Brian Kaylor

your ** also applies to Noem since she's Pentecostal too (Foursquare Gospel)

Well, when you put that way!

The lack of evangelical Christians? Let's take a little count of some of the evangelical Christians in power:

Speaker of the House
Secretary of Defense
The departing Secretary of DHS
Trump's nominee to replace her
US Ambassador to Israel
OMB Director
Director of White House Faith Office

The Christians Who Matter Most in this Election (Hint: It’s Not White Evangelicals) During Tuesday night’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, religious references only popped up twice — both by Harris as she talked about abortion bans.

Every election, reporters pump out piece after piece about how will white evangelicals vote (even though we all know the answer), all while ignoring the groups that actually have been swinging elections: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/the-christ...

Washington Post published this stupidity from Aaron Renn. Yes, those poor, underrepresented white evangelicals with no power. 😒
The reality is, of course, the opposite. They have oversized power & definitely oversized attention by WP & other news outlets.

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...

Dangerous Dogma: Rewriting the Ten Commandments (A Trick of State) In this episode, President Brian Kaylor looks at legislation across the country that purports to want the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But the version mandated by lawmakers cannot be...

State lawmakers have pushed bills they say will mandate posting the Ten Commandments in public schools. But there's a problem: you will not find that language in any version of the Bible.
I explore the dangers of the gerrymandered text in my latest podcast:
dogma.wordandway.org/rewriting-th...

Every dog has his day

The Bible According to the Department of Homeland Security The social media feeds of the U.S.

Under Noem's leadership, DHS has posted several videos co-opting Bible verses (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/the-bible-...). The videos usually also showed her at some point. Guess she's not the chosen one after all.

The Silence of Kristi Noem’s Church What the Foursquare Church could learn from United Methodists, Southern Baptists, and Catholics.

We still need to abolish ICE, but it's great seeing Noem demoted.
This moment also indicts the Foursquare Church, the Pentecostal denomination that Noem is part of. They still haven't criticized her or ICE. publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/the-silenc...

Dangerous Dogma: Rewriting the Ten Commandments (A Trick of State) In this episode, President Brian Kaylor looks at legislation across the country that purports to want the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But the version mandated by lawmakers cannot be...

To unpack how the Ten Commandments have been edited in state bills & what this means for religious liberty, in the episode I talk with @rachellaser.bsky.social of @americansunited.bsky.social & Mark Chancey of Southern Methodist University: dogma.wordandway.org/rewriting-th...

Rewriting the Ten Commandments Lawmakers in more than 20 states have proposed bills over the last couple of years that purport to mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools. But there’s a problem: you will not find that...

Check out the first episode of “A Trick of State,” a new occasional series from Dangerous Dogma investigating underexplored issues at the intersection of church and state that expose the false promises of Christian Nationalism.

Dangerous Dogma: Rewriting the Ten Commandments (A Trick of State) In this episode, President Brian Kaylor looks at legislation across the country that purports to want the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But the version mandated by lawmakers cannot be...

State lawmakers have pushed bills they say will mandate posting the Ten Commandments in public schools. But there's a problem: you will not find that language in any version of the Bible.
I explore the dangers of the gerrymandered text in my latest podcast:
dogma.wordandway.org/rewriting-th...

'Christ Is King' Becomes a Loaded Phrase in US Political Debates, Especially on the Right - Word&Way The phrase is often used as “a declaration of Christian Nationalism” asserting that “the nation should be brought under the dictates of Christ,” said Brian Kaylor.

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...

Hegseth tells representatives from countries in the Americas that they're all "Christian nations under God." He said this right after bragging about blowing up boats. He's called US "Christian nation" (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-nationa...), but this is vision of region of "Christian nations"

Pure godless evil.

There's plenty - way too much in fact - to criticize Hegseth (& Wilson) on when it comes to misuse of religion. We don't need to make something up or parrot an unproven claim. 3/3

Before you share that story about how troops were told the Iran War is for "Armageddon," read this The narrative is dramatic. The sourcing is thin. And skepticism matters, especially on something this serious.

I've written lots about Hegseth's misuse of religion & I broke news of Wilson at Pentagon (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/doug-wilso...), but it's inaccurate to connect all of that to "Armageddon" hopes. And we should be highly skeptical of the viral claim: www.friendlyatheist.com/p/before-you... 2/

It's frustrating to see people use that viral Iran "Armageddon" story to say this is what to expect since Pete Hegseth follows Doug Wilson & had Wilson preach at Pentagon. But Wilson literally preaches against that kind of dispensationalist theology! Wilson's dangerous, but he's not that. 1/

Ugh. Even if their religion is "misguided," that wouldn't justify a war - unless we're going for the crusades. And as a Baptist minister, I would note the Christian Nationalism of Baptist politician Mike Johnson shows his religious beliefs are misguided. But I don't think anyone should bomb him.

Ah, yes, for sure! But we need actual sources beyond MRFF's unverified claim

There *could* be. But we shouldn't assume without evidence that he's listening to Hagee more than his own pastors.

Not necessarily. The key here is the classic "Armageddon" theology alleged by MRFF suggests a dispensational premillennialism. But Doug Wilson preaches a postmillennialism. In that view, a new temple doesn't bring about the immediate return of Jesus or "Armageddon."

Texas Republicans passed a bill creating prayer time at school. 99% of districts rejected it. Only 15 out of roughly 1,200 school districts adopted SB 11, exposing the manufactured crisis behind the Christian Nationalist push

Texas Republicans passed a bill encouraging schools to set aside time for prayer.

School districts were required to vote on it.

Out of roughly 1,200 districts, how many opted in?

15.

Turns out the "prayer" crisis doesn't actually exist.

www.friendlyatheist.com/p/texas-repu...

praying they don't fix the headline

www.kctv5.com/video/2026/0...

I'm very worried about Hegseth & religion. I broke news of Wilson at Pentagon (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/doug-wilso...), Hegseth's crusader NPB talk (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-nationa...) & more. But as @friendlyatheist.com notes, "Armageddon" doesn't match Hegseth's dangerous theology

This piece captures many of my concerns, which is why I haven't shared that viral military-religion story today. Really appreciate Hemant's analysis:

Presbyterian church in Minneapolis hosted a talk by former FBI Director James Comey. He said: "Despite what the so-called Christian Nationalists will tell you, we don't come from a common ancestry, a common heritage, a common religion, a common philosophy."
pcusa.org/news-storyte...

Attacks on Iran Draw Fire From Mainline, Catholic, and Middle Eastern Christian Leaders This issue of A Public Witness looks at mainline Protestant and Catholic criticism of the Trump administration’s actions in Iran and the pleas for peace by Middle Eastern Christian leaders.

Trump's illegal war on Iran isn't popular with Americans. And many mainline Protestant & Catholic leaders have quickly condemned it:
publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/attacks-on...

Hegseth ended press conference by saying he "prayerfully" makes war recommendations to Trump & prays for military personnel to have "the biblical wisdom to see what is right & the courage to do it" as they fight.