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) I’ve never visited Walt Disney World, but I did make it to Disney church one Sunday.

Mickey, Minnie and friends are, as you might have noticed, key actors in the nation’s latest culture war skirmish.

Over the last week, the fight over Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill — or, as critics call it, the “Don’t Say Gay” law — has made front-page headlines in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

Call it Disney deja vu.

The Los Angeles Times’ Ryan Faughnder asserts:

It’s a battle that, to people who have followed Disney’s history, has a familiar ring. The current conflict is just the latest clash to reveal underlying tensions that have existed between Disney and religious conservatives for decades as the company has increasingly embraced the LGBTQ community.

It has strong echoes of the anti-Disney protests of the late 1990s, when religious leaders criticized the extension of health benefits to the partners of LGBTQ Disney employees, the coming out of Ellen DeGeneres on her sitcom on Disney-owned ABC and unofficial “Gay Day” celebrations at the theme parks.

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, host of “The 700 Club,” warned the city of Orlando that it risked hurricanes by tolerating Gay Days. The Southern Baptist Convention in 1997 called for a Disney boycott after the nondenominational American Family Assn. campaigned against the Burbank entertainment giant by sending thousands of protest packets to pastors. The difference now is that, instead of brochures, there’s Fox News and Twitter.

A major development in the current brawl came Thursday, as the Wall Street Journal’s Arian Campo-Flores and Robbie Whelan report:

Florida lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would end a special tax district that allows Walt Disney Co. DIS 0.07% ▲ to govern the land housing its theme parks, escalating a weekslong dispute with Disney over its public opposition to a Florida bill that limits classroom instruction on gender and sexuality.

The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made clear he would sign it.

In a twist, Southern Baptists have been “offering discounted Disneyland tickets for families traveling to Anaheim this June for the denomination's big annual meeting,” as the Tennessean’s Liam Adams reported earlier this month.

Given the latest news, might the Wonderful World of SBC Resolutions get even more interesting this summer? Stay tuned.

Finally, ReligionUnplugged.com’s own Paul Glader has a truly fascinating take on Disney (hint: he’s not a fan). His question: “Will more Americans turn agnostic on the gospel of Disney?”

Among its many revealing details, Glader’s column references longtime religion reporter Mark Pinsky’s 2004 book “The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust.” The book, as Glader explains, “explores the moral and spiritual development role that Disney” has played for generations of children.

Be sure to check out Glader’s piece.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. A praying football coach makes his case: The Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas, who truly owns the religious freedom beat, delves into what’s at stake next week as the U.S. Supreme Court revisits “the thorny issue of prayer in schools.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times’ Ruth Graham offers a surprising update in the case of Texas death-row inmate John Henry Ramirez. Earlier, the high court granted Ramirez the right to have a pastor pray out loud and lay hands on him during his execution.

More on the religious liberty front: Here’s a shameless plug for my Christian Chronicle profile of Becket attorney Lori Windham.

2. The evolution of Greg Locke: How a controversial Tennessee pastor wants to save America from its demons: “From viral social posts to his presence in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, many see Greg Locke as a heretic who promotes dangerous ideas,” the Tennessean’s Andy Humbles and Liam Adams report. “But in his view, he's a revivalist set on a new awakening.”

A key angle of this in-depth piece: Locke’s split from the independent fundamental Baptists.

3. To fight climate despair, this Christian ecologist says science isn’t enough: “Rick Lindroth is among a small but growing number who argue faith is important to combatting hopelessness,” the Washington Post’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports from Madison, Wisconsin.

In related news, the San Francisco Examiner’s Jessica Wolfrom explores an increasing number of religious groups joining the climate fight, and the Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas interviews scientist Katharine Hayhoe about “Finding hope — and faith — in the climate change debate.”

More Top Reads

• On Palm Sunday for Orthodox Christians, a town in Ukraine seeks a moment of comfort (by Carolyn Cole and Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times)

• Russian Orthodox leader backs war in Ukraine, divides faith (by Jeanne Whalen, Washington Post)

• Orthodox Jews reach out to Ukrainian brethren, refugees, evoke World War II-era rescue group (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

• Prayer, worship lift unaccompanied migrant teens in shelters (by Giovanna Dell'Orto, Associated Press)

• How religion publishing became a billion-dollar industry (by Cathy Lynn Grossman and Emma Wenner, Publishers Weekly)

• Benedict XVI turns 95 as book focuses on anomaly of two popes (by Nicole Winfield, AP)

• Renovations complete, Washington’s LDS temple provides rare public glimpse inside (by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

• Easter sunrise at the Lincoln Memorial is an emotional return to church for some (by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post)

• Within 10 days, three Sikhs were attacked on the same N.Y.C. block (by Liam Stack and Samira Asma-Sadeque, New York Times)

• Tensions over race, religion in France’s presidential race (by Arno Pedram, AP)

• John MacArthur covered up pastor’s sexual abuse, witnesses say (by Julie Roys, Roys Report)

• Our pulpits are full of empty preachers (by Kyle Rohane, Christianity Today)

• Now in Dubai: Passover celebrations (by Rory Jones and Stephen Kalin, Wall Street Journal)

• At Coachella, Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz hosts mini-‘Seders’ for Passover (by Kathryn Post, RNS)

• Think piece: Liberal Protestants and the polarization of the U.S. (by Gene Zubovich, Religion and Politics)

• Think piece: Conservatives’ mistrust of media is rooted in the feeling journalists want to ostracize them (by Anthony Nadler and Doron Taussig, Nieman Lab)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

“If Christian journalists are going to be more than propagandists for Christian institutions, several things need to happen,” Warren Smith says.

Smith offered his suggestions in a presentation he made at the Evangelical Press Association’s annual meeting in Colorado last week. He titled his message “Can Journalism Save Evangelicalism?”

Smith’s credentials: He’s an investigative journalist and president of the independent charitable giving watchdog MinistryWatch.com.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.

 • Agape Flights plane serving missionaries attacked and burned in Haiti (by Steve Rabey)

• Getty Museum's Christian manuscripts exhibit sees antisemitism where there is none (by R.T.M. Sullivan)

• Some ‘Father Stu’ news coverage missed movie's real-life redemptive message (by Clemente Lisi)

• Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin demands Jerusalem church as Israel promised (by Gil Zohar)

• Jewish groups assess Georgia's failure to add state definition of antisemitism (by Dave Schechter)

• After fire, construction to resume at $77 million Bahá’í shrine In Israel (by Iain Carlos and Gil Zohar)

• How Christians can help shape the broader culture, not just their own (by Michael Metzger)

• How golfer Scottie Scheffler praised God after Masters Tournament win (by Luke Kerley)

• Easter PBS documentary follows creation of church fresco, depicts Asheville’s impoverished and homeless (by Jillian Cheney)

The Final Plug

Ashes to ashes?

As America becomes more secular, cremation is “now more popular than a traditional casket burial, and twice as common as it was two decades ago,” the Washington Post’s Karen Heller reports. The religion angle on this trend is one I’ve highlighted previously.

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for ReligionUnplugged.com 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.