📫 Does Requiring A Mail Carrier To Work On Sunday Violate His Religious Freedom? 🔌
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) Surprise!
I mentioned earlier that I’d be on an international reporting trip and unable to produce today’s Plug-in. Alas, I ran into a visa issue, so here I am.
Today’s news includes:
• Muslims celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday amid joy and tragedy, via The Associated Press’ Abby Sewell.
• Conservative Anglican leaders calling for a break with the Archbishop of Canterbury over same-sex blessings, via the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca.
• And an Iowa GOP event this weekend that represents a key test of former President Donald Trump’s hold on the U.S. religious right, via the Washington Times’ Seth McLaughlin.
That’s just the start of this week’s best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Let’s keep rolling!
What To Know: The Big Story
High court seeks compromise: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reviewed “the case of a part-time mail carrier who quit his U.S. Postal Service job after he was forced to deliver packages on Sundays, when he observes the Sabbath.”
A majority of justices “expressed interest … in a compromise intended to balance religious rights in the workplace with the burden they might impose on employers and co-workers,” the Washington Post’s Ann E. Marimow reports.
CNN’s Ariane de Vogue explains:
A lower court had ruled against the worker, Gerald Groff, holding that his request would cause an “undue burden” on the USPS and lead to low morale at the workplace when other employees had to pick up his shifts.
Not just Christians: Conservative Christians aren’t the only ones asking for accommodation in the mailman case, Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron notes.
“Religious minorities — Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Seventh-day Adventists — have filed briefs asking the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that gutted a civil rights statute’s protections for religious accommodation,” Shimron’s story points out.
Important context: The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner recently interviewed Larry Hardison, whose “name was chiseled into American legal history 46 years ago when the Supreme Court ruled against him in a landmark religious accommodation case.”
For more insight, see “A brief history of American Christians fighting Sunday mail” by Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Gangs and God: A crackdown by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has paid little attention “to the evangelical pastors who believe gang members can change.”
Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Leila Miller reports the compelling story from San Salvador.
2. A story of hope: The Jewish community in Nashville, Tennessee, helped reunite an Afghan family torn apart in 2021.
The Tennessean’s Brad Schmitt shares the riveting details.
3. Jehovah’s Witnesses abuse: “A Pennsylvania grand jury in recent months accused nine men with connections to the Jehovah’s Witnesses of child sexual abuse in what some consider the nation’s most comprehensive investigation yet into abuse within the faith.”
The Associated Press’ Mark Scolforo and Peter Smith report the story from York Haven, Pennsylvania.
More Top Reads
One city, two people and India’s widening religious divide — The Associated Press’ Sheikh Saaliq details the factors at play. … For embattled Tennessee Democratic lawmakers, liberal faith movements were a training ground, Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins reports. … One of those lawmakers, Justin Jones, still calls upon the “soulful energy” of the South, Sojourners’ Mitchell Atencio writes. … Tennessee clergy and their congregants marched on the state Capitol to protest gun violence, The Tennessean’s Liam Adams notes. … Muslims around the world are considering the climate during Ramadan, AP’s Edna Tarigan and Mariam Fam explain. … A Black church and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins reached a historic accord, according to AP’s Peter Smith. … Chicago settled a $205,000 case to allow evangelism in Millennium Park, Christianity Today’s Emily Belz reports. … And in a think piece at The Conversation, Charles J. Russo makes the case that plans for a religious charter school, although rejected for now by Oklahoma leaders, “are already pushing church-state debates into new territory.”
Inside The Godbeat
Two major religious press groups — the Associated Church Press and the Evangelical Press Association — have announced contest winners for work published in 2022.
ReligionUnplugged.com earned two top honors in ACP’s Best of the Church Press Awards: first place for the “Orthodox Alaska” series by Meagan Saliashvili and Johan Tripkovic and first place for my story on a Russian-speaking church in Anchorage becoming a hub for helping Ukrainians.
Charging Station: ICYMI
Here is where you can catch up on top ReligionUnplugged.com content.
Somali women recall pain and punishment under the al-Shabaab terror group linked to al-Qaida.
Award-winning journalist Abjata Khalif reports the story from Nairobi, Kenya.
The Final Plug
Hat tip to Nancy French, who tweeted about this article on “the wisdom of valuing truth over the expectations/demands of readers.”
In a piece for Current, former World magazine editor Marvin Olasky writes about lessons for conservative media after Fox News’ nearly $800 million settlement with Dominion.
Olasky explains, as the headline puts it, “How We Saved WORLD Millions of Dollars.”
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.