Word&Way News: March 15
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a look at sexual abuse scandals in Southern Baptist life that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received an analysis of a new campaign ad by Sen. Josh Hawley.
Support our journalism ministry by upgrading to a paid e-newsletter subscription today!
Top 5 at wordandway.org
Let’s Not Destroy What We Helped Build. Sarah Blackwell explored what our role is as Christians when it comes to public schools.
Review: With the Best of Intentions. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed With the Best of Intentions: Interreligious Missteps and Mistakes from editors Lucinda Mosher, Elinor J. Pierce, and Or N. Rose.
Texas Judge Temporarily Blocks Attempt to Shut Down Annunciation House. Aleja Hertzler-McCain reported on a ruling that stops a state effort targeting a Catholic group ministering to migrants.
A Wisconsin Ruling on Catholic Charities Raises the Bar for Religious Tax Exemptions. Todd Richmond reported on a case that could have a significant impact on religious groups as a divided state Supreme Court limited which charities should get credited for doing work deemed as religious.
Full-Time Ministry Drains Too Many Clergy and Church Budgets. Part-Time Pastors Can Help. G. Jeffrey MacDonald wrote about changing church trends, which are especially impacting mainline Protestants.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: David Fitch on Reckoning with Power
Another noteworthy podcast this week:
Brian Kaylor appeared on Disarming Leviathan with host Caleb Campbell to talk about Christian Nationalism and Baptizing America.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
On Wednesday (March 13), the United Methodist Church Council of Bishops called for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza. The statement particularly noted a recent Israeli attack on people “as they sought food from an aid truck.”
“We believe that the current military strategy of the Israeli government, supported by U.S. weapons transfers and aid, will only lead to the destruction of the entire Gaza Strip, an unconscionable death toll that grows daily, the perpetuation of one of the world’s longest conflicts, and the proliferation of increased enmity between Israelis and Palestinians, which has historically led to an increase in the militarization on both sides,” the bishops added. “There is no peace to be found in this strategy.”
This is significant as the UMC has been the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States (although one-quarter of the UMC congregations in the U.S. recently left the denomination over LGBTQ+ disagreements). This makes the UMC the largest denomination to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, joining Black bodies like the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Meanwhile, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, continues to justify the Israeli military actions in Gaza as a “just war.” But with more than 31,000 people killed (including more than 12,000 children) in five months, this war cannot be called just. We need more faith leaders to speak out against the genocide and to use that word (which the Methodist bishops failed to do).
Other News of Note
Conservative political activist Ralph Reed is leading an effort to spend $62 million this year to get evangelicals to vote for Donald Trump.
Brian Fraga of the National Catholic Reporter wrote about an upcoming "Catholic Prayer for Trump” event at Mar-a-Lago featuring Michael Flynn and Jim Caviezel.
Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo reported on the Christian Nationalism of “a men-only, Christian-only, right-wing secret society with the aim of installing certain kinds of Christians in a future U.S. government.”
Lourdes Hurtado of Noticias Telemundo reported on how Christian Nationalism among Latinos might help Donald Trump.
Meagan Saliashvili wrote for Texas Monthly about the embrace of far-right authoritarianism among some Russian Orthodox adherents in the United States.
Eric Killelea of the Houston Chronicle reported on how the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Ted Cruz has been campaigning during Sunday worship services at Black churches.
“It’s possible that more Americans visited Haiti as missionaries than any other country in the history of the world — and the country has never been in worse shape. … It’s important to look hard at the unintended consequences of our well-intentioned efforts. —Warren Cole Smith of MinistryWatch reflecting on short-term missions in light of the unrest in Haiti.
A pastor in Connecticut is being criticized by local officials after he created his own armed patrol “to keep the streets clean.”
Amy Frykhold wrote for Christian Century about a two-decade dialogue effort between Mennonite scholars from North America and Shi’a scholars from Iran.
With a new church in the ancient city of Ur, officials in Iraq hope it will attract Christian pilgrims.
Photo of the Week
Thanks for reading!