Word&Way News: Feb. 16
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a look at the subversive stories about St. Valentine that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received an analysis of unusual Super Bowl “prophetic” insights by a leading MAGA theologian.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Multifaith March for Peace in Gaza Launches From Philadelphia. Jeremy Fuzy reported on an event launching an eight-day pilgrimage pushing for a ceasefire.
A Kansas City Lament. Darron LaMonte Edwards shared his thoughts on the mass shooting at the Super Bowl victory rally in his community.
Extending the Big Lie to Our Children. Rodney Kennedy wrote about the danger to our society if we accept lies as a legitimate political strategy.
Greece Just Legalized Same-Sex Marriage. Will Other Orthodox Countries Join Them Any Time Soon? For the first time, a country dominated by the Eastern Orthodox Church has legalized same-sex marriage.
Review: Hunting Magic Eels. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age by Richard Beck.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Michael Wear on the Spirit of Our Politics
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
On Thursday (Feb. 15), 26 members of the U.S. House of Representatives released a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Chaplain Margaret Kibben demanding answers about a recent prayer during a House session. It’s bad enough that we treat such prayers as part of the official business of Congress. It’s worse when it comes from someone who — as I reported at the time of his prayer — preached against COVID-19 public health measures and was in Washington, D.C., for Donald Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
In addition to voicing concerns about MAGAchurch pastor Jack Hibbs and his “long record of spewing hateful vitriol toward non-Christians, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community,” the congressional complaint also questioned the process. The members argued his presence “makes a mockery” of the rules for guest chaplains for multiple reasons. Speaker Johnson was the sponsoring member for Hibbs, but Hibbs isn’t from Johnson’s district. Additionally, Johnson had recently sponsored a different guest chaplain (from his district) even though they’re supposed to be limited to one per Congress. And Hibb’s prayer didn’t occur on the last legislative day of the week.
As they called for an explanation of why Chaplain Kibben “waved basic requirements of the guest chaplain program for Hibbs,” the members also noted that she has refused to allow a nontheistic chaplain to serve for a day despite meeting the rules.
“It appears that Speaker Johnson — with the tacit approval of the House chaplain — decided to flout the chaplaincy guidelines and use the platform of the guest chaplain to lend the imprimatur of Congress to an ill-qualified hate preacher who shares the speaker’s Christian Nationalist agenda and his overriding antipathy toward church-state separation,” the members wrote. “We should all be able to agree that the guest chaplain program should not be used as a political tool, nor should it be implemented in a way that favors one religion over others or applies inappropriate religious tests.”
The complaint deserves answers. But perhaps the best solution would be to just scrap the government prayers.
Other News of Note
Holly Hollman of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty wrote a column for Time about how “public schools are not Sunday Schools.”
After Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz drew public criticism for speaking at a Christian Nationalistic event, his office is now refusing to make his calendar public.
A nondenominational church in Texas hosted a training session for “poll watchers” led by a conservative activist with a record of denying election results.
UM News profiled three United Methodists in Burundi who serve in governmental positions to consider how they engage faith and politics.
“In my reading of the gospel, God’s kingdom inverts the power dynamics of the world. Instead of a throne, Jesus sits at a table. Instead of a war horse, he rides a donkey. Instead of a sword, he picks up a cross.” —Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, in a conversation with Craig Nash of Good Faith Media.
A lawsuit challenging an upcoming execution in Missouri argues the state’s protocols could cause significant pain that would then violate the religious rights of the condemned man, Brian Dorsey, by preventing him “from having any meaningful spiritual discussion or participation in his last religious rites with his spiritual advisor.”
Descendants of enslaved people who helped build St. Louis University, a Jesuit school, are demanding the university pay reparations.
Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global reported on a recent communion service at the U.S.-Mexico border with elements shared through the wall.
Scottish Catholics used Valentine’s Day to raise awareness and funds for people in Rwanda.
Mark Kellner of the Washington Times reported on a Lutheran school in Nevada that’s been holding Taylor Swift-themed Bible studies.
Photo of the Week
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