Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states, in part: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Yet, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is violating this article of the…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Brian Kaylor
Brian Kaylor is president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a Baptist minister with a Ph.D. in political communications, and the author or co-author of five books on religion and politics, including a new book on white Christian nationalism with Beau Underwood,…
Have you heard that Tim Walz is … a Lutheran?
One of the barbs being thrown at Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is that he is — gasp! — a Lutheran. And not just any Lutheran. He’s a member of a church affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in…
‘You can’t forget history you never knew’
On July 2, I was on a Zoom gathering for a discussion of the new book by Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood: Baptizing America, How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism. During the discussion, one of the authors observed that…
70 years ago today, ‘under God’ was added to the Pledge of Allegiance
George Docherty was a progressive Presbyterian minister serving in the nation’s capital. In 1965, he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in a civil rights demonstration after Bloody Sunday. Docherty later criticized the Vietnam…
New book shows how Mainline churches promoted Christian nationalism by another name
Mainline Christians should not let themselves off the hook for enabling the ideology of Christian nationalism that currently threatens American democracy, author and journalist Brian Kaylor says. While white evangelicals get most of the blame, Mainline and other non-evangelical Christians…
Christian nationalists target public schools, undermining freedom of religion, webinar guests show
Multi-state campaigns to legislate prayer and Bible study in public schools seek to undermine freedom of religion and to make non-Christians feel like second-class citizens, Brian Kaylor said during a webinar hosted by Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Other efforts —…
Atlanta Baptist pastor prays an imprecatory Psalm against Republican candidate’s foes
A Southern Baptist pastor in Atlanta prayed an imprecatory Psalm against opponents of a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Oct. 4, according to an exclusive report by Brian Kaylor of Word&Way. Although media were turned away from the “prayer…
News flash: Not all Baptists are Southern
Southern Baptists make up less than half of all Baptists in the United States. But you’d never guess that from media coverage. Last month, Baptist leaders from dozens of nations gathered in Birmingham, Ala., for the first in-person meeting of…