Welcome to the September 26 edition of the Faithfully Magazine Newsletter. Here’s what caught our attention this week in News, Culture, and Christianity — plus notable reads, upcoming free events, a job opportunity, and more.

Dear Reader,

The Trump administration has no apparent plans to expand refugee resettlement for persecuted Christians and other faith minorities.

​CBS News reports the White House intends to again reserve most of its 17,500 refugee slots for fiscal year 2027, which starts Oct. 1, for White South Africans. Their excuse for streamlining refugee stats for this group is based on claims of anti-Afrikaner “genocide” that South Africa’s government has strongly denied. The policy, now in its second year, is tied to the administration’s “remigration” push, a White Nationalist scheme entailing mass deportation of immigrants and ethnic minorities. The remigration office is said to be the brainchild of Trump’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller.

Meanwhile, ICE has ramped up its targeting of Hispanic and, increasingly, Haitian immigrants, many of them Christian. Haitian nationals who lost temporary protected status are being deported to a country the U.S. State Department itself warns Americans to avoid over deadly gang violence.

Humanitarian organizations haven’t given up, though. In addition to an on-going lawsuit over the exclusion of designated refugees, World Relief has delivered a letter signed by nearly 3,500 Christians from every state asking Trump to reopen resettlement access for persecuted believers.

The irony of all this is that the White House has been simultaneously touting Trump’s purported 250 “victories for people of faith.” On the list are sanctions tied to the killing of Christians in Nigeria and aid to persecuted believers in Syria. Yet persecuted Christians hoping to find refuge on U.S. soil, as they have done for decades, remain shut out.

— FM Editorial Team

Notable Reads

No Charges, No Closure: Nolan Wells’ Cause of Death Is Still a Mystery

Nolan Wells, 18, went missing after a July 4 boat trip with friends on Mississippi's Horn Island; his body was found on July 6. A Jackson County grand jury has returned a "no true bill," finding no evidence to bring criminal charges. Yet mystery remains over how Wells actually died. Prosecutors insist the physical evidence points to drowning, and the grand jury agreed his body's position and condition were consistent with it — but both the Mississippi state report and independent findings reportedly found no fluid or debris in his lungs. That inconsistency is one of several leaving his grieving family, and a distrustful public, demanding answers the legal system hasn't delivered. Read about it at The Root →​

Around the Web

“Jim Crow Theobros” repackaging the slavemaster’s religion. The Religion News Service looks at several Reformed pastors and influencers who combine segregationist theology and hypermasculinity “to preach and sell white supremacy, antisemitism, and patriarchy to angry young men.” Read about it →​

Back in the pulpit doesn’t always mean fully recovered. The Rev. Harrison Johnson Jr. suffered a stroke while preaching a funeral sermon. In new reporting from Word In Black, Johnson describes the long recovery and the effects others cannot necessarily see, even now that he is preaching again. Read Johnson’s story →​

Free Virtual Events

Faith Under the Lash: Caribbean Enslaved Narratives, Power and Resistance (Sept. 27 | 11AM ET)

This free webinar hosted by the UK’s Black History Studies examines how enslaved Africans in the Caribbean used religion as a profound tool for resistance, even as enslavers weaponized Christianity to justify oppression and maintain control. Sign up here →​

Faith, Ecology, and Grounded Resistance (Sept. 28–29 | Various Times)

Faith in Place’s Environment & Spirituality Summit offers four Zoom sessions. Highlights include Valarie Kaur and Bill McKibben’s climate keynote. Daytime sessions feature Matthias Beier and Mary Evelyn Tucker. See the full agenda →​

From the Archives

→ Brenda Salter McNeil: Beyond the Frustration, There’s Still Hope

What does it take to keep working for racial reconciliation when the church itself can be part of the resistance? The Rev. Brenda Salter McNeil speaks candidly about faith, justice, and the work of repairing what’s broken.

​Access this exclusive interview (+ audio) → (Paid Faithfully Mag subscribers get the full interview audio and transcript)

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