@jeremyfuzy
digital editor @wordandway.bsky.social covering religion from a mainline protestant perspective • Mizzou j-school/UChicago divinity alumn • proud midwesterner + ozarker • Current/Sporting/US soccer supporter • midtown Kansas City cyclist
Today’s issue of A Public Witness examines the extraordinary story about a man who has never been accused of killing anyone and the religious controversy about the timing of his now-canceled execution.
Some good news for your timeline today 👇🏻
Lawmakers in more than 20 states have proposed mandating a highly-edited version of the Ten Commandments be posted in public schools.
Learn the fascinating story behind why these Christian Nationalist bills remove nearly two-thirds of the biblical text in our new podcast series “A Trick of State.”
If you ripped the actual text of the Ten Commandments out of your Bible in any translation and taped it to the wall of a classroom in Louisiana, Texas, or Arkansas, that page would be in violation of their so-called Ten Commandments laws.
Learn more in our new podcast series “A Trick of State.”
Telling Jesus he'll never make it if he keeps being so hostile to wealth. Advising him to moderate his message to appeal to the Galilee suburbs
1. Missouri appears to be forging ahead with 3 bathroom bans in public buildings across the state.
They heard 3 bills in a single night on the topic.
Lawmakers are worried that we could see what happened to Kansas happen there too.
The latest from our writer S. Baum.
Lawmakers are actually mandating a gerrymandered version, as the image on the left shows. The parts in yellow are to be kept on the posters, the parts in red must be deleted, and the parts in green are to be added into the required text. This includes replacing “ass” with “cattle.” Or, if you’d rather think about it in terms of redacting like with the Epstein files, the image below on the right shows what the bills do to Exodus 20 by removing nearly two-thirds of the text.
Why is the version of the Ten Commandments that Christian Nationalist politicians want hung in public schools not found in a single Bible?
Listen to our new podcast series “A Trick of State” to find out the surprising answer: dogma.wordandway.org/rewriting-th...
You don’t want to miss this special podcast project! 👇🏻
Good @apnews.com piece by Peter Smith looking at how "'Christ Is King' Becomes a Loaded Phrase in US Political Debates, Especially on the Right" (& it's nice to be included in the article to talk about the troubling co-opting of the phrase):
wordandway.org/2026/03/05/c...
While figures like Franklin Graham and Pete Hegseth bet on a holy war where God is on their side, many Christian leaders in the United States and around the world were quick to condemn the so-called “Operation Epic Fury.”
Hegseth: "Crazy regimes like Iran, hellbent on prophetic Islamist delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons."
Yes, we sure wouldn't want nuclear weapons under control of a crazy regime with prophetic delusions!
publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-nationa...
Hegseth said during Pentagon worship service that ahead of & during Venezuela operation he was reading & praying Psalm 144. Wonder what Bible passage he was using to justify Iran war.
publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-sh...
Wow! Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist congregation in the country, is considering independent campaign to unseat GOP Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas.
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...
Our latest religion news roundup features insights from @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social, @bmietana.bsky.social, @markwingdallas.bsky.social, @rickpidcock.bsky.social, @texasnewsdude.bsky.social, @sky-latte.bsky.social, @robertpjones.bsky.social, @kevinjfrey.bsky.social, @kaylaguo.bsky.social, and more!
“It’s problematic that the head of a secular military full of religious diversity attacks atheists and secularists as if they don’t matter. But it’s also wrong for him to suggest there aren’t Christians opposing his worship services.”
– @briankaylor.bsky.social
As a former hockey beat reporter, I wrote about @usahockey.bsky.social - about men + women - and about how sports can be the best + worst of America.
angeladenker.substack.com/p/do-better-...
In her timely new book “Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right” (@princetonupress.bsky.social), political theorist @lkatfield.bsky.social provides an intellectual tour of the movement that has twice carried Donald Trump into the White House.
Nobody:
Absolutely no one:
Dean Cain & Kevin Sorbo:
I previously created graphic to show how state lawmakers are pushing highly edited version of Ten Commandments in schools. But I made new graphic inspired by Epstein files. They've redacted almost 2/3 of the sacred text (& added a couple of words). Calling this "the Ten Commandments" isn't accurate.
There's rightly been lots of outrage about Doug Wilson preaching at Pentagon. But he's not an outlier & wasn't surprising. He's part of pattern at Pentagon services. I broke story on Wilson since I was watching service before knowing who would preach:
publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/doug-wilso... 1/
I challenge NBC to find a Bible with the "Ten Commandments" that match language mandated by lawmakers in Louisiana. They won't because law deletes most of text & even rewrites a couple of places. We don't need a government translation of the Bible, nor should it be forced in schools!
KC's new Bus Rider's Union launches today!
www.kcur.org/housing-deve...
Our fresh religion news roundup features insights from @adellembanks.bsky.social, @prri.org, @emilybelz.bsky.social, @jamestalarico.bsky.social, @friendlyatheist.com.web.brid.gy, @fiona-ndre.bsky.social, @fiona-murphy.bsky.social, @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social, @revdrmichaelwoolf.bsky.social, & more!
MAGA pundit Hal Lambert is full of crap. On CNN, he defended Hegseth having Doug Wilson preach at Pentagon by claiming they bring in leaders from different religions. I've tracked Hegseth's services & every preacher is a rightwing, patriarchal Christian: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/government...
Both the Christian Nationalist Ohio bill and the Missouri copycat one include major historical errors listed as “examples” of the “positive impact of religion.”
Speaking to National Religious Broadcasters, Pete Hegseth quickly hit lots of the administration's key #ChristianNationalist themes: Trump is fighting for faith, ending "anti-Christian bias," & promoting Christianity. Ironically, Hegseth says all of this with Ben Franklin's legs behind him.
This @interfaithamerica.bsky.social briefing yesterday served as an opportunity for leading experts such as @robertpjones.bsky.social and @therevadam.bsky.social to examine competing narratives about what it means to embody America’s founding principles in 2026.
WashPost finally covered Doug Wilson preaching at Pentagon (www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...), but piece is by political reporter instead of religion one (& they have great one) so they missed lots of important parts (which I pointed out yesterday: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/doug-wilso...)
Important reflection from @sarahstankorb.bsky.social, who knows the danger of Doug Wilson & has been trying to warn people for years: sarahstankorb.substack.com/p/doug-wilso...
Doug Wilson preached at the Pentagon yesterday. And only 1 news outlet reported on it yesterday after watching it. Seriously, I shouldn't be the only one covering this!
publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/doug-wilso...
