics often moves toward encouraging actual violence. Lake makes the case more explicitly than usual. She is encouraging election violence in the name of God.

Such dangerous rhetoric — and those who employ it — must be rejected.

Survey Says…

(read more from Pew Research Center)

Other News of Note

• Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News reported on the struggle to control a local library “in Superman’s ‘hometown’” that pitted Christians against each other.

• A conference for “constitutional sheriffs” included talks from Michael Flynn and pillow-hugger Mike Lindell, as well as rhetoric about sheriffs claiming power as “lesser magistrates.”

• Ryan Krull of the Riverfront Times reported on the pastor of a racist church helping pick local Republican candidates.

• David Plazas of the Nashville Tennessean wrote about the problem of Tennessee naming a Bible one of the official state books.

• Activists held a “Jericho March” around the Tennessee Capitol, but unlike the “Jericho Marches” ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, this one was led by progressives.

• The group “Jews Against Gassing” pushed Louisiana lawmakers this week to ban the use of nitrogen hypoxia for state executions.

“We are living in an eschatological time.” —Rev. Frederic Nozil about ministering in Haiti amid growing violence and lawlessness.

• Surinder Kaur of Christianity Today reported on concerns about growing Hindu nationalism in Nepal.

• Starlette Thomas of Good Faith Media reported from the Space for Grace & Spiritual Caregivers Conference hosted by the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.

• Sarah Pulliam Bailey wrote for the New York Times about a controversy over whether or not a conservative Christian group in New Jersey has the right to close part of a beach on Sunday mornings.

• A sword-swallowing act at a men’s conference in Springfield, Missouri, sparked a public feud between event speaker Mark Driscoll and the host Assemblies of God pastor.

• Masters Tournament champion Scottie Scheffler said family and faith are more important to him than the green jacket.

Photo of the Week

A man places flowers outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakely, Australia, on April 16, 2024, after a knife attack that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service. (Mark Baker/Associated Press)

Thanks for reading!