Kairos Christian Alliance Newsletter
Promoting righteousness in the public square
Thank you to everyone who came to the Muscular Christianity Conference last weekend. It was a gift to gather with believers who refuse to treat faith as a private hobby and who want to be formed for courage, holiness, and public faithfulness. If you were there, thank you for showing up. If you could not make it, the work continues—and so does the call.
Here is a brief look at five Tennessee stories that matter this week.
1. Christa Pike’s scheduled execution
This morning Tennessee is set to carry out the death sentence of Christa Pike, convicted in the 1995 torture-murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time. Governor Bill Lee declined clemency; the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay. If the sentence is carried out, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries. The case forces hard questions Christians cannot dodge: the gravity of innocent blood, the meaning of justice after three decades, mercy and repentance, and whether the state should take a life for a crime committed by a teenager. The victim’s family has waited a generation for the sentence to be fulfilled. Pray for all involved—and for a public square that still knows the difference between sentiment and righteousness.
2. Court blocks part of Tennessee’s “abortion trafficking” law
A split Sixth Circuit panel last week left in place a permanent block on the “recruitment” provision of Tennessee’s 2024 law. That provision would have made it a crime to recruit or counsel a minor toward an abortion even if the procedure were legal in another state. The court treated it as a First Amendment violation. In the same stretch of days, Planned Parenthood asked a state court to stop Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti from obtaining donor lists, provider information, and records. Tennessee’s abortion ban remains. What is being litigated now is how far the state may go in restricting speech and information about abortion across state lines. Christians should watch both the substance of the law and the speech questions it raises.
3. Sen. Charlane Oliver sues Senate leadership
Nashville Democrat Charlane Oliver filed suit this week against Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and other Senate officials after she was stripped of a committee assignment and certain reimbursements. The punishments followed her May protest during the special session that redrew congressional maps and split Memphis’s majority-Black 9th District. Oliver stood on her desk and displayed a banner opposing the map. Leadership called the protest a breach of order; she calls the response retaliation that also harms her constituents’ representation. Whatever one thinks of the theatrics, the underlying fight is about mid-decade redistricting, who holds power in Nashville, and whether legislative majorities may punish dissent. Midterms are five weeks away.
4. Christianity in the classroom—and Bible teaching that still works
The Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act is now in force for the 2026–27 school year. It does not require a new curriculum. It does authorize public-school teachers and college faculty to teach the positive historical influence of Christianity on the American founding—Mayflower Compact, the Declaration’s appeal to the Creator, Washington’s farewell, “In God We Trust,” and related history—without treating that instruction as forbidden “religion in school.” Critics warn of church-state overreach. Supporters say students cannot understand America if they are not allowed to hear how the faith actually shaped it. Separately, Bible in the Schools gave Hamilton County Schools nearly $3 million to expand its long-running, opt-in academic Bible courses. One is statute; the other is voluntary partnership. Both put an old question back on the table: will Tennessee tell the truth about its Christian heritage, or treat it as an embarrassment?
5. Immigration enforcement and who runs local institutions
A federal judge declined to stop Tennessee Highway Patrol from conducting traffic stops in coordination with ICE. Immigrant-advocacy groups wanted the tandem stops halted as pretextual; the court said they had not made that showing. ICE partnerships in Tennessee continue to expand, and Nashville has seen pushback over a planned federal support center. At the same time, the state is in a fight with Chattanooga over who controls the airport authority, and Nashville charter applications remain contested. These are not abstract “federalism” stories. They are about borders, public safety, local versus state power, and whether Tennessee will keep the commitments its voters keep sending to Nashville.
Kairos exists to help Christians see these fights clearly and engage them without panic or passivity. Thank you again for last weekend. Stay prayed up, stay informed, and stay in the work.