Word&Way News: June 27
Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. This week we published a critique of the president’s comments about God when announcing an attack on Iran, a look at the dangers of a progressive Christian influencer pushing election denialism, and a review of a book about spirituality and caregivers for people with disabilities.
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Review: Bearing Witness. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Bearing Witness: What the Church Can Learn from Early Abolitionists by Daniel Lee Hill.
Faith Leaders and Families Sue to Block Texas’s New Ten Commandments in Schools Law. The Lone Star State became the third state to pass a law requiring the posting of a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments — and the third state to be sued for doing so.
Faith Groups Say House Republicans’ Probe Into Immigration Work Violates Their Religious Freedom. Last week, A Public Witness reported on a congressional inquiry into Catholic, Lutheran, and United Methodist groups. Now, some Christian leaders are decrying the investigation.
As Germany’s Far Right Builds Ties With US Conservatives, Churches Push Back. Catholic and Protestant leaders in Germany are challenging a connection among far-right politicians in Germany and the U.S. that is built on a common rejection of immigrants.
Kenyan Christians Adapt as Churches Are Destroyed by Climate-Impacted Flooding. Tony Onyulo and Stella Gitau reported on how climate change is impacting churches in Kenya.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Another lawsuit has been filed by a Christian group to challenge a new anti-immigrant policy. But this time, it’s a state law facing a challenge.
The Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is suing to block a new law in Tennessee that criminalizes people and organizations who assist undocumented immigrants. The suit alleges the new bill violates the Synod’s First Amendment rights by criminalizing ministry actions they engage in because of Christian teachings.
“The law appears to make it a crime for a landlord to rent an apartment to immigrants who entered or remained in the United States unlawfully, according to ICE; for parents to provide housing to an undocumented child who helps pay the bills; for a charity to provide shelter to undocumented immigrants, if the charity receives donations or grants to support that work; and for a church to host such immigrants within its building for worship, a potluck, an English-as-a-second language class, or a know-your-rights training, if the church receives donations to support that work,” the suit reads.
“By burdening these religious practices without substantial justification, and by excepting certain secular activities but not comparable religious activities, Section 5 impermissibly infringes on the Synod’s First Amendment rights to religious exercise and association,” the suit adds.
This suit joins several other recent lawsuits from Christian groups challenging immigration and refugee moves by the Trump administration, including two lawsuits seeking to block immigration raids at houses of worship and another suit from refugee resettlement agencies challenging a Trump executive order suspending refugee resettlement programs. In times like this, loving our neighbors apparently requires legal representation.
Other News of Note
José Francisco Morales Torres wrote a review of Baptizing America in the Journal of Discipliana (published by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society). Calling it a “timely and urgent book,” Torres wrote, “This is a fabulous book, overflowing with intellectual prowess and prophetic pathos.”
The Presbyterian Church in America, a conservative evangelical denomination, voted at its general assembly this week to create a committee to study Christian Nationalism and if it’s compatible with PCA theology.
As the U.S. Senate considers the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the body’s parliamentarian has ruled against an effort to exempt religious colleges from an income tax on college endowments.
In a 6-3 ruling this morning (June 27), the U.S. Supreme Court sided a group of parents who claimed a religious right to censor books in public schools.
Rachel Laser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State spoke with Ozarks at Large about a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’s new law requiring the posting of a highly edited version of the Ten Commandments.
Bishop-elect Michael Pham, a refugee from Vietnam, marked World Refugee Day by standing in the hallway of a federal immigration court in Los Angeles where ICE agents have been arresting people. But when Pham arrived, the agents left and didn’t arrest anyone that day. As one observer quipped: “Like the story of Moses and Exodus, the Red Sea parted.”
“They came here for freedom, not like this. Shame on you. I know you are doing your job, but shame on you. Shame on this government.” —Rev. Ara Torosian, a pastor in Los Angeles who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Iran, speaking to ICE agents as he recorded them arresting two members of his church who have pending asylum cases after they fled Iran for fear of being persecuted as Christians.
A previously lost anti-slavery scroll from American Baptist ministers has been found in a church closet in Massachusetts. The 1847 document, “A Resolution and Protest Against Slavery,” was signed by 116 Baptist ministers in part to respond to the Southern Baptist Convention forming to defend slavery.
Thomas DuBois wrote for The Conversation about efforts by Scandinavian Lutherans to apologize for their “dark history of assimilating Indigenous people.”
A suicide bomb attack on Sunday (June 22) inside a Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus, Syria, killed 25 people and wounded 63 others.
Photo of the Week
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