Word&Way News: Aug. 4
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a report on a new church-state lawsuit and a look at a faith-based community organizing training program for Gen Zers.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Missouri Set to Execute Man Suffering From Severe Mental Illness. Ahead of an execution on Tuesday, Jeremy Fuzy reported on issues involved and clergy speaking out.
The Roman Baptists. Rodney Kennedy argued that Southern Baptists are engaged in a long slow return to Rome in a couple of very particular ways: one pagan and one religious.
Review: The Word Made Fresh. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed The Word Made Fresh: Preaching God's Love for Every Body by George A. Mason.
Vice President Harris Critiques Florida’s Slavery View at AME Churchwomen’s Meeting. Adelle M. Banks reported on comments by the U.S. VP during a Christian gathering in the Sunshine State.
For Boebert and Greene, Faith — and Christian Nationalism — Sells. Jack Jenkins reported on how political firebrands are raising big funds by pushing Christian Nationalism.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Kyle Meyaard-Schaap on Following Jesus in a Warming World
Another noteworthy podcast this week:
Steed Davidson appeared on The Bible for Normal People to talk about the Bible, empire, and postcolonialism.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Former President Donald Trump got indicted — again — this week. He now faces 78 counts in three different jurisdictions. The latest charges are an attempt to bring accountability for Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
And while we already knew a lot about Trump’s actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021, the indictment actually included new information. This came as some witnesses refused to speak to Congress but did testify to the grand jury after a subpoena. Like former Vice President Mike Pence.
As Trump tried to pressure Pence to help overturn the election, Trump criticized his VP for being “too honest.” And then there’s the account of Christmas in 2020.
“When the Vice President called the defendant to wish him a Merry Christmas, the defendant quickly turned the conversations to Jan. 6 and his request that the Vice President reject electoral votes that day,” the indictment reads.
The indictment added that Pence again explained he didn’t have that authority. Not mentioned is whether Pence also did his best Linus impersonation to explain the true meaning of Christmas.
It’s a wild moment considering Trump oddly claimed people started saying “Merry Christmas” again after he was elected president. But when someone literally said that to him, he instead wanted to spend Christmas like old King Herod did: plotting how to stay in power.
We live in a weird political time. Even more so as many Christians continue to lift up the indicted Grinch as a godly leader.
Other News of Note
Samuel Perry wrote for Time about how “how Oklahoma became ground zero in the war over church-state separation.”
Rev. Russell Levenson, an Episcopal minister who was George H.W. Bush’s pastor, wrote for CNN about the “moral abyss” that GOP leaders are in by continuing to support Donald Trump.
Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post profiled the ongoing religious and political appeals of two Democratic state representatives in Tennessee who were briefly removed from the state legislature after their gun control advocacy.
Two White Republican businessmen drew criticism for using the name of a Black pastor — without his permission — to run an ad attacking a Democratic mayoral candidate in Nashville, Tennessee.
As Sean Feucht continues his “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour, his stop in Boise, Idaho, drew protesters opposed to his Christian Nationalism.
A new law requiring the posting of “In God We Trust” in every public school classroom went into effect this week in Louisiana.
“There is no moral victory in executing someone who believes Satan is killing him to bring about the end of the world.” —Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a dissent this week joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson after the court’s majority refused to block a Missouri execution of a man suffering from severe mental illness.
Elizabeth Bruenig of The Atlantic wrote about the conversion and faith of James Barber, a man executed by Alabama in July.
Jon Allsop wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review about a Catholic newspaper in France that is openly confronting its history of antisemitism.
Jenny Lind Schmitt of WORLD profiled Wissam al-Saliby and his UN advocacy work on behalf of the World Evangelical Alliance.
John Boyles wrote at Christianity Today about the dangers of using AI to interpret the Bible.
Photo of the Week
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