Word&Way News: Nov. 15
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to an announcement about this year’s Unsettling Advent devotionals that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received an analysis of the over-attention paid to White evangelicals during the recent presidential campaign.
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Review: A Visible Unity. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed A Visible Unity: Cecil Robeck and the Work of Ecumenism by Josiah Baker.
As COP29 Begins, Some Voice Concerns Over Religious Freedom in Host Country Azerbaijan. Aleja Hertzler-McCain reported on faith advocacy on climate change at a controversial location.
Mike Huckabee, Trump’s Pick for Ambassador to Israel, Has Long Called Himself a Zionist. Adriana Gomez Licon reported on one of the president-elect’s controversial nominations announced this week.
Church of England Head Justin Welby Resigns Over Handling of Sex Abuse Scandal. After 11 years, the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned amid a growing scandal.
To Feel Safe in the Pews, Trauma Must Be Acknowledged, Spiritual Directors Say. Genevieve Charles wrote about efforts to use trauma-informed care to make congregations safe places.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Grace Ji-Sun Kim on When God Became White
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
This week, I’m spending a couple of days in Washington, D.C., with my fellow board members of Americans United for Church and State. It was a pre-planned meeting, but the election results definitely give us things to plan for as we prepare to push back against upcoming efforts to undermine church-state separation. We’ll continue to see Christian Nationalism advanced in our nation’s capital and in state capitals across the nation. But that doesn’t mean we should give up.
This week also brought a nice victory on protecting church-state separation that is good for both faith and democracy. A federal judge on Tuesday (Nov. 12) blocked Louisiana’s new law requiring the posting of an edited Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms. Calling the law “unconstitutional on its face,” the judge noted in a 177-page ruling the “overtly religious” goal of the law that would be coercive on children and undermine parental rights on teaching faith. Americans United was one of the groups that represented the clergy and other parents who brought the suit.
While it will be appealed by those wishing to post the edited Ten Commandments, the ruling this week shows the strong constitutional foundation for protecting religious liberty for all. Hopefully, we will see more such victories.
Other News of Note
Sarah McCammon of NPR reported on Latino evangelical support for Donald Trump.
President-elect Donald Trump said he intends to nominate Matt Gaetz for U.S. attorney general. Gaetz has been a controversial member of the House of Representatives, but he resigned on Wednesday to stop the release of an ethics investigation. He’s long been accused of various sex and drug crimes.
Jeff Sharlet wrote for Religion Dispatches about the extremist religious views — and tattoos — of Donald Trump's pick to serve as U.S. secretary of defense.
Liam Adams of the Nashville Tennessean wrote about the policy goal Southern Baptist leaders are urging the new Trump administration to focus on.
The Oklahoma Department of Education abruptly canceled its search for a vendor to supply 55,000 Bibles (though they say they will restart the search). Then State Superintendent of Public Schools Ryan Walters announced they bought over 500 Bibles for classrooms and held up a Trump-endorsed “God Bless the USA” Bible to show what he bought.
“We all find our salvation, our liberation, when we live in radical solidarity with the oppressed of the earth, signified by the broken body of Jesus given unto us. Those at our margins whom we think we must save are the ones who will bring about our own salvation.” —Miguel A. De La Torre in a Good Faith Media column, “Just As I Am: An Invitation to Salvation for U.S. Evangelicals.”
Fearing an increase in federal executions during the next administration, Catholic and other activists are urging President Joe Biden to commute all federal death sentences to life in prison.
Catholic, Lutheran, and United Methodist churches in Iowa City are working together to provide transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness.
Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global reported on a lecture about secularism and democracy by political scientist John Compton (and responses by David Gushee and Angela Parker).
Rachel Pfeiffer of Christianity Today reported on new dyslexia-friendly Bibles.
Photo of the Week
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