The Interview Rev. James Martin on Our Moral Duty in Turbulent Times; The New York Times, February 3, 2026

Lulu Garcia-Navarro , The New York Times; The Interview Rev. James Martin on Our Moral Duty in Turbulent Times

"For many Americans, the events in Minneapolis and the upheaval across the country bring to the surface not just political dilemmas but moral and spiritual ones too. How to best defend the things we believe in, how to understand the people we disagree with and how to maintain faith in one another — these are questions I’ve been thinking about even more since I spoke with the Rev. James Martin.

Martin is a Jesuit priest, a best-selling author, an editor at large at America Magazine and also a consultant to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. In layman’s terms, that means part of his job is to help explain the Catholic Church to Americans, which he has done on social media, in his writing, even on the late-night talk shows. He has also ministered to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics — a controversial part of his work that we get into in the longer audio and video versions of this interview — and is part of the progressive wing of the church.

Martin’s efforts have become more complicated as the conflicts in America have divided the church itself: Over the past year, American bishops and clergy have increasingly spoken out against President Trump’s policies, including on immigration. This at the same time that some of the most visible Catholic figures in America — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt — are in Trump’s administration.

Martin and I spoke about all of this, including the situation in Minneapolis (though we did so before federal agents killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24). But we began with something more personal, talking about his new book, “Work in Progress,” which is about his teenage summer jobs and how they prepared him for a life of service."

Faith leaders criticize Trump administration’s removal of Philadelphia slavery exhibit; Episcopal News Service (ENS), January 29, 2026

Adelle M. Banks, Episcopal News Service (ENS); Faith leaders criticize Trump administration’s removal of Philadelphia slavery exhibit

"Religious leaders are among those objecting to the National Park Service’s removal of a historic exhibit about slavery located steps away from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Liberty Bell and that featured African Methodist Episcopal Church founder Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, the first Black priest in The Episcopal Church.

On Jan. 22, exhibit supporters and city officials learned that NPS staffers had removed panels from “The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” an exhibit that, according to a page on the park service’s website, examined “the paradox between slavery and freedom in the founding of the nation.” As of the afternoon of Jan. 28, the website said “Page not found” where that information previously had been.

The open-air exhibit, which opened in 2010, is located on the site where Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived in the 1790s and features a replica of the exterior of the dwelling and a wall with the names of the nine enslaved Africans Washington brought there.

Independence National Historical Park, which hosted the exhibit, was cited in a March 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump. Titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the order directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to ensure that monuments at national sites “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

The Rev. Mark Tyler, historiographer for the AME Church and former pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church, which was founded by Allen and is within walking distance of the exhibit, said the loss of the panels is “a gut punch.”"

Episcopal priests share experiences protesting as immigration raids continue in Minnesota; Episcopal News Service (ENS), January 27, 2026

Shireen Korkzan, Episcopal News Service (ENS); Episcopal priests share experiences protesting as immigration raids continue in Minnesota

"Since federal immigration raids started in December in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Episcopalians have joined rallies, vigils and other events alongside interfaith partners and thousands of other protesters...

Anti-federal immigration enforcement protests also have been held in other cities nationwide, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Illinois, and New York. Last weekend, Episcopalians, including Maine Bishop Thomas J. Brown, joined thousands of protesters in rallies in Maine in response to an ICE raid that launched on Jan. 21. in the New England state.

The Episcopal Church offers several resources for Episcopalians engaged in immigration advocacy work and peaceful protests, including its Protesting Faithfully Toolkit. The resource offers “spiritual grounding and practical resources for faithful presence at protests and public demonstrations.” The church’s Immigration Action Toolkit shares resources from organizations that address migrants’ legal rights."

We’re pastors. The fight against Maga Christianity starts locally; The Guardian, December 21, 2025

Doug Pagitt and Lori Walke, The Guardian ; We’re pastors. The fight against Maga Christianity starts locally

"Donald Trump wants us to believe that the “war on Christianity” is spreading across the globe. The US president recently sounded the alarm on the “mass slaughter” of Christians in Nigeria while threatening a US invasion of the African nation. We shouldn’t be surprised. This falls right in line with Trump’s ongoing attempts to project Maga Christianity on to the global stage and crack down on religious freedom.

Maga Christianity represents a self-serving, commercialized version of the Christian faith – putting power over service and empathy – and it is everywhere in our federal government. In February, Trump announced a taskforce led by Pam Bondi with the goal of rooting out “anti-Christian” bias. In September, Trump announced his plans to protect prayer in schools. Later that month, he issued a memorandum identifying anti-Christianity as a potential driver of terrorism. These are not just one-off incidents. This is a national effort to push the Maga Christianity agenda on Americans, and we’re already seeing the consequences.

Despite the Bible’s clear call to “love thy neighbor”, the Maga movement has used its version of the Christian faith to oppress immigrants, oppose the rights of women and condemn the LGBTQ+ community. At the same time, we’ve seen shootings at places of worship and arrests of faith leaders at peaceful protests.

As faith leaders, our greatest strength during Trump 2.0 and the rise of Christian nationalism is our local congregations. It’s our ability to physically come together in our communities, communicate with one another, support our neighbors in need and elevate our own Christian values that set us apart.

Faith leaders have a powerful role to play, especially as the Trump administration continues to use religion to divide us."

Chicago’s faith leaders on front lines of resistance against ICE crackdown; The Guardian, November 28, 2025

Siri Chilukuri, The Guardian ; Chicago’s faith leaders on front lines of resistance against ICE crackdown

"For weeks, Chicago has been at the center of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security officials have arrested 800 people as of 1 October, while also using violent tactics such as body-slamming and deploying teargas in residential areas.

Amid the raids and arrests, which have created a pervasive sense of fear, faith leaders have stepped up, putting themselves on the front lines of resistance.

“Faith leaders bring a very powerful prophetic and moral compass into the space,” said the Rev Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, executive director of Live Free Illinois, a group that mobilizes Black churches around social justice issues in Chicago. “While many others may be able to argue the economic impact, or argue the law, faith leaders are typically the ones who are arguing and standing on the side of humanity and for people.”

‘Trump is inconsistent with Christian principles’: why the Democratic party is seeing a rise of white clergy candidates; The Guardian, November 15, 2025

David Smith , The Guardian; ‘Trump is inconsistent with Christian principles’: why the Democratic party is seeing a rise of white clergy candidates

"He grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress – as a Democrat.

He is among around 30 Christian white clergy – pastors, seminary students and other faith leaders – known to be potential Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections, including a dozen who are already in the race. While stressing the separation of church and state, many say that on a personal level their faith is calling them into the political arena...

Douglas is a county commissioner looking to unseat Republican Scott Perry in Pennsylvania’s 10th district. But he was previously the lead pastor of a growing church that allowed LGBTQ+ individuals to participate fully in its community; over the course of a year, this developed into a huge bone of contention and in 2019 Douglas eventually lost his licence. He had to find a new house and go from one job to three jobs including driving an Uber and CrossFit coaching. He started a new church that is still operating today.

Douglas recalls: “I paid the price for standing with the LGBTQ+ people. I would do it again. It taught me that doing what’s right is often costly but always necessary, and everyone deserves to be safe, respected and fully included. That’s not a religious belief. It’s a human belief that I have.”

James Talarico, a Texas state representative and a 36-year-old part-time seminary student who has amassed a sizable social media following – has become an unlikely standard-bearer in the Democrats’ 2026 Senate primary.

In a series of social media posts, he deploys scripture to champion the poor and vulnerable while castigating Republicans for what he casts as their drift towards Christian nationalism and corporate interests. He asked in one: “Instead of posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom, why don’t they post, ‘Money is the root of all evil’ in every boardroom?”"

Preparing faith leaders to prepare others to use artificial intelligence in a faithful way; Presbyterian News Service, September 4, 2025

Mike Ferguson , Presbyterian News Service; Preparing faith leaders to prepare others to use artificial intelligence in a faithful way

"It turns out an engineer whose career included stops at Boeing and Amazon — and who happens to be a person of deep faith — has plenty to say about how faith leaders can use artificial intelligence in places of worship.

Jovonia Taylor-Hayes took to the lectern Wednesday during Faithful Futures: Guiding AI with Wisdom and Witness, which is being offered online and at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. The PC(USA)’s Office of Innovation is among the organizers and sponsors, which also includes The Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Think of all the varied ways everyday people use AI, Taylor-Hayes said, including as an aid to streamline grocery shopping and resume building; by medical teams for note-taking; for virtual meetings and closed-captioning, which is getting better, she said; and in customer service.

“The question is, what does it look like when we stop and think about what AI means to me personally? Where does your head and heart go?” she asked. One place where hers goes to is scripture, including Ephesians 2:10 and Psalm 139:14. “God has prepared us,” she said, “to do what we need to do.”

During the first of two breakout sessions, she asked small groups both in person and online to discuss questions including where AI shows up in their daily work and life and why they use AI as a tool."

Faith leaders bring ethical concerns, curiosity to AI debate at multi-denominational conference; Episcopal News Service (ENS), September 5, 2025

David Paulsen, Episcopal News Service (ENS) ; Faith leaders bring ethical concerns, curiosity to AI debate at multi-denominational conference

"Some of the most tech-forward minds in the Protestant church gathered here this week at the Faithful Futures conference, where participants wrestled with the ethical, practical and spiritual implications of artificial intelligence. The Episcopal Church is one of four Protestant denominations that hosted the Sept. 2-5 conference. About halfway through, one of the moderators acknowledged that AI has advanced so far and so rapidly that most conferences on AI are no longer focused just on AI...

AI raises spiritual questions over what it means to be human

Much of the conference seemed to pivot on questions that defied easy answers. In an afternoon session Sept. 3, several church leaders who attended last year’s Faithful Futures conference in Seattle, Washington, were invited to give 10-minute presentations on their preferred topics.

“What happens to theology when the appearance of intelligence is no longer uniquely human?” said the Rev. Michael DeLashmutt, a theology professor at General Theological Seminary in New York, New York, who also serves as the Episcopal seminary’s senior vice president.

DeLashmutt argued that people of faith, in an era of AI, must not forget what it means to be Christian and to be human. “Being human means being relational, embodied, justice-oriented and open to God’s spirit,” he said. “So, I think the real risk is not that machines will become human, but that we will forget the fullness of what humanity actually is.”

Kip Currier, a computing and information professor at the University of Pittsburgh, warned that AI is being used by sports betting platforms to appeal to gamblers, including those suffering from addiction. Mark Douglas, an ethics professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, outlined the ecological impact of AI data centers, which need to consume massive amounts of energy and water.

The Rev. Andy Morgan, a Presbyterian pastor based in Knoxville, Tennessee, described himself as his denomination’s “unofficial AI person” and suggested that preachers should not be afraid of using AI to improve their sermons – as long as they establish boundaries to prevent delegating too much to the technology."

Faith leaders denounce US book burning as hate-fuelled intimidation; The Guardian, May 15, 2025

José Olivares , The Guardian; Faith leaders denounce US book burning as hate-fuelled intimidation

"A group of faith leaders in Ohio denounced a recent alleged hate crime in the state, in which a man burned books belonging to a public library. The destroyed books were on Jewish, African American and LGBTQ+ history."

What happens after you ask Trump to ‘have mercy’? Threats, praise and hope.; The Washington Post, February 2, 2025

 Olivia George, The Washington Post; What happens after you ask Trump to ‘have mercy’? Threats, praise and hope.

"Last month, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Oklahoma) introduced a resolution calling for the House to recognize Budde’s sermon as a “display of political activism and condemning its distorted message.”

Budde, according to the resolution, promoted “political bias instead of advocating the full counsel of biblical teaching.”

On Sunday, after the service, she pondered the lawmaker’s action.

“It isn’t political activism for a pastor to ask for mercy,” she said. “It is an expression of Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus.”"

Trump’s angry response to a viral sermon should worry all Christians; MSNBC, January 22, 2025

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, senior director of policy and advocacy at Interfaith Alliance , MSNBC; Trump’s angry response to a viral sermon should worry all Christians

"Neither Budde nor her church should apologize for following Jesus. Despite President Trump and his allies attacking Budde, it’s important to recognize that her compassionate sermon does not represent some left-wing fringe of American Christianity. Budde’s words reflect the values held by a majority of American Christians — a fact that Trump’s divisive rhetoric seeks to obscure.  

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country,” Budde proclaimed. “And we’re scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families — some who fear for their lives.”

Trump and Vance might have been surprised to hear such a strong embrace of LGBTQ rights by a bishop, because the far-right evangelical and Catholic leaders who surround them are the chief purveyors of anti-LGBTQ hate. Yet they’re far from the norm. A strong majority of U.S. Christians — including Catholics and evangelicals — support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

Bishop Budde’s Episcopal Church has been a leader within American Christianity and the worldwide Anglican Communion in advancing LGBTQ rights. Bishop Gene Robinson was elected the first openly gay bishop of a major U.S. denomination in 2003. Robinson’s election must not have rankled Trump too much, because in 2005 he married Melania in an Episcopal church in Palm Beach, and his son Barron attended a private Episcopal school during the first Trump administration. 

Bishop Budde also called attention to Trump’s executive actions targeting immigrants. 

“The people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals,” she said. “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues and temples.”...

Budde’s message was a reflection of Jesus’ call to love our neighbors, to care for the oppressed, and to seek justice for the marginalized. The fact that it’s gone viral across social media is proof that mainstream Christians are hungry for truth-telling, justice-seeking Christian leaders to step up at this critical moment for our democracy and our faith.

Followers of Jesus are going to have to endure the president labeling us the “Radical Left.” Denigrating and attacking the Gospel is necessary for him to push his authoritarian agenda forward. Yes, he will continue to surround himself with court clerics and wave the banner of Christian nationalism. But Trump’s outrage is evidence that, far from being a champion of “religious freedom,” he will treat any attempt to confront his policies in the name of Jesus as a challenge to his authority."

At the Intersection of A.I. and Spirituality; The New York Times, January 3, 2025

Eli Tan, The New York Times; At the Intersection of A.I. and Spirituality

"For centuries, new technologies have changed the ways people worship, from the radio in the 1920s to television sets in the 1950s and the internet in the 1990s. Some proponents of A.I. in religious spaces have gone back even further, comparing A.I.’s potential — and fears of it — to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century.

Religious leaders have used A.I. to translate their livestreamed sermons into different languages in real time, blasting them out to international audiences. Others have compared chatbots trained on tens of thousands of pages of Scripture to a fleet of newly trained seminary students, able to pull excerpts about certain topics nearly instantaneously.

But the ethical questions around using generative A.I. for religious tasks have become more complicated as the technology has improved, religious leaders say. While most agree that using A.I. for tasks like research or marketing is acceptable, other uses for the technology, like sermon writing, are seen by some as a step too far."