Word&Way News: Dec. 13
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a piece recommending four documentaries that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received an analysis of a controversial Nativity scene in Iowa.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
When Caesar Proclaims ‘Peace on Earth.’ Brian Kaylor reflected on the meaning of “peace on Earth” in light of this year’s Christmas decorations at the White House.
‘Advent Not Arms’ Prayer Vigil Presses for Peace in the Middle East. Jeremy Fuzy reported on an event sponsored by Churches for Middle East Peace at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.
This Advent, We Cannot Forget the Millions Suffering in the Holy Land. Dave Davis reflected on the birth of Jesus in light of news today of the occupation, displacement, and struggle of Palestinians.
To Preserve Life, Promote Equity, and Facilitate Redemption, President Biden Should Commute All Federal Death Sentences. Darryl Gray urged the lame-duck president to take action to prevent a potential execution spree during the next administration.
Review: Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit by Rodney Kennedy.
Unsettling Advent
Our Advent series continued this week, with devotionals by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, Susan Shaw, Angela Denker, Angela Parker, Brian Kaylor, Traci Blackmon, and Kristel Clayville. You can sign up to receive the rest of the daily devotionals each morning in your inbox.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Christi Harlan on Jimmy Carter's Sunday School Lessons in Washington, D.C.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Next week, Indiana plans to execute someone for the first time since 2009. But in their zeal to kill Joseph Corcoran, they initially rejected his request for his longtime spiritual advisor, a Wesleyan pastor, to be present in the death chamber. Since the U.S. Supreme Court specifically ruled in 2022 that states must allow spiritual advisors to be present and even touch and pray audibly for the condemned person, the denial by the state sparked a lawsuit.
The state’s Department of Corrections apparently then decided to actually read the Supreme Court’s clear ruling and announced yesterday they will now allow Corcoran’s pastor to be present. So next Wednesday (Dec. 18), the state will kill someone as he prays with his pastor one week before Christmas. The next day, Oklahoma plans to kill someone just six days before Christmas. All while leaders of those states claim to be celebrating Christmas.
State executions seem particularly egregious when everyone walks past Christmas decorations on their way there. Yet, this isn’t new (as we noted two years ago in a piece on executions at Christmastime). It’s part of why one of our Unsettling Advent themes last year was on Advent in a time of state executions, which included devotionals from three spiritual advisors who have prayed with people in a death chamber (including one at Christmastime).
Last week, on the third day of Advent, I joined a vigil outside the Missouri Governor’s Office ahead of the execution of Christopher Collins. They had a nice Christmas tree in the office and lots of decorations were going up on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion. So I held up a sign during the vigil to call out the hypocrisy: “Gov. Parson, don’t be like Herod.” Because if you sit in a mansion overseeing executions at Christmastime, we know who you are in the story.
Other News of Note
Brad Onishi talked on PBS NewsHour about the controversial religious views of Pete Hegseth, who Donald Trump nominated to serve as U.S. Defense Secretary.
Caleb Gayle reported in the New York Times Magazine about the efforts in Oklahoma to end church-state separation in public schools.
A Republican lawmaker in Missouri wants to require public schools to post the Ten Commandments.
A Republican lawmaker in Texas wants to require the display of a nativity scene on the state Capitol grounds.
Kristin Du Mez talked on NPR’s Morning Edition about how Donald Trump has emboldened those pushing for Christian Nationalism.
“One important strategy is for White Christians to grapple with ways in which we ourselves have perpetuated Christian Nationalism, not just in the culture at large, but also in our religious spaces.” —Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, during a University of Notre Dame conference analyzing the 2024 election results.
Amid reports that the incoming Trump administration plans to scrap a policy prohibiting ICE arrests at churches, some religious communities are preparing to assist migrants targeted for deportation.
An Episcopal church in Louisiana returned 600 acres to an Indigenous tribe, including a mound that is a sacred site for the tribe.
John Allen Jr. of Crux reported on how Syrian Christians are evaluating their situation after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Jayson Casper of Christianity Today wrote about why Armenian Christians remember Noah’s ark in December.
Stephen Lind wrote for The Conversation about how A Charlie Brown Christmas almost didn’t air.
Photo of the Week
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