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) Good morning, my friends!

I’m your Weekend Plug-in columnist, and I need to let you know I’ve checked all my files.

I didn’t find any classified documents from that time I toured the White House. Whew!

So let’s dive right into the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.

What To Know: The Big Story

It’s Jan. 27, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Today’s commemoration marks the 78th anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The United Nations “urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism.”

Telling their stories: Toby Levy, now 89, was one of only 31 survivors in the town of Chodorow — then a part of Poland, now Ukraine.

“Like my father said, ‘God needed witnesses’” to the horror, Levy tells the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner. “That’s why I don’t say ‘no’ to anybody, as tired as I am,” she says of opportunities to relate her experience.

Like Levy, David Schaecter, 93, knows he is running out of time, Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron reports:

So this week he agreed to a weeklong recording of his life story using a new technology that will allow future generations to interact with a hologram-style likeness of him.

That story will form the base of an exhibit at Boston’s future Holocaust museum, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

“All children, but especially Jewish children, need to know who they are, what they are and what happened,” said Schaecter on a lunch break during the filming in a Miami studio. “I’m the guy who would like to tell them what happened.”

More: In Poland, the Auschwitz anniversary was marked today as peace again is shattered by war in Europe, The Associated Press’ Vanessa Gera reports.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Somber Sunday: After a Saturday night mass shooting killed nearly a dozen people at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park, California, Asian American pastors adjusted services and offered prayers to address the tragedy, Christianity Today’s Curtis Yee reports.

In the aftermath of the shooting that struck the Chinese American community, people of different religions and ethnicities united, Religion News Service’s Alejandra Molina notes.

Traditionally, dance halls and churches in Asian communities have been safe spaces for older people, AP’s Terry Tang and Deepa Bharath explain.

2. Powerful alliances: Christian leaders Johnny Hunt and Ravi Zacharias used key alliances in the Southern Baptist Convention to combat sexual abuse allegations, The Tennessean’s Liam Adams reports.

Adams writes that the newly uncovered history between Hunt and Zacharias illustrates a larger struggle in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

3. ‘He Gets Us’: A planned $1 billion ad campaign promotes Jesus and will include a $20 million pair of commercials during this year’s Super Bowl, according to Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana.

The Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas offers more insight on “Why you keep seeing ads for Jesus during NFL games.”

More Top Reads

The Associated Press’ Nicole Winfield got a big scoop this week: a one-on-one interview with Pope Francis. … Can Rahul Gandhi and his 2,175-mile march save democracy in India? That’s the question posed by the Los Angeles Times’ Parth M.N. … Amid controversies and threats of defunding, Christian public librarians work for the good of their communities, Christianity Today’s Emilz Belz writes. … In a Texas Observer book review tied to the 30th anniversary of the Waco inferno, David R. Brockman praises Fort Worth author Jeff Guinn’s “compelling account of the 1993 tragedy that still casts shadows on our political landscape today.” … Finally, in a think piece at The New Republic, Katherine Stewart makes the case that “an extreme transformation in American religion poses an existential threat to our democracy.”

Inside The Godbeat

Meagan Clark Saliashvili, ReligionUnplugged.com’s managing editor since 2019, is looking for her next adventure.

Already, she is writing excellent freelance pieces for clients including Religion News Service.

I’ve really enjoyed working with Meagan and hanging out with her at last year’s Religion News Association annual meeting in the Washington, D.C., area.

I wish her all the best!

Charging Station: ICYMI

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

A Minnesota university’s dismissal of an art history professor who showed depictions of the Prophet Muhammad has made headlines for weeks.

“While many Muslims today believe it is inappropriate to depict Muhammad, it was not always so in the past,” Christiane Gruber writes at ReligionUnplugged.com. “Moreover, debates about this subject within the Muslim community are ongoing.”

The Final Plug

If somebody rings your doorbell and runs, they could be … leaving a prayer for you.

Apparently, that is a thing.

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com and serves as 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 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.