Word&Way News: April 8

Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a report on Charlie Kirk speaking about politics in churches that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at the impact of this publication on the U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.

When Politicians Attack

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Top 5 at wordandway.org

1. Christian Leaders Denounce ReAwaken America Tour. Jeremy Fuzy reports on pushback to the Christian Nationalism of a series of political events held in megachurches across the country.

2. Secularized Medicine? Kristel Clayville argues that hospitals are actually the places where she has seen and experienced the most open displays of religion and spirituality.

3. An Argument for Hammock Time. Sarah Blackwell makes the case that as we feel the pace of the world quickening again, it is our obligation to fight the urge to keep up.

4. Review: The Making of Biblical Womanhood. Robert D. Cornwall reviews the book The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr.

5. Willy Rice, SBC Presidential Candidate, Drops Out. Bob Smietana reports on a Florida pastor who withdrew from the race for president of the Southern Baptist Convention after criticism for ordaining as a deacon a former public school teacher with a history of sexual misconduct.

Other News of Note

• Russ Bowen of WNCN (a CBS affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina) reported about campaign appearances in churches by a U.S. Senate candidate. The story included a reference to A Public Witness and an interview with Brian Kaylor.

• Anna Campbell of the Jefferson City News-Tribune reported on a Missouri House hearing on various education bills and included a reference to Brian Kaylor’s testimony against a bill pushing Bible classes in public schools.

• Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham wrote for the New York Times about the use of Christian worship and language at conservative political rallies.

• Kathryn Joyce reported for Salon about a growing effort to destroy public education.

• Liam Adams of the Nashville Tennessean looked back at the Southern Baptist Convention’s boycott of Disney in the 1990s as some Baptists and other conservatives again target the entertainment company.

• Emily Belz wrote for Christianity Today about U.S. churches using Ukrainian Easter eggs in solidarity with that nation.

• Kelsey Dallas of Deseret News spoke with Associated Press religion reporters David Crary and Holly Meyer about updating the way journalists write about religious groups and issues.

• George Mason University in Virginia unveiled a memorial remembering the more than 100 people enslaved by the university’s namesake.

Dangerous Dogma

This week: Conrad Kanagy on A Church Dismantled

Another good podcast this week:

• Amanda Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty was the guest on Straight White American Jesus to talk about Christian Nationalism.

Quick Take

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

Last weekend, Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson spoke at a megachurch in California. But as people showed up to hear him at the church that previously violated COVID health rules and promoted Christian Nationalism, they first had to pass Ukrainian American protesters.

“Your heartless message to American people who are the cradle of democracy, home of the brave, land of the free, is completely unacceptable by anyone,” said protester Vadin Gudin.

Carlson’s presence sparked ire because of the commentator’s defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Carlson even uses his Fox News pulpit to spread false Russian propaganda against Ukraine. Carlson praises Putin despite the war and despite Putin’s long record of persecuting Christians.

In addition to waving Ukrainian flags, the protesters arranged baby shoes, car seats, and strollers to represent the more than 150 children already killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Protester Sergiy Korelov urged Carlson to see the reality of the war and “react with empathy, compassion as a human being.”

And while the remarks by the protesters targeted Carlson, they could just as well apply to the church for fêting him. Carlson’s rhetoric is despicable, and everyone should change the channel. But to see a church honor him as a worthy speaker is to turn a house of prayer into a den of thieves.

Photo of the Week

Anthea Butler, chair of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Religious Studies and author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America, speaks at an event hosted by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 6, 2022. During her presentation on evangelicals, nationalism, and conspiracies, she referenced the work of A Public Witness in highlighting the political organizing by Charlie Kirk in churches. (Brian Kaylor/Word&Way)

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