Word&Way News: Oct. 11
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a look at the rise of the phrase “Jezebel spirit” that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a reflection on visiting the historic Greenwood District in Tulsa.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Lausanne Movement Offers a Breath of Fresh Air to Arab Evangelicals. Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab documented how a leading evangelical group recently took a bold step away from pro-Trump American evangelicals.
Review: Another Gospel. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity by Joel Looper.
Bring Your Pets to Church, Haitian Immigrant Priest Tells Worshippers. ‘I Am Not Going To Eat Them … I Will Bless Them.” G. Jeffrey MacDonald reported from a blessing of the animals service at an Episcopal church in New Hampshire.
Evangelicals for Harris’s Anti-Trump Billy Graham Ad Prompts Threat of Lawsuit. Kathryn Post reported on a litigation threat from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association led by Franklin Graham.
This German Church Is the Tallest in the World. Until Spain’s La Sagrada Familia Is Done, Anyway. After more than 130 years as the world’s tallest church, a Lutheran building in Germany may soon lose its title.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Amanda Tyler on How to End Christian Nationalism
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
On Sunday, I spoke about Baptizing America and Christian Nationalism at a Disciples of Christ congregation in Kansas City, Missouri. We had a great conversation and I was excited to see the crowd that showed up ready to learn more and work to challenge the dangerous ideology of Christian Nationalism in their own congregation, community, and beyond.
As I drove home, a campaign sign caught my eye. Well, it wasn’t quite a campaign sign as it wasn’t supporting a specific candidate or ballot initiative. But it was intended for this election season.
“Vote the Bible,” the sign read.
With no other signs there, I was left unsure which way the owner of the property wanted us to vote. At home, I found online that I could buy such a sign on Etsy from someone who also sold a bunch of pro-Trump and anti-Harris (and anti-Biden) signs. Apparently, voting the Bible doesn’t include all the verses about loving immigrants.
Voting is important, as is reading the Bible. But if we reduce the Bible to some sort of voting guide, we’ve really missed the point. And making the Bible just another talking point in our partisan elections tarnishes the sacred text.
Survey Says…
Other News of Note
An investigation by the Associated Press found that the Trump-endorsed “God Bless the USA” Bibles are printed in China (and the article quotes Brian Kaylor on the heresy of that version of the Bible).
Rachel Laser wrote in Church & State about efforts to challenge Christian Nationalism. She quoted Brian Kaylor and recommended Baptizing America.
Eric Killelea of the Houston Chronicle reported on the sermon by a Southern Baptist megachurch pastor in Texas suggesting people back the Trump-Vance ticket as “How to Vote Like Jesus.”
An impromptu campaign stop for Dave McCormick, the GOP senate nominee in Pennsylvania, ended with him being asked to leave by the pastor of a Black church and the manager of a cheesesteak shop.
“The Courage Tour is one component of this multi-pronged effort to stage the aftermath of this election as a season of contestation, that the results of the election are not the results of the election.” —Matthew Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force, in a report by NPR’s All Things Considered on efforts by pro-Trump charismatic Christians to become election workers.
Kimberly Reeves wrote for The Barbed Wire about the faith of Robert Roberson, a man set to be executed in Texas next week despite having been convicted based on what is now considered “junk science.”
Ken Chitwood wrote for Sojourners about “the unofficial saints of the U.S.-Mexico border.”
NPR’s Morning Edition reported on Christians volunteering to help in the aftermath of natural disasters.
Daniel Silliman of Christianity Today reported from the inaugural denominational meeting of the Global Methodist Church.
Kelsey Dallas of Deseret News wrote about athletes and public expressions of faith.
Photo of the Week
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