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) For the second year in a row, the Religion News Association’s annual awards were presented in virtual fashion because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kudos once again to Jeff Diamant, RNA’s contest guru, for a fun and informative presentation of winners Thursday night.

You can watch it all here.

For regular Weekend Plug-in readers, many of the first-place recipients’ names will be familiar, including the New York Times’ Elizabeth Dias, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Peter Smith, The Atlantic’s Emma Green, The Tennessean’s Holly Meyer and the Chattanooga Times Free Press’ Wyatt Massey. (By the way, Smith and Meyer now work for The Associated Press.)

But there were surprises, too, in some of the major categories.

Britta Lokting and Sam Adler-Bell of Jewish Currents won the Story of the Year prize for “Welcome to Lammville: How the Hasidic housing crisis led to the largest case of federal voter fraud in modern American history.”

Dan Stockman of the Global Sisters Report earned top honors for reporting at online-only outlets for a series on Catholic women.

And Peter Clowney, John DeLore, Abigail Keel, Ash Sanders, Sarah Ventre and Amy Westervelt received the Gerald A. Renner Award for Excellence in Enterprise Religion Reporting for their podcast "Unfinished: Short Creek."

Congrats to ReligionUnplugged.com’s own honorees: Alexandra Radu took first place for a photo from Malaysia, and the “God and Guns” project by Paul Glader and Michael Ray Smith (with videos by Micah Danney) received third place both for Story of the Year and online-only reporting.

Check out the full list of winners here.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Southern Baptist Convention committee grants access to privileged files amid sex abuse inquiry: Last week’s Plug-in highlighted the extremely busy first week of The Tennessean’s new religion writer, Liam Adams (succeeding the award-winning Holly Meyer, mentioned above).

Guess what? The second week didn’t slow down any. By my count, Adams is already up to 10 Tennessean bylines, exactly half of them about the Southern Baptist controversy.

Speaking of which, read other strong coverage of this week’s decision via The Associated Press’ Peter Smith, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana, Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt and the Houston Chronicle’s Robert Downen.

2. Pat Robertson retires from The 700 Club at 91: Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt had a banner week in ledes. (Make sure you clicked her SBC link above.)

Here is how she described Robertson’s retirement:

After decades of offering Christian viewers his commentary on natural disasters, 9/11, AIDS, pot, divorce, diplomacy, plastic surgery, homosexuality, Islam, secular colleges, the end of the world, critical race theory, and a range of other moral issues, Pat Robertson has signed off as host of The 700 Club.

That about covers it.

3. Harding University students travel to Greece to learn the culture and worship where Christianity first took root: The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Frank Lockwood reports from Athens, Greece.

This story, full of revealing details and biblical insights, is just one example why it’s wonderful to have Lockwood back on the religion beat after several years as his newspaper’s Washington correspondent.

BONUS: COVID-19 remains a thing. Sadly.

Among the related stories that caught my attention this week:

• The Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas reports on religion’s role in the NBA’s escalating vaccine conflict.

• NPR’s Laurel Wamsley explains why judging “sincerely held” religious belief is tricky for employers mandating vaccines.

• Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks delves into the reasons some Black congregations remain hesitant to reopen.

More Top Reads

• After pastor evicts nearly 200 migrants, his brother welcomes them all (by Natalie Kitroeff, New York Times)

• Non-meat ‘pork’ is a dish too far for observant Jews, Muslims (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

• The faith-related cases to watch in the Supreme Court’s new term (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

• American anti-poverty crusader finds an ally in Pope Francis at the Vatican (by Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter)

• Fisk Jubilee Singers continue to sing spirituals 150 years later (by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

• Faith, endurance of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer revealed in new biography (by Adelle M. Banks, RNS)

• What science can tell us about the benefits of religion (by Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post)

• Spiritual convoy’ heads to California hearing on Apache sacred site at Oak Flat (by Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service)

• Community unites in prayer at Texas church after shooting at Timberview High School (by Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

• French clergy sexually abused over 200,000 children since 1950, report finds (by Tangi Salaün and Ingrid Melander, Reuters)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

The Chattanooga Times Free Press’ Mary Fortune writes about how “The search for a new American dream led these millennials to Chattanooga.”

The story features journalist Chris Moody and his attorney wife, Cristi.

Godbeat followers will recognize Moody’s name, as he has covered a number of religion stories, including pieces for CNN, New York magazine and Yahoo.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

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

• Abortion is at the heart of American division (by Dr. Michael Brown)

• Protestant pro-abortion rights groups absent from Supreme Court abortion case (by Richard Ostling)

• Ciao, Alitalia: How will the Pope fly after his favorite airline goes bust? (by Clemente Lisi)

• From New York to Pakistan, brothers fight blasphemy accusation (by Isabella Meibauer)

• Most popular Christian Facebook pages were fake, designed to deceive (by Steve Rabey)

• The future of American religion: birth rates show who's having more kids (by Ryan Burge)

• Philip Yancey’s new memoir critiques fundamentalist upbringing (by Steve Rabey)

• Will the government and press continue to ignore religious aspect of Afghanistan? (by Terry Mattingly)

• Priest hopes to rebuild crusader-era church of John the Baptist in Palestine (by Gil Zohar)

• Social media helps Kashmiri youth share and fund music to fight depression, isolation (by Zaffar Iqbal)

• Children in California can now make life-altering decisions without parents' knowledge (by Dr. Michael Brown)

• Harding University honors Botham Jean, shot to death in 2018, with memorial bench (by Bobby Ross Jr.)

The Final Plug

I mentioned the RNA award winners up top.

I didn’t comment on the many amazing Godbeat pros who didn’t make the list. But it’s a crazy number. So much impressive journalism on religion is done day after day, week after week.

I’ll amen these recent tweets by Sam Kestenbaum, Bob Smietana and Kate Shellnutt:

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend, and be sure to watch Oklahoma beat Texas on Saturday.

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.