Word&Way News: March 29
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. Paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at recent religiously-based partisan attacks, and all subscribers received a conversation about Christian Nationalism with two authors of forthcoming books on the subject.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Donald Trump, Bible Salesman. Rodney Kennedy explored various meanings behind Trump’s recent endorsement of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” Bible.
Review: God Gave Rock and Roll to You. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music by Leah Payne.
Gallup Poll: More Than Half of Americans Rarely Go to Church. Bob Smietana wrote about how “the most popular church in America might be St. Mattress, followed by Bedside Baptist.”
Black Pastors See Popular Easter Services as an Opportunity to Rebuild In-Person Worship Attendance. Darren Sands reported on hopes for renewed church attendance by the religious demographic most hit by COVID-19 church attendance declines.
More Than 140 Global Christian Leaders Call for Gaza Cease-Fire in Holy Week Letter. Aleja Hertzler-McCain wrote about a statement from Christians declaring they “stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Palestine and around the world and say the killing must stop, and the violence must be brought to an end.”
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Brian Kaylor & Beau Underwood on Baptizing America
Other noteworthy podcasts this week:
Brian Kaylor appeared on the Interfaith Voices radio program Inspired to talk about the Poor People Campaign and the diversity of Baptists.
Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood talked on the Faithful Politics podcast about their forthcoming book Baptizing America.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Earlier this week, I testified in a Missouri House committee hearing in favor of a bill to require a unanimous jury verdict before someone can be sentenced to death. The Show-Me State is one of only two states that currently allow that scenario, and it’s only allowed in Missouri because of a court interpretation that misreads how lawmakers originally wrote the law. So this bill would clarify the language. As I told lawmakers, it’s an unjust loophole that undermines basic principles of our judicial system.
In the case of a hung jury during the sentencing phase, a judge can then unilaterally impose the sentence. There’s even a case where a judge sentenced someone to death after 11 of the 12 jurors voted instead for life in prison! Missouri last year executed someone where the judge gave the sentence after the jury failed to find consensus.
A couple of people who testified for the bill noted that judges are elected and might face political pressures the citizens on the jury do not. As I thought about the hearing afterward, that explanation particularly resonated during this Holy Week.
Governor Pilate knew the execution of Jesus was unjust. But he bowed to political pressures. He worried more about keeping his position than doing the right thing. Why would we think magistrates two thousand years later would all be immune to such pressures and desires?
I’m hopeful the bill will pass. And I hope Christians will push for justice for all people, especially as we remember the state execution of our Savior.
Survey Says…
Other News of Note
Helen Coster of Reuters reported on charismatic TV preachers pushing for Donald Trump.
Juan Perez Jr. of Politico profiled Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction who is trying to bring religion into public schools.
In recent years, Tennessee lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to name the Bible as the state’s official book. This year, they’re trying a bill that includes the Bible as one of 10 official state books.
A Nebraska state lawmaker is being criticized by colleagues and pastors for using state letterhead to urge pastors to speak out against a ballot initiative effort.
Judicial nominee Adeel Mangi would be, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the first Muslim to serve in the federal appellate judiciary. However, he is facing opposition because of his faith, even though the U.S. Constitution specifically prohibits religious tests for office.
“During Holy Week, Christians remember the final hours before Jesus’s arrest, when he and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane and he asked them to stay awake and alert as he prayed. … Two millennia later, too many Christians are still falling asleep and abandoning Jesus, turning their backs on his teachings of love, truth, and peace and instead embracing the cruelty, conspiracy theories, and Jan. 6-style violence of far-right Christian Nationalism.” —Rev. Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America, in a column for Religion News Service.
A pastor in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, organized a “Jericho Walk” around a public library to ask God to stop a “Drag Queen Story Hour” event. (The efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election included “Jericho March” rallies some see as a precursor to the violence of the insurrection.)
For the second time in less than a year, a congregational church in California had a banner vandalized — this time one calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
A Baptist church in Arizona is suing the city of San Luis for trying to stop the church’s food ministry to migrants.
A Reformed church in New Jersey is helping migrants get apartments to rent.
Ted Farris wrote for Aeon about his memories of his grandfather, theologian Paul Tillich.
Photo of the Week
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I’m of the belief that no one should be executed, however I agree that a unanimous jury vote should be the very least expectation. One judge should never ever make that decision.