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.

LANCASTER, Pa. — Greetings from Amish country.

I’m in Pennsylvania for the Evangelical Press Association’s 2023 Christian Media Convention.

I’m excited to catch up with Paul Glader, ReligionUnplugged.com’s executive editor, and other friends and colleagues.

Before today’s sessions start, let’s check out the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.

What to know: The big story

A declining demographic: Once upon a time in America, the phrase “Latino Catholic” seemed almost superfluous.

However, new research released this week details just how much that has changed.

The Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca reports:

The study by the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of Catholic Latinos fell to 43% in 2022 from 67% in 2010. The share of evangelical Protestants among U.S. Latinos remained relatively stable at 15%, compared with 12%. But the proportion of Latinos with no religious affiliation is now up to 30% from 10%, bringing it to about the same level as that of the U.S. population as a whole.

The tendency to identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” is especially strong among young Latinos, as with young Americans in general. About half of U.S. Latinos ages 18 to 29 identify themselves that way.

Crux’s John Lavenburg notes:

Even with the decreases, Latinos are about twice as likely as U.S. adults overall to identify as Catholic. However, the data within that 43 percent shows the potential impacts of a secularized U.S. culture on Latino Catholics, and paints a bleak picture for the future if the trends continue.

Political angle: The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner suggests that evangelical Hispanics — despite “relatively stable” numbers — have a rising profile:

This is due in part, the research group said, to the political activism of some evangelical churches, but also because “a rising share of Latino voters” have cast their ballots for Republican candidates in recent elections.

Religion News Service’s Alejandra Molina cites “the clergy sexual abuse scandal, a lack of LGBTQ inclusivity and the rule that women can’t be priests” as reasons Latinos are leaving the Catholic Church.

The wider trend: Back at the Wall Street Journal, Rocca explains:

The pattern presents a contrast with that in Latin America, where the Catholic Church has also been losing ground, but more commonly to evangelical and Pentecostal Protestantism than to no religion at all.

Read the full Pew report.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Cries for Covenant: Journalists for The Tennessean “visited more than three dozen religious services, finding hope, resilience and admonishments for action” after the mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, Tenn.

Liam Adams and Keith Sharon led the project.

Read a related story on Tennessee’s faith communities grappling with their grief and anger over the shooting.

2. Inside Hillsdale College: The New Yorker’s Emma Green delves into “The Christian liberal arts college at the heart of the culture wars.”

“Come for theories on why young conservatives always end up Catholic,” Green suggests. “Stay for theories about why Hillsdale explains today's American right.”

3. Faith, family and fastballs: When it comes to Clayton Kershaw, star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, God is a big part of the story.

Mike Piellucci’s profile of the longtime Dallas resident for D Magazine reflects that important aspect of Kershaw’s life.

More Top Reads

The bond between former President Donald Trump and Iowa evangelicals is hard to break, The Associated Press’ Thomas Beaumont reports. … Twenty-five years after the violence largely ended in Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants remain segregated in many ways, AP’s Peter Smith explains. … Christianity Today's troubling history of working with J. Edgar Hoover offer lessons, CT’s Daniel Silliman writes. … Minneapolis has become the first major U.S. city to allow all five Muslim daily prayer calls, the Star Tribune’s Dave Orrick reports. … Self-identified Christians have a complicated relationship with high-interest payday loans, Lifeway Research’s Aaron Earls points out. … As membership surges, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is building its first temple in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the Charlotte Observer’s Gordon Rago. … In a think piece at Current, John Fea reflects on “The New York Times’ ‘come to Jesus’ moment.”

Inside The Godbeat

“Looking forward to the next two years serving my fellow religion nerds,” says Ken Chitwood, the new president of the Religion News Association.

See the full list of the RNA’s new and old board members.

Charging Station: ICYMI

Here is where you can catch up on top ReligionUnplugged.com content.

“Horn of Africa faith-based organizations are increasingly playing a prominent role in responding to a potentially massive famine that has received little attention.”

That’s the news peg for a story by Joseph Hammond, reporting from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Final Plug

I’m headed out of the U.S. on a reporting trip next week. Weekend Plug-in will take the week off, but I look forward to connecting with you again in two weeks.

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.