Word&Way News: Sept. 20
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a look at the controversy about Haitian immigrants in Ohio and a reflection on a Jesus mural in Beirut, Lebanon.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Mending Broken Hearts. Sarah Blackwell reflected on ancient understandings of the heart and how they relate to our modern grief.
Review: One Lost Soul. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation by Daniel Silliman.
Lutherans in Walz’s Minnesota Put Potlucks Before Politics During Divisive Election Season. Giovanna Dell’Orto reported on how Midwestern members of the largest U.S. Lutheran denomination address political differences.
The SBC Will Sell Its Nashville Headquarters to Defray Abuse-Related Legal Costs. Bob Smietana reported on the latest move by the nation’s largest Protestant denomination as it spends millions in lawsuits.
New Survey Points to Correlation Between Christian Nationalism and Authoritarian Views. Jack Jenkins reported on alarming new survey results from PRRI.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Darryl Stephens on Reckoning Methodism
Another noteworthy program this week:
NPR’s All Things Considered interviewed theologians Richard and Chris Hays about God, LGBTQ people, and changing one’s mind.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Last week brought the release of the fifth installment of the God’s Not Dead movie series, which like most slasher film series manages to squeeze out way more sequels than it should. This one caught my eye because of the subtitle “In God We Trust.”
I haven’t seen it since I’m too cheap to watch movies in theaters. But apparently the basic (and unrealistic) plot is there’s a religion-hating politician running unopposed in Arkansas, so a conservative pastor jumps in the race to save the balance of Congress. On top of that, he’s both pushing for smaller government while also wanting to save federal funds for his own ministry — okay, so that level of hypocrisy is believable even if the idea of a godless politician in Arkansas is absurd. The film’s been panned even by conservative evangelical publications like Christianity Today and World. It did managed to grab the 10th place slot last weekend with just over $1.5 million in ticket sales (which isn’t actually very many tickets these days).
It’s no surprise that a film advocating for Christians to take over government used the phrase “In God We Trust.” That’s a favorite saying for those pushing Christian Nationalism today. But, as Beau Underwood and I noted in Baptizing America, the irony is that it was mainline Protestants who codified that motto now used by evangelicals and Pentecostals to demand more power for themselves. Even a clunky Christian movie highlights the dangers mainline Protestants helped bring with Christian Nationalism. It is a bit of a horror flick after all.
Other News of Note
Kiera Butler wrote for Mother Jones about the “TheoBros” pushing a Calvinist version of Christian Nationalism.
Religion scholar Anthea Butler documented how Christian Nationalism can be found in American Catholicism.
Eli Hager of ProPublica reported on “an unprecedented move” as Ohio is giving public funds for the construction of private religious schools.
Troy Closson of The New York Times reported on Christians arguing against using the Bible in public schools.
Bekah McNeel of Texas Monthly wrote about pastors feeling political pressures as the election rhetoric intensifies.
“Jesus’s story in the gospel is very political. It’s a political story. … It’s a story of someone who is crucified as part of a political process.” —Rev. Joe Weaks, who co-pastors a Disciples of Christ congregation in Texas with his wife Dawn, in a Texas Tribune profile of their ministry as they challenge Christian Nationalism.
Jason Wolf of the Arizona Republic reported on a migrant smuggling scheme involving football players at a conservative Christian college in Arizona.
Claudette Riley of the Springfield News-Leader reported on a complaint about school officials in Bolivar, Missouri, inviting a pastor to offer a prayer during a school staff meeting.
Daniel Silliman of Christianity Today reported on an evangelical seminary professor accused by pastors in St. Louis, Missouri, of secretly practicing polygamy.
Inspired by conservative evangelical politicking in Brazil, a group of rightwing Catholic politicians there has formed a new “Catholic bloc” in the Senate to defend “moral and ethical values.”
The bells of Notre Dame have been returned after being cleaned and renovated amid the ongoing restoration of the cathedral after the 2019 fire.
Photo of the Week
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