Word&Way News: March 8
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a report on rallies for poverty legislation that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at recent and historical protests at churches.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Love Letter/Review: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. Rodney Kennedy wrote about Tim Alberta’s book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.
Review: Scenes With My Son. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Scenes with My Son: Love and Grief in the Wake of Suicide by Robert Hubbard.
Many Christian Voters in US See Immigration as a Crisis. How to Address It Is Where They Differ. Giovanna Dell’Orto reported on divergent Christian positions on how to address border issues.
Liberty University Agrees to Unprecedented $14 Million Fine for Failing to Disclose Crime Data. Ben Finley reported on the record fine against a fundamentalist Baptist school for underreporting crimes and for its treatment of sexual assault survivors.
The Church of England Aims to Raise More Than $1 Billion to Address Its Past Links to Slavery. Jill Lawless reported on the latest move by Anglicans toward slavery reparations.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Eric Seibert on Redeeming Violent Verses
Other noteworthy podcasts this week:
Heavenly Homeland, a special five-part series from the Faithful Politics Podcast, launched to explore “the myth of a Christian nation.” Episode 1 features comments from Brian Kaylor, Robert Jones, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Isaac Sharp, and more.
On Respecting Religion, Amanda Tyler and Holly Hollman analyzed a statement from Justice Samuel Alito after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case from Missouri involving jury selection and religion.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
This week, disgraced former Lt. General Michael Flynn claimed, “The opposite of a Christian Nationalist is an atheist globalist.” He’s made that argument before. And it’s still wrong. But as he travels to churches to preach his version of Christian Nationalism mixed with conspiracy theories and MAGA politics, he wants people to think they must follow him if they want to be Christian.
Flynn doesn’t want to admit it, but many of the leading voices against Christian Nationalism are Christians. Like Amanda Tyler, the lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Last night, she attended the State of the Union address as a guest of U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, co-founder of the Congressional Freethought Caucus.
“As much as my Freethought Caucus colleagues and I can call it out, the best advocates in the pushback against Christian Nationalism are often fellow Christians,” Huffman said as he welcomed Tyler. “That’s Amanda and her colleagues who’ve shown so much courage and leadership in speaking out against what they feel like is a hijacking of their religion.”
He’s right. Christian Nationalism is a distortion of the teachings of Jesus. And that’s why one doesn’t have to choose between just Christian Nationalism or atheist globalism. There is another way, a better way.
And it’s also why Beau Underwood and I — as Christians — wrote Baptizing America to help efforts to challenge the heresy of Christian Nationalism. Tyler even praised it for adding “an important and provocative angle.” So if you haven’t already, we hope you’ll pre-order it today.
Other News of Note
Will Carless reported for USA Today about risks from extremism in the mix of MAGA politics and Christian Nationalism (with quotes from Brian Kaylor).
Steven Monacelli of Daily Dot reported on a social media network for Christians in the New Apostolic Reformation movement that has some politicians joining it.
Anthea Butler wrote for MSNBC about a key difference between White and Black Americans who espouse Christian Nationalism.
Some alumni of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, are pushing for Vivek Ramaswamy to be removed from the Jesuit school’s board of trustees after he pushed far-right conspiracy theories during his failed presidential campaign.
“I take exception to White Christian Nationalism because it is a complete misrepresentation of Jesus of Nazareth. He didn’t seek to dominate, coerce, or control others.” —Rev. Stephen D. Jones, co-pastor of First Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, in a Kansas City Star column.
Clergy in Louisiana gathered on the state Capitol’s steps to oppose legislation to add the electric chair and poison gas as potential methods for executions.
The grown son of a “prophet” in Kansas City, Missouri, is claiming his dad “is a complete fraud” who researched people before making his “prophecies” with personal information allegedly from God.
Madison Malone Kircher of the New York Times wrote about Hallow, the pay-to-pray app promoted by Mark Wahlberg.
Philip Oltermann of the Guardian shared pictures of Europe’s brutalist churches.
Photo of the Week
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