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 fun night!

The Religion News Association presented its 2022 Awards for Religion Reporting Excellence in a hybrid ceremony Wednesday at Columbia Journalism School in New York.

Among the highlights:

• Sarah Pulliam Bailey, religion writer for The Washington Post, won for Excellence in Religion News Analysis, including a piece on “Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers.” Even better, Bailey brought her new baby with her to celebrate.

• Tom Gjelten, retired religion correspondent for NPR, won for Religion Story of the Year for his piece “An inconvenient genocide: Why we don’t know more about the Uyghurs” for Moment magazine. (Last week’s Plug-in highlighted the other finalists.)

• Julia Duin, a longtime religion journalist who has written for ReligionUnplugged.com and is Newsweek’s contributing editor for religion, won for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Online-only News Outlets and placed in two other categories. Duin was honored for stories she wrote for National Geographic, Politico and Newsweek.

Other big winners included Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Large Newspapers and Wire Services, Peggy Fletcher Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Small-to-Mid-sized Newspapers and PJ Grisar of The Forward for Excellence in Religion Feature Writing.

Still more winners: Erika Lantz for Excellence in Enterprise Religion Reporting for the podcast “The Turning: The Sisters Who Left,” Eetta Prince-Gibson of Moment magazine for Excellence in Magazine and Non-daily Newspaper Religion Reporting, and Jodi Rudoren of The Forward for Excellence in Religion Commentary.

And finally: Ken Chitwood for Excellence in Nonfiction Religion Books for "The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean," Sojourners magazine for Excellence in Magazine Overall Religion Coverage and KALW’s “The Spiritual Edge” for Outstanding Religion News Story in a Radio Broadcast and Outstanding Religion Podcast.

The contest celebrated stories published and broadcast in 2021. Kudos to Christine A. Di Pasquale, RNA’s executive director; Betsy Shirley, RNA’s president; and Jeff Diamant, RNA’s contest chair, for an excellent event.

See the full list of winners on the RNA website.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. In Branson, God and country serve as red, white and blue comfort food: “Welcome to Branson, Missouri, where the holy trinity of faith, flag and family reign supreme and where an inspirational, God-and-country style of Christian nationalism serves as comfort food for the American soul,” Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana writes.

In a sidebar, Smietana explores how “In the past, Branson and the Ozarks drew liberal Christians — as well as Christian nationalists.”

I found these stories particularly riveting since I made my first trip to Branson this past summer with my parents and sister.

2. Afghan couple accuse U.S. Marine of abducting their baby: “This is a story about how one U.S. Marine became fiercely determined to bring home an Afghan war orphan, and praised it as an act of Christian faith to save her,” report Juliet Linderman, Claire Galofaro and Martha Mendoza of The Associated Press.

An Afghan couple — who are Muslims — are fighting for the baby’s return.

“She knew about Allah, about clothes, about the names of food,” the Afghan woman wrote concerning the little girl.

3. Brazilian presidential candidates Bolsonaro and ‘Lula’ court the evangelical vote: “Less than two weeks ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are battling to portray themselves as closest to one particularly influential figure: God,” The Wall Street Journal’s Samantha Pearson and Luciana Magalhaes report.

Elsewhere, BBC News’ Chiagozie Nwonwu reports from Lagos, Nigeria:

Religious intolerance — in one of the most religious countries in Africa if not the world — is one of the issues dominating debate ahead of next year's elections.

More Top Reads

• Vatican’s mishandling of high-profile abuse cases extends its foremost crisis (by Chico Harlan and Amanda Coletta, Washington Post)

• Faith groups curb Haiti work due to chaos, 2021 kidnapping (by Peter Smith and David Crary, Associated Press)

• Workers want a faith-friendly workplace — but they’re often afraid of what it takes to get one (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

• Religious groups to Supreme Court: Skirts-only decision imperils food pantries, hospitals (by Alison Frankel, Reuters)

• How Warnock’s church highlights the key to Georgia’s Senate race (by Eugene Daniels, Politico)

• Conservative Muslims join forces with Christian right on Michigan book bans (by Tom Perkins, The Guardian)

• Religious polarization in India seeping into U.S. diaspora (by Deepa Bharath and Mariam Fam, AP)

• The push for women’s rights in Iran is a push for religious freedom too (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)

• These Catholics are trying to work within the church to change how sexual abuse is addressed (by Sophie Carson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

• What does the future hold for Montreal’s unused church buildings? (by Chloë Ranaldi, CBC News)

• Most U.S. Catholic priests fear false abuse allegations, study finds (by Francis X. Rocca, Wall Street Journal)

• Pfleger benched again amid another decades-old sexual abuse claim (by Christy Gutowski, Chicago Tribune)

• Former Obama faith adviser launches Christian political organization (by Jon Ward, Yahoo!)

• Animal welfare, religious slaughtering practices in spotlight at European Union session (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

• World Council of Churches head meets with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

I mentioned the first-place winners in the Religion News Association contest up top.

I’ll take a moment here to celebrate some of the second- and third-place honorees, including Kimberly Winston, whose winning entries included work for ReligionUnplugged.com, and Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana, who was recognized in two categories.

Other familiar names to Plug-in readers: Kelsey Dallas of the Deseret News, Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham of The New York Times and Bobby Ross Jr. of The Christian Chronicle (hey, that’s me!).

Again, here’s the link to check out the full list.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

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

• The price women pay for freedom in Iran (by Ewelina U. Ochab)

• Texas megachurch announces decision to leave United Methodist denomination (by Anne Stych)

• As Russia-Ukraine war escalates, some Ukrainians wonder, ‘Does God love Russians?’ (by Erik Tryggestad)

• 5 books about Orthodox Christianity to read during Orthodox Awareness Month (by Jovan Tripkovic)

• The bookish Episcopal bishop who dared to say ‘apostasy’ (by Terry Mattingly)

• A history of Catholicism since the French Revolution is an ambitious volume worth reading (by Clemente Lisi)

• Christian aid surges into Florida after Hurricane Ian (by Erik Tryggestad)

• Meet the chaplain for Norwegian students in the United States (by Natalie Hognestad)

• GOP hoping to surf on red wave of Catholic support during midterms (by Clemente Lisi)

• The story of Iran’s struggle from an Iranian in exile (by Anonymous)

• How Loretta Lynn, whom I never met, changed my life (by Paul Prather)

• A third of wealthy donors give because of faith and family traditions, study finds (by Anne Stych)

The Final Plug

Since this week’s Plug-in has an awards theme, I’ll give a shoutout to my son Keaton Ross, an investigative reporter for Oklahoma Watch.

I’ve been blessed to win a number of first-place plaques from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists over the last 30 years. But Keaton won his first one over the weekend for his criminal justice story “They don’t vote, but they do count: How the incarcerated skew political representation in Oklahoma.”

A quick programming note: I’m on vacation next week, so Plug-in won’t publish. I’ll see you back in this same space in two weeks.

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.