Word&Way News: June 21
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a review of a new book on religion and race that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a reflection on a hidden church in Amsterdam.
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On the SBC Sidewalk. Brian Kaylor reflected on standing outside the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting holding a sign affirming women in ministry.
Spreading Post-Conviction Violence in Jesus’s Hijacked Name. Nathan Empsall wrote about the most recent iteration of the ReAwaken America Tour.
Review: Christmaker. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist by James F. McGrath.
Episcopal Church Grapples With ‘Transformative Role’ in Native American Residential Schools. G. Jeffrey MacDonald reported on how some Episcopalians are researching their church’s abuses against Native Americans.
The Ten Commandments Must Be Displayed in Louisiana Classrooms Under Requirement Signed Into Law. The Pelican State becomes the first to require that public schools post an edited, movie-prop version of the Ten Commandments — and it’s already sparking church-state litigation.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Caleb Campbell on Disarming Leviathan
Other noteworthy programs this week:
Brian Kaylor appeared in a Faithful America webinar with Nathan Empsall to talk about Baptizing America and Christian Nationalism.
Anthea Butler appeared on MSNBC to warn about Christian Nationalism.
by Jeremy Fuzy, Word&Way Digital Editor
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II was Monday’s featured guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. While I was quite excited to watch the interview — he is perhaps the most prominent member of my denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) — I was not prepared for how moving the experience was going to be.
Barber was there to discuss his latest book written with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy, about how the staggering statistics of poverty in America have long been misrepresented. He drew everyone’s attention to the fact that there are over 135 million people living in poverty in the richest nation on earth, and within this group there are 40 million more White people than Black people. Additionally, a staggering 800 people die each day due to poverty and low wealth.
“We don’t have to do this. It is actually, I believe, criminal — a form of policy violence — to continue down the road that we are,” Barber told Stewart and the audience.
Barber has long been a proponent of politically mobilizing poor and low-wage people in elections with close margins, from his days leading the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina to his current work as co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign — which has a big march on Washington coming up on June 29.
The content of what he had to say was profound, as it always is. And there were certainly the laugh-out-loud moments that you would expect from a good comedy show, like when Barber said, “You’ve got to fight like he— … heaven,” which caused Stewart to grin and chuckle uncontrollably. But what hit me hardest was the fact that this exchange was happening at all.
Something about seeing a mainline Protestant leader speak passionately and prophetically in front of a national audience really struck me. He called out the powerful for either racializing or running from the issue of poverty in a way that was political but not partisan, specifically religious but also inclusive. I can only hope this kind of thing continues to become more common than a wealthy person entering the kingdom of God.
Other News of Note
Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood wrote a column for Sightings about “Civil Religion as a Gateway to Christian Nationalism.”
Mitchell Atencio of Sojourners interviewed Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood about Baptizing America: “Are You Accidentally a Christian Nationalist?”
Alexander Bolton of The Hill reported on how some Jewish senators are expressing concern about Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s Christian Nationalist agenda.
A judge in Missouri dismissed a lawsuit by 14 Christian and Jewish ministers claiming the state’s anti-abortion law violated the constitutional church-state separation. A Public Witness reported on the lawsuit when it was first filed.
“God is the God of justice and we would like to stay there, to keep our presence, to witness that God is still with Ukraine, to minister to our people in the most difficult time, taking care for their souls and their bodies, mourning with them.” —Igor Bandura, vice president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, as he encouraged U.S. Christians to partner with Ukrainian Christians who continue to minister amid war.
Pope Francis became the first pope to address a G7 summit, at which he warned about AI.
Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris resigned after allegations he sexually abused a girl for several years in the 1980s, but his church didn’t tell the congregation about the allegations on Sunday. Morris served on Donald Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Council and hosted Trump at the church in 2020.
Paul Pressler, a leading architect of the Southern Baptist Convention’s rightward turn who was also accused of sexual assault by multiple men, died at age 94. (Brian Kaylor reflected at A Public Witness on Pressler’s legacy in March.)
A flashy New York pastor was sentenced to nine years in prison for defrauding his parishioners and others.
Dwight Kealy reflected on a trend that is making it difficult for many who are part of a faith community: people sharing lies on social media.
Clemente Lisi of Religion Unplugged profiled the Catholic faith of Joe Mazzulla, head coach of the NBA champion Boston Celtics.
Photo of the Week
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