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!

After a week on the road that took me from Oklahoma to Texas to Arkansas to Tennessee, I’m back in the driver’s seat at Weekend Plug-in.

Before the Big Game this weekend, let’s kick off our scrimmage of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.

What To Know: The Big Story

‘He Gets Us’: Jesus is coming to the Super Bowl — to the commercials, that is.

Two ads. Ninety seconds. A $20 million price tag.

The Associated Press’ Holly Meyer, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana and the Washington Times’ Mark Kellner delve into the pricey campaign and its backers.

The bottom line, as AP explains:

They hope to counter the notion that religion is used to divide people, spending about $20 million to reach more than 100 million viewers at a time when the nation’s Christian population — and religious affiliation of any kind — are in decline.

Because religion is a touchy subject and prime-time advertising is so expensive, it is rare for faith to be promoted alongside the Super Bowl ’s perennially buzzed about beer and fast-food commercials. But the backers of the “He Gets Us” campaign see it as a great opportunity to reach so many people at once.

Faith and football: For the first time, two Black quarterbacks — Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs — will face each other during a Super Bowl.

Hurts and Mahomes have something else in common: They’re both “practicing Christians not afraid to publicly talk about their faith and how it helps them succeed at the highest levels,” as ReligionUnplugged.com’s own Clemente Lisi explains.

‘God of Sod’: George Toma is preparing the field for the Super Bowl for the 57th straight year.

“When I’m in heaven, I’ll be looking at your beautiful field,” the 94-year-old Toma tells the New York Times, “or I’ll be in hell looking up what kind of root system you have.”

A final football note: Lifeway Research’s Aaron Earls provides four guidelines to keep your church Super Bowl party legal.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. No justice: “While a former leader hopes for change, women who sought refuge in biblical counseling at John MacArthur’s church say they feared discipline for seeking safety from their abusive marriages.”

Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt investigates abuse at Grace Community Church, a Sun Valley, California, megachurch led by “one of America’s longest-standing and most influential pastors.”

2. Whistleblower scoop: A former employee of a $100 billion investment fund owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is making new allegations in a document submitted to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and a related subcommittee.

ReligionUnplugged.com’s own Paul Glader broke the news, and other journalists — including the Salt Lake Tribune’s Peggy Fletcher Stack and Tony Semerad — are following up on it.

3. ‘Disaster of the century’: The death toll has topped 20,000 in the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.

One Christian aid organization, Samaritan’s Purse, will “send a 52-bed emergency field hospital to the city of Antakya, historically known as Antioch,” Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron reports.

The National Catholic Reporter’s Doreen Abi Raad cites faith leaders’ demands to lift “unjust sanctions” on Syria’s people and secure delivery of humanitarian aid. For those wanting to help, MinistryWatch’s Warren Cole Smith offers advice.

More Top Reads

In a bitter wartime winter, a missionary warms Ukrainians with stoves and blankets, Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks writes. … A Pentecostal chaplain killed in a Russian rocket attack volunteered to minister to Ukrainian soldiers at age 14 after militants killed two of his brothers in the War in Donbas, Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman explains. … New research shows congregational giving among Catholics is back to pre-pandemic levels but is being shouldered by a much smaller number of donors, the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein reports. … As Pennsylvania’s ‘Bible belt’ evolves, clergy look to one another for mutual support, Elizabeth E. Evans writes for RNS. … Devout Hindus, who worship cows as holy, say Valentine’s Day goes against traditional Indian values, The Associated Press’ Ashok Sharma notes. … Some are criticizing a mainline denomination’s choice to base its recent winter exegesis exam on the biblical story known as “The Levite’s Concubine,” RNS’ Emily McFarlan Miller reports. … Spiritual advisers are offering final comfort in execution rooms, according to AP’s Jim Salter. … Finally, in a think piece for The Atlantic, Timothy Keller makes the case that “Christianity is due for a revival.”

Inside The Godbeat

For over a decade, religion writer Menachem Wecker has focused on freelance work.

But now he has a full-time job: as U.S. bureau news editor for the Jewish News Syndicate.

Be sure to follow him on Twitter.

Charging Station: ICYMI

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

“Is the end of journalistic objectivity the reason Catholic Church vandalism isn't a big story?” That’s Clemente Lisi’s question in a recent column republished here at ReligionUnplugged.com.

On a similar note, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens opines on “how to destroy (what’s left of) the mainstream media’s credibility.”

The Final Plug

I mentioned my road trip up top.

The best part? The faces that greeted me when I got back.

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.