Word&Way News: Oct. 18
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, paid subscribers received a report on politicking in church services.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Review: The Moral Teachings of Jesus. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God by David Gushee.
Oklahoma Parents and Teachers Sue to Stop Top Education Official’s Classroom Bible Mandate. An effort to put KJV Bibles in public schools in the Sooner State sparked a lawsuit.
Matt Queen, SBC Pastor and Former Seminary Professor, Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI. Bob Smietana reported on the outcome of the first person charged in an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
Faith-Based Environmental Groups Take On Fossil Fuels As ‘A Sacred Duty.’ Fiona Murphy reported on efforts by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and others to address climate change.
Elton John Turns the Saga of Televangelist Tammy Faye Into Song for Broadway. Mark Kennedy reported on the musical “Tammy Faye.”
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Jerome Copulsky on American Heretics
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Last week, I spoke at an event about Project 2025 and its impacts. After I gave a short keynote address on it, I moderated a fantastic panel with Rev. Cassandra Gould (senior strategist at Faith In Action), Nimrod Chapel, Jr. (president of the Missouri State Conference NAACP), and Tori Schafer (director of policy and campaigns for the ACLU of Missouri). We discussed issues like Christian Nationalism, racial discrimination, education, healthcare, and more, and we took questions from the crowd who showed up for the event.
Although Project 2025 is a national topic, we connected the issues to how it would impact people locally. That’s a great reminder about how we shouldn’t get distracted just by what happens in the White House or Congress. Actions in statehouses, city council chambers, and school board rooms can often have a bigger impact on people’s daily lives than what happens in Washington, D.C. That’s why we need to be paying attention to state and local decisions.
Even if you’re like me and live in a state where your presidential vote won’t really impact the election because of the Electoral College, there are other candidates and issues worth considering. And sometimes part of loving our neighbors means protecting them from politicians working to strip away their rights.
Survey Says…
Other News of Note
Mike Hixenbaugh of NBC News reported from a large charismatic rally on the National Mall that pushed Trump's reelection and spiritual warfare.
Rick Pidcock reported for Baptist News Global on the contrast between a Sean Feucht “Kingdom to the Capitol” rally and a “Faith and Democracy” event in North Carolina.
ProPublica documented how J.D. Vance's recent appearance at the “Courage Tour,” a charismatic political worship event, might have violated tax and election laws.
Sarah Szilagy of Mother Jones profiled a Pentecostal pastor in Ohio running for the state legislature after unseating an incumbent Republican in the primary.
A National Catholic Reporter poll found Catholics in swing states backing Trump, but it showed Harris performing better than Biden was.
Washington Post: “Trump Delivers Profanity, Below-the-Belt Digs at Catholic Charity Banquet.” (As previously predicted at A Public Witness, Trump last night made a mockery of the values of the Al Smith Dinner.)
“In election season, we sometimes ask whether God is a Democrat or a Republican, but the truth is more obvious: God is an immigrant. … For Christians, the truth is quite simple: God is not vaguely in solidarity with the vulnerable, but actually is the vulnerable.” —Rev. Michael Woolf in a Sojourners column about caring for immigrants.
An Episcopal Church in Wyoming returned about 200 Northern Arapaho tribal items the church had held since 1946.
Calvin Cockrell of Religion Unplugged reported on two churches in Spokane, Washington, that merged after years of theological disagreements.
Kelsey Kramer McGinnis of Christianity Today wrote about how some churches are bringing back the hymnal.
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