Word&Way News: Aug. 16
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, paid subscribers received a look at controversies over people tweeting Bible verses, while all subscribers received an analysis of Lutheran politicians in Congress.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Review: Mornings with Schleiermacher. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Mornings with Schleiermacher: A Devotional Inspired by the Father of Modern Theology by Chad Bahl.
Faith Groups are Mobilizing Thousands to March Outside the DNC. Yonat Shimron reported on protests planned for Chicago next week, including those from Quaker, Jewish, and Muslim groups opposed to the U.S.’s role in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Would Jesus Park in a Bike Lane? For Philadelphia Churches, It’s a Real Question. Bob Smietana reported on advocacy targeting four churches, a pair of synagogues, and the Philadelphia Ethical Society
How a Small Group of Nuns in Rural Kansas Vex Big Companies with Their Investment Activism. Tiffany Stanley reported on how social justice-minded nuns are taking on Google, Target, Citigroup, and other major corporations.
Sterling College Faculty Members Vote ‘No Confidence’ in President. Cuyler Dunn reported on the ongoing turmoil at a conservative evangelical school in Kansas.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Tripp Fuller of Homebrewed Christianity
Other noteworthy shows this week:
Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood appeared on The Living Room Disciple to talk about Baptizing America.
Sarah McCammon reported on NPR’s All Things Considered about this week’s online “Christians for Kamala” event.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
During Holy Week in March, former President Donald Trump released a video encouraging people to buy the “God Bless the U.S.A. Bible.” With an American flag on the cover, the Bible includes nationalistic documents like the U.S. Constitution, Pledge of Allegiance, and lyrics to Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem “God Bless the U.S.A.” Of course, Trump wasn’t doing it because he loves the Bible. As the website for the $60 not-so-good book explained, Trump was being paid by Greenwood’s company.
Now we know how much: $300,000.
That figure showed up in the new financial disclosure Trump had to file because he’s running for federal office. That’s quite a bit for a video hawking a Bible. Trump might want one to pick up a Bible for himself (though preferably not Greenwood’s inappropriate one).
“Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus warned in Matthew 19. “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Imagine how much stronger Jesus would rebuke someone for getting rich from selling his good news to the poor.
Other News of Note
Ruth Graham of the New York Times reported on the reboot of Promise Keepers with MAGA politics.
Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post profiled a man denouncing his brother, a Trumpian “prophet,” as a fake.
The online launch event of “Evangelicals for Harris” featured remarks from a granddaughter of Billy Graham, Jemar Tisby, Lisa Sharon Harper, and others.
Russell Vought, a key author of Project 2025, said the GOP is focused too much on “religious liberty” and should instead work for “Christian nation-ism.”
State officials in Texas refuse to say who wrote the controversial new public school curriculum that infuses Bible lessons.
“It’s important to remember what happened to Benjamin Thomas. But it’s equally important to remember the compassionate and courageous people who showed up to protect him, to memorialize him, and then to protest in his name.” —Rachel Laser, president & CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, during an event marking the 125th anniversary of the lynching of a Black teenager falsely accused of assault.
A United Methodist church in Washington, D.C., will remove a 1966 plaque dedicating a stained-glass window to then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The congregation has been wrestling with its past praise of Hoover and his White Christian Nationalism.
The practice of prayer before local government meetings in a Louisiana parish has sparked criticism and controversy.
The Presbyterian News Service reported on Baptizing America, with comments from Brian Kaylor.
Diana Butler Bass wrote at her Substack newsletter The Cottage about why the media needs to consider Christians other than just evangelicals:
Photo of the Week
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