Word&Way News: Nov. 1
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a reflection on two messages in New York City on Sunday and a report from a get-out-the-vote bus tour by the Interfaith Alliance.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Review: Hope Is Here! Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Hope Is Here!: Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community by Luther E. Smith Jr.
Church Near Pennsylvania Capitol Becomes Peace Hub Hoping to Protect Democracy in Divisive Election. Luis Andres Henao reported on a United Methodist church in Pennsylvania working to bring peace during this political season.
We Tried Christian Nationalism in America. It Went Badly. Bob Smietana reported on what nostalgia for a “Christian America” forgets about colonial governments led by Christians who persecuted other Christians.
In a Time of Change, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry Says, He Kept His Eye Trained on Love. Yonat Shimron reported on the head of the Episcopal Church as he ends his nine-year term.
After Exiting the Christian Music Industry, These Artists Engage Religion on Their Terms. Kathryn Post reported on former CCM stars who left that world as their views about faith and the church shifted.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Bekah McNeel on This is Going to Hurt
Another noteworthy program this week:
KQED’s The Bay explored Black churches in California retrofitting their buildings to be greener.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Election Day has not yet arrived, but false claims of election “fraud” and “illegal” votes are already taking off. If the last presidential election was any indicator, we may see lots of claims after the election — especially if we again have a losing candidate who refuses to admit their loss.
How bad is it? Even nuns are wrongly being accused of voter fraud.
A Republican operative in Pennsylvania recently accused a monastery of casting illegal votes as he claimed that 53 people were registered to vote at an address where “no one lives.” But 55 people do actually live there on the property of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie. Yet, even after the Washington Post proved the allegation to be false, the Republican operative refused to admit he was wrong. And he still has not deleted his false claims about the nuns, who are considering legal action since the lies put them at risk.
Regardless of how you vote (or if you vote at all), Christians are supposed to be people of the Truth. So let us not be among those spreading lies about the election and its outcome. We saw enough false “prophets” do that after the 2020 election. That means we need to double-check things we post on Facebook and reject political and religious leaders who deliberately push lies about the vote.
Other News of Note
The Presbyterian Outlook included Baptizing America on its list of “books helping us through election season” as recommended by readers.
Yvette Walker of the Kansas City Star wrote about speaking in local Presbyterian churches on issues of religion, politics, and Christian Nationalism (with a shout-out to Baptizing America).
Hannah Allam of the Washington Post reported from the charismatic “Rescue America Tour” in Louisiana.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both making appeals to Christian voters in Georgia.
Mike Hixenbaugh and Lewis Kamb of NBC News reported on how churches hosting get-out-the-vote events with Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA are likely breaking IRS rules barring tax-exempt organizations from engaging in partisan politicking.
“They will not force us to leave, and staying is a small act of resistance.” —Brent Hamoud, an American Christian serving in Lebanon, explaining in a Christianity Today article why he stays even as Israel attacks the nation.
An analysis by Forum 18 shows about 300 Ukrainians face criminal cases because their right to be a conscientious objector is not being honored. The list includes Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, and others who cite their faith as why they refuse to fight.
Reuters reported on members of a Congolese church in Wisconsin worried about a crackdown on refugees if Trump is elected.
Isaac Windes of the Texas Tribune reported on religious advocates on a public education advisory board helping put more Christianity into the state’s curriculum.
Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times profiled Commonweal, a liberal Catholic magazine, as it turns 100 years old.
Bill McKibben wrote for Sojourners about the civil disobedience of a cellist protesting Citibank’s investment in fossil fuels.
Jim Wallis wrote at his Substack newsletter God’s Politics about the role poll chaplains can play on election day:
Photo of the Week
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