Marjorie Taylor Greene is correct about the contrast at Kirk memorial between what Jesus taught & how Trump behaves. But where has she been for the last decade?! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/m...

With Trump skipping church this Christmas season, it's now been over 4 years since he last attended a regular worship service (otherwise has only attended for special events like funeral & inauguration). I don't care if prez attends, but MAGAchurch leaders should quit lying about him being devout.

Was proud to be on @ms.now last night standing up for my beliefs and striking out against white Christian nationalism. These ideas don't just stay ideas, they have real world effects like ICE's murder of an imam. #Islamophobia is a big problem and we've got to come together to address it.

Wildly inappropriate & off-mission for DoL to post this. But sadly fits with Christian content they often post (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/the-church...) & recent launch of monthly DoL prayer service (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/department...)

"His religious counsel stayed faithfully by his side, without a care for those Rachels weeping for their children." sojo.net/articles/opi...

ICE arrested grabbed a pastor on Christmas Eve: newrepublic.com/post/204761/... The Department of Herod Security has targeted several pastors this year (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/when-trump...), but this latest move has incredible "war on Christmas" energy!

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in the hot seat on Christmas after her department released a statement that numerous observers flagged as a violation of the Constitution.

Good NYTimes piece by @ashleyahn88.bsky.social on how Trump administration pushed sectarian messages on Christmas: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/a... This fits problematic trend of Christian social media posts as DHS & DoW have co-opted Bible verses & others like DoL have pushed Christian content. 1/

If you're trying to honor the Prince of Peace by bombing people, you're doing it wrong.

Herod sure was raging this Christmas

Department of Herod Security continues its war on Christmas: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/department...

The Cotton Patch Gospel translation of Luke 2 hits stronger this year because of Trump/Hegseth returning to Secretary of War title. But even as President Augustus & Secretary of War Quirinius issue authoritarian decrees, hope is born on the margin of the empire. Merry Christmas!

Tonight at church I played "The Coventry Carol" as a cello solo. I wrote at Unsettling Advent about the song & how it has resonated this year (advent.wordandway.org/p/unsettling...). But even in the darkness, hope arrives at the margin of the empire. Merry Christmas!

Replace Jesus with the American flag while still claiming to celebrate Christmas & promote faith? Yep, that's what #ChristianNationalism does!

Yesterday I wrote about DHS's war on Christmas as they co-opt this holy season to justify anti-immigrant polices (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/department...). Well, Department of Herod Security has new video doing this, suggesting Christmas is about Jesus *and* Trump's America. 1/

For the final entry in our Unsettling Advent series this year, @briankaylor.bsky.social reflects on what it was like to learn to play “The Coventry Carol” on cello while exploring Advent in a time of religious nationalism, rising starvation in the U.S. and abroad, and soldiers in the streets.

Given the administration's anit-immigrant actions & illegal strikes on boats, this seems more threatening than in past:

Given all the anti-Christ actions by DHS this Christmas season, it seems quite appropriate to see them as the modern Department of Herod Security. publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/department...

Department of Homeland Security is waging a war on Christmas: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/department...

See 🧵 Seriously, NY Times is really bad when it comes to understanding Christian Nationalism.

In these days Caesar Augustus is proud of his new battleships. But the good news is salvation is actually born on the margin of the empire.

Frankly, I'm glad Missouri taxpayers aren't paying for a new stadium. Good riddance. missouriindependent.com/2025/12/22/c...

For today's Unsettling Advent entry, @kristel.bsky.social reflects on how this liturgical season reminds us that God comes into a world already organized by power and exclusion — and does not accept its terms.

Sad news: someone stole baby Jesus from our anti-ICE nativity. But vandalism cannot stop us. We just adapt and keep on critiquing this administration’s cruelty on immigration. Where’s baby Jesus? We don’t know. He is being detained in a labyrinthian hellscape where his loved ones cannot find him.

We were not founded as a "Christian" nation & let's not give into a devilish plan to try it.

To launch the final week of Advent, Sarah Miller reflects on the importance of countless ordinary acts of love happening quietly — even as cruel spectacle churns on for now.

Does NY Times think all Baptists are *Southern* Baptists? They must because they published piece about divides among "Baptists" on immigration crackdown but it's only about Southern Baptists disagreeing. Newsflash for NY Times: Not all Baptists are Southern! baptistnews.com/article/news... 1/

An absolutely magnificent Freudian slip! 🤌🏼

Department of Homeland Security continues its war on Christmas by suggesting the season is about deporting immigrants. In a new frenetic video, they make it seem like Christmas celebrations are for mass deportations. Christians should be offended, especially by inclusion of Nativity scene!

Go JMU!

Department of Homeland Security continues its war on Christmas by suggesting the season is about deporting immigrants. In a new frenetic video, they make it seem like Christmas celebrations are for mass deportations. Christians should be offended, especially by inclusion of Nativity scene!

While kidnapping people from U.S. streets (and kidnapping Bible verses to justify the violence), @briankaylor.bsky.social writes about how the Department of Homeland Security would also like to police church Nativity scenes.

Hegseth is a bloodthirsty agent of war & death. Now he's expanding use of landmines, demonic weapons banned by over 160 nations: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... Biden's record on landmines was spotty (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/landmines-...), but Trump/Hegseth are much worse.

This was a human being. What the fuck is wrong with you?

For today’s Unsettling Advent entry, @revdrmichaelwoolf.bsky.social writes that God is still coming into being, even amidst the cruelty of ICE and the terror of state violence. “It must have seemed hopeless in first-century Palestine ... but that is where the light of the world chooses to be born.”

@usatoday.com wrote about Hegseth's monthly Pentagon prayer services but only mentioned May & December services (the ones publicly available). But if you want to report on pattern of services, you should look at more than 2. I reported on all of them: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/pentagon-p...

Note: there are religious groups — including entire Christian denominations — that hold deeply held religious views that could be classified as some of these “agendas”.

Trump's sycophants on the Kennedy Center board voted to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center (though only Congress can actually change it). This comes the night after Christian musicians used Christmas to worshipwash Trump's takeover: wordandway.org/2025/12/12/w...

Labor Sec. Chavez-DeRemer & Agriculture Sec. Rollins attended Pentagon Christmas worship service yesterday. It seems a bit odd that Cabinet members are going around to gov't worship services like groupies. Don't they have things to do in their agencies? publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-pentago...

"did you know that God also hates? Do you know that God also is a God of war? Many people don’t want to think about that, or forget that" -- Franklin Graham at Pete Hegseth's Christmas Worship Service at the Pentagon, must-read from @briankaylor.bsky.social

ICE’s cruelty is tearing our neighbors apart during the holiest time of the year. As faithful Americans, we demand that ICE stop attacking our neighbors. Watch our new ad with @protectdemocracy.org and then head over to LoveNotICE.org to add your name to our letter. #LoveNotICE

I never expected to hear a "Christmas" sermon centered on the genocide of the Amalekites. It's even worse that this call to follow a "God of war" occurred at the Pentagon: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-pentago...

Just a couple hours after Franklin Graham praised a "God of war" at the Pentagon Christmas service (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-pentago...), US military announced another strike on a boat (that killed 4 people). Bad theology kills.

While Pete Hegseth may have missed the Pentagon Christmas sermon today, Franklin Graham offered the Secretary of War a Christmas gift by proclaiming a God of war.

Brian watched so we don’t have to! Read this brilliant reporting that builds on our previous investigations into prayer services at the Pentagon and Labor Department:

Hegseth just held his #Christmas Worship Service at the Pentagon. Here's my report featuring remarks by Franklin Graham, who praised a "God of War" & read a Bible passage often used to justify genocide: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-pentago...

😒

Next monthly Pentagon prayer service is today & Hegseth's making it a "Christmas worship service." Franklin Graham will preach & Christian musicians Matthew West & Anne Wilson will perform. Earlier this month, I reported on who's preached at each service: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/pentagon-p...

"The State of Belief" is joined this week by the Rev. Dr. Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word & Way and author of the new book "The Bible According to Christian Nationalists: Exploring Scripture for Political Power." Listen now! religionnews.com/2025/12/13/t...

Hegseth announced changes to military chaplaincy program to make it "great again" (x.com/SecWar/statu...). Of course, given Hegseth's #ChristianNationalism & efforts to push rightwing Christianity in the Pentagon (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/pentagon-p...), I don't trust his changes.