Word&Way News: Feb. 7
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a report on political attacks against Lutheran charities and a look at the push to allow immigration raids in houses of worship that are free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a piece on problems with Trump’s proposal for Gaza (and the Christians cheering his idea).
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Review: Karl Barth — A Life in Conflict. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Karl Barth — A Life in Conflict by Christiane Tietz.
Can the Bible Be Our Guide in the Age of Trump? Rodney Kennedy argued that the story of Titus in Crete is the best metaphor for what has happened to America since Donald Trump was elected again.
For DC Airport Chaplain, Disaster Training Becomes Reality. Adelle M. Banks spoke with airport chaplain Nace Lanier, who was among the first to respond to the recent midair collision near the Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Report Details 17 Cases of Abuse by IHOPKC Founder Mike Bickle. An investigation into the founder of a charismatic ministry in Kansas City, Missouri, detailed a history of spiritual abuse and rape.
Jimmy Carter Wins Posthumous Grammy for Narrating an Audiobook of His Sunday School Lessons. For his fourth Grammy, Carter beat out Barbra Streisand, George Clinton, and Dolly Parton.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Paul Raushenbush & Trump's Targeting of Christians
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Earlier this week, I testified in a Missouri Senate Committee hearing against a bill pushing “chaplains” in public schools. I use scare quotes around “chaplains” because there’s nothing in the bill that sets any requirements for who can serve (other than they must pass a background check). Chaplains in the military, state prisons, and elsewhere must meet a number of requirements like education, experience, and denominational endorsement. Additionally, the bill on public schools includes no prohibition on proselytizing, which is particularly problematic when we’re dealing with minors.
This legislation isn’t unique to Missouri. In fact, our lawmakers basically just copied and pasted it from other states. It started in Texas in 2023, then also passed in Florida and Louisiana last year. The legislation is also being pushed in various states right now, like in Arizona where this week a bill passed in the Senate Education Committee. But there’s also growing opposition to this bad legislation. This week, similar bills were defeated in the Arkansas Senate and voted down in the South Dakota House.
The so-called “chaplains” legislation is an attempt to push Christian Nationalism. It’s not about caring for students but an effort to bring unconstitutional government prayer and preaching into public schools. How do I know this? The organization behind the bills — and who showed up to testify for the bill in Missouri this week — has said so. Jeremy Fuzy and I documented that last year, and I read some of the quotes in my testimony. We need our lawmakers to focus on improving the educational opportunities for all our students and leave the prayers and religious instruction to parents and houses of worship. Public schools are not Sunday Schools!
Other News of Note
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., now controls the trademark for Proud Boys name and logo after suing the Proud Boys for vandalism.
Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas declared during a Senate hearing that he believes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was chosen by God “for such a time as this” (which is a biblical verse often misused in politics).
A Southern Baptist pastor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Joseph Gedeon of the London Guardian reported that a Christian employee group in the U.S. State Department — that was created during the first Trump administration — has been suspended, apparently as part of a crackdown by the new Trump administration on DEI initiatives.
Jack Suntrup of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that after a Catholic priest testified in a Missouri House committee against anti-transgender legislation, the Archdiocese of St. Louis criticized his remarks.
“As Baptists, despite our many differences on theology and political preference, we have stood steadfast for centuries in the belief that local congregations should be free to carry out their mission as guided by the Holy Spirit.” —Paul Baxley, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, explaining why CBF joined a lawsuit filed by Quaker groups to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from conducting immigration raids in houses of worship.
Frank Langfitt of NPR reported on a pastor fired from a progressive Baptist church in North Carolina as attendance dropped amid his sermons on social and racial justice.
Interfaith Power and Light, a prominent U.S. faith-based environmental group, announced it would abruptly shut down amid financial troubles.
NFL emails obtained by the Associated Press show the New Orleans Saints worked behind the scenes to help the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans with public relations efforts as clergy sex abuse allegations.
Robert P. Jones joined Jennifer Rubin at the Substack newsletter The Contrarian to discuss new polling about Christian Nationalism:
Photo of the Week
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