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) What a difference a year makes.

Or not.

Fifty-two weeks ago, this news topped Weekend Plug-in:

Trump calls COVID-19 vaccine ‘a medical miracle,’ but many religious people are skeptical

Guess what? Many religious people remain highly skeptical of the vaccines, despite their strong effectiveness at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Which leads us to this week’s news: a new public opinion poll on religious exemptions to the vaccines.

Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins reports:

WASHINGTON (RNS) — A new poll reveals most Americans are in favor of offering religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccines, yet express concern that too many people are seeking such exemptions. In the same survey, more than half of those who refuse to get vaccinated say getting the shot goes against their personal faith.

The poll, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core and released Thursday (Dec. 9), investigated ongoing debates about COVID-19 vaccines as well as emerging divisions over whether religious exemptions to the shots should even exist.

According to the survey, a small majority (51%) of Americans favor allowing individuals who would otherwise be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to opt out if it violates their religious beliefs, compared with 47% who oppose such religious exemptions.

See additional coverage of the poll by the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner and NPR’s Megan Myscofski.

In related news, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandate for religious and private schools has frustrated some Jewish and Catholic leaders, and legal challenges are possible, report the New York Times’ Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Liam Stack and Jeffery C. Mays.

Meanwhile, RNS national reporter Bob Smietana talked about religion and vaccine skepticism on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” hosted by Brian Stelter.

Check out the full interview from this past Sunday.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Some Texas religious leaders live in lavish, tax-free estates thanks to obscure law: “While average Texans struggle to pay property taxes, many ministers of the gospel are living in tax-free luxury thanks to a generous exemption in state law,” the Houston Chronicle’s Jay Root tweets.

In the first part of an investigative series, Root and two colleagues — Eric Dexheimer and Stephanie Lamm — delve deep into a state law that “allows religious organizations to claim tax-free clergy residences of up to 1 acre.”

2. Inside the Southern Baptist Convention's battle over race and what it says about the denomination: “Ahead of the 2021 SBC annual meeting, Black pastors were threatening to leave over how the denomination handled critical race theory,” this in-depth report by The Tennessean’s Liam Adams notes. “Internal documents offer a window into how leaders responded.”

How much time did Adams invest in this story? Enough to report fascinating details such as these:

From the 2016 annual meeting to the 2021 annual meeting, Southern Baptists have spent a total 273 minutes discussing and debating resolutions. Eighty-five of those minutes, or about a third of the total time, have been spent on resolutions about race, according to an analysis of video recordings.

3. John Paul I was pope for just 33 days. The story of his death is still evolving: “We went deep on one of the classic tales of intrigue in the Catholic Church — the death of John Paul I, who was pope for just 33 days,” explains Chico Harlan, the Washington Post’s Rome bureau chief.

“He died in 1978, but his tale is a modern one: After conspiracy theories take hold, can you ever set the record straight?” adds Harlan, who produced this story with Stefano Pitrelli, a Post reporter based in Rome.

BONUS: “Women are barred or limited from serving as clergy and excluded from the top leadership in some of the world's major religions,” The Associated Press notes.

In a new series launched this week, AP and Religion News Service report that many women in those faith groups are nonetheless finding leadership roles.

Some of the stories:

• In Buddhism, women blaze a trail but strive for gender equity (by Luis Andres Henao of AP)

• Women breaking through top roles in Black churches (by Adelle M. Banks of RNS and Peter Smith of AP)

• Women seek diverse paths to leadership in Islamic spaces (by Mariam Fam of AP and Aysha Khan of RNS)

• Barred from priesthood, some Catholic women find other roles (by Claire Giangrave of RNS and David Crary of AP)

More Top Reads

• An archaeological dig reignites the debate over the Old Testament’s historical accuracy (by Matti Friedman, Smithsonian)

• Can officials pray in public? It’s complicated (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

• As COVID continues, church-run food pantries, ministries adapt and expand (by Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)

• Most Americans, and many Christians, don’t believe the Son of God existed before the manger (by Aaron Earls, Lifeway Research)

• Supreme Court suggests religious schools OK to get Maine tuition aid (by Mark Sherman, Associated Press)

• Meet an ecologist who works for God (and against lawns) (by Cara Buckley, New York Times)

• Behold! The New York Times dared to explore the spiritual 'fire' inside Denzel Washington (by Terry Mattingly, GetReligion)

• ‘The fact that no kids were killed was just amazing’ (by Calvin Cockrell, Christian Chronicle)

• What ‘living righteously’ means at Dave Ramsey’s company (by Steven Hale, Nashville Scene)

• Hanukkah is a busy week for Wyoming's only rabbi (by Kyle Mackie, NPR)

• Finding religion in a day of infamy: Pearl Harbor was turning point, FSU professor says (by James Call, Tallahassee Democrat)

• Iowa to pay $1.9 million to settle religious, speech rights cases (by David Pitt, AP)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

The New York Times has become the latest major news organization — after The Associated Press and others — to replace “anti-Semitism” with “antisemitism” in its style guide.

“The change, which removes the hyphen and lowercases the first S, comes in response to a growing chorus of Jewish activists who have argued that the traditional usage distorts the true meaning of the term,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel notes.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

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

• Warhol unmasked: Sex, drugs and Catholicism (by Bethany Johnson)

• How today’s conspiracy theories echo the Satanic Panic (by Heather Greene)

• Update to New Revised Standard Bible makes substantive — and controversial — changes (by Richard Ostling)

• How poetry helps our faith (by Michael Metzger)

• Ohio Valley University, a Christian university, decides to close after not meeting payroll (by Cheryl Mann Bacon)

• Tennessee pastor reflects on his effort to erect Black soldier statue (by Bethany Johnson)

• Carson v. Makin explained: What's at stake for religious schools, LGBTQ kids (by Chelsea Langston Bombino)

• America’s dream for Ethiopia is actually a nightmare (by Desta Heliso)

• These are the women heroes behind the scenes of the Hanukkah story (by Alan Avery-Peck)

• Have conservative and progressive Christianity become two separate religions? (by Richard Ostling)

• German court secures first-ever conviction for Islamic State group's Yazidi genocide (by Ewelina U. Ochab)

• Kashmiri Hindus fear another mass departure after civilian killings (by Zaffar Iqbal)

The Final Plug

‘Tis the season for some cheerful news.

For that, let’s turn to the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner, who reports:

The Houston plumber who found a stash of cash in the wall of a bathroom at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church will have a very merry Christmas indeed.

The plumber will pocket a $20,000 reward for his find.

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

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.