Weekend Plug-in 🔌

Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.

(ANALYSIS) Pope Francis is a big supporter of President Joe Biden.

U.S. Catholic bishops are not.

At least that’s a prominent narrative concerning America’s second Catholic president (after John F. Kennedy).

To wit: The headline on a Los Angeles Times news story this week declared:

Pope Francis is a Biden fan, but some U.S. Catholic leaders give president a frosty reception

My sincere question: Is it accurate to characterize Francis as a Biden fan?

“While Pope Francis has enjoyed a warm relationship with Biden from time spent together in both the U.S. and at the Vatican, it would be wrong to classify him as a partisan player in U.S. politics,” Christopher White, national correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, told me. “His approach to any world leader is to try to find common ground and see where there’s work to be done together.”

Clemente Lisi analyzes Catholic news for Religion Unplugged.

“I’d say the pope seems cordial to Biden, and the two have met a few times,” Lisi said in response to my question. “There seems to be a fascination in the media to lump these two men together.”

The Los Angeles Times is, of course, just the latest major news outlet to contrast the difference in tone between how the Vatican and top U.S. bishops — notably Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez — have greeted Biden’s inauguration.

The prominent West Coast paper suggests:

The rift stems from opposition by many in the church to abortion and same-sex marriage, while others see a broader interpretation of the sanctity of life, promoted by Francis, to include climate change, immigration and fighting poverty.

Biden “keeps a picture in the Oval Office of himself with Pope Francis,” the story notes. But does that picture mean as much to Francis? The paper doesn’t say.

JD Flynn is editor-in-chief and cofounder of The Pillar, which publishes news and analysis on the Catholic Church.

Flynn offered this take on the Los Angeles Times headline:

I think it is either wishful thinking or a misunderstanding of the papacy, and of this pope in particular, to identify him as a "fan" of any politician. Pope Francis has been cordial and conciliatory to Biden, as is the Holy See's custom with political leaders around the globe. He will doubtlessly find common ground with him, but the pope will not be shy about points of serious disagreement with the Biden administration either. The mistake is to think that the pope's personal warmth and human touch is an unfettered endorsement of a figure with whom he will have decidedly more nuanced and complex engagements, as is appropriate for two world leaders. To speak about the pope as a "fan" misses all of that. It also means missing an important aspect of the story about Biden's politics and his Catholicism, which is the way in which a triangulated relationship between the Vatican, the White House and the U.S. bishops' conference will play out. Religiously informed journalists should be on the edge of their seats to cover that, while the L.A. Times seems to have called the game in the first inning.

Speaking of Biden’s faith, his approach to religion came up in his first White House interview — for a People magazine cover story by Sandra Sobieraj Westfall:

Given the stakes in the pandemic and the economic crisis, do you lean into prayer to help you lead?

President Biden: I don't want to proselytize. My religion, for me, is a safe place. I never miss mass, because I can be alone. I mean, I'm with my family but just kind of absorbing the fundamental principle that you've got to treat everyone with dignity. Jill, when she wants me to get a real message, she tapes it on the mirror above the sink where I shave. And she put up a great quote from Kierkegaard saying, "Faith sees best in the dark." Other people may meditate. For me, prayer gives me hope, and it centers me.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Appalachian snake handlers put their faith in God — and increasingly, doctors: Veteran religion writer Julia Duin literally wrote the book on “the latest generation of Pentecostal believers who ‘take up’ venomous snakes as a test of their religious faith.”

In this newly published piece for National Geographic, Duin reports that a series of high-profile deaths has some Christian snake handlers “rethinking their approach to a risky practice.”

2. Unholy war: Is #DezNat an online platform for defending the LDS Church or a launching pad for extremists?: Longtime Salt Lake Tribune religion writer Peggy Fletcher Stack delves into a hashtag that “enlists loosely aligned, self-appointed warriors to defend the doctrines and practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Her exceptional opening sets the scene:

To better understand what DezNat is, it helps to know first what it isn’t.

It is not, strictly speaking, an alt-right political group. It is not a club for disenchanted Latter-day Saint Republicans. It is not a haven for Donald Trump loyalists. It is not necessarily a refuge for white nationalists, anti-maskers or anti-vaxxers — though some adherents appear to identify with all these viewpoints.

It is rather a Twitter hashtag — #DezNat, short for Deseret Nation — that has popped up hundreds of thousands of times on the internet.

3. He made sure the bodies of the Muslim dead faced Mecca. COVID-19 claimed his life: Los Angeles Times writer Gustavo Arellano tells the story of Hashem Ahmad Alshilleh, who for 30 years helped to bury Muslims in Southern California.

“The Riverside resident washed and shrouded the corpses of men per Islamic customs and drove the bodies of men and women to cemeteries from Rosamond to Victorville, San Diego to Orange County,” Arellano writes.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his routine. And eventually, it claimed his own life.

More Top Reads

• What to expect from President Biden on international religious freedom (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

• Immigrants in sanctuary in churches hope Biden offers relief (by Philip Marcelo, Sophia Tareen and Jim Salter, Associated Press)

• 'Their goal is to destroy everyone': Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape (by Matthew Hill, David Campanale and Joel Gunter, BBC News)

• Do Jewish conservatives still have a home in the post-Trump Republican Party? (by Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

• Nebraska priest at Jan. 6 D.C. rally said he performed exorcism at U.S. Capitol (by Alia Conley, Omaha World-Herald)

• Sitting on billions, Catholic dioceses amassed taxpayer aid (by Reese Dunklin and Michael Rezendes, AP)

• Man who raided Capitol in fur hat and horns granted organic food request in keeping with his professed religion as a shaman (by Richard Ruelas, Arizona Republic)

• New SBC report calls never-Trumper Russell Moore’s agency a ‘significant distraction’ (by Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)

• An explainer on how Christian nationalism differs from other forms of nationalism, patriotism and Christianity (by Paul D. Miller, Christianity Today)

• For the record: Michigan nuns at Trump rally aren't really nuns (by Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter)

• Some Southern Baptist pastors are calling Kamala Harris ‘Jezebel.’ What do they mean? (by Yonat Shimron and Emily McFarlan Miller, RNS)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

Since joining The Associated Press’ global religion team in September 2019, Elana Schor has done a terrific job covering the intersection of religion and politics.

This week, Schor announced that she is leaving AP to return to Politico, where she will edit the Congress team.

The Godbeat will miss her.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from Religion Unplugged.

• Years of 'McCarrick Doctrine' fights among U.S. bishops go public – on Inauguration Day (by Terry Mattingly)

• Congresswoman Greene rattles Jewish communities (by Dave Schechter)

• Religious Freedom Lately: Myanmar minorities hold their breath, sanctuary churches shaken down by ICE, and secular officials band together (by Timothy Nerozzi)

• A social media star died, then a battle over her burial rites reached Zimbabwe's high court (by Tawanda Karombo)

• One year on, Muslim women reflect on wearing the niqab in a mask-wearing world (by Anna Piela)

• Can an employee object to mandatory COVID-19 vaccines on religious grounds? (by Debbie Kaminer)

• Biden-Harris is diminishing India’s Hindutva lobby in the White House (by Manmeet Sahni)

• Catholic priest pens book that delves into how to pray and why it matters (by Clemente Lisi)

• Museum of The Bible returns thousands of artifacts to Iraq and Egypt (by Anne Stych)

• Lt. Chaplain Wilson opens up about being a Black female military chaplain (by Mattie Townson)

• Most Christians welcome the COVID-19 vaccines, but some remain skeptical (by Bobby Ross Jr.)

• How Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church has been a seat of Black power for generations (by Jason Oliver Evans)

The Final Plug

Dolly Parton gave $1 million to help fund coronavirus research.

The entertainment icon explained why to Associated Press music editor Mesfin Fekadu:

Parton: Well, I follow my heart. I’m a person of faith and I pray all the time that God will lead me into the right direction and let me know what to do. When the pandemic first hit, that was my first thought, “I need to do something to try to help find a vaccination.” I just did some research with the people at Vanderbilt (University) — they’re wonderful people, they’ve been so good through the years to my people in times of illness and all that. I just asked if I could donate a million dollars to the research for a vaccine.

I get a lot more credit than I deserve I think, but I was just happy to be a part of any and all of that.

Asked if she’d gotten her COVID-19 shot, the 75-year-old Parton said she had not.

“I’m not going to get mine until some more people get theirs,” she told AP. “I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money.”

Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for Religion Unplugged and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.