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, Weekend Plug-in readers!

Godbeat pros are mourning one of their own: Richard Gustav Niebuhr, the 2010 recipient of the Religion News Association’s William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award, covered religion for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Making news this week: The Vatican says transgender people may be baptized — “the latest sign of Pope Francis’ conciliatory approach to LGBTQ Catholics,” according to the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca.

Meanwhile, there’s a new development in a high-profile sex abuse case involving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Associated Press’ Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen report.

An Arizona judge ruled that “church officials who knew that a church member was sexually abusing his daughter had no duty to report the abuse to police or social service agencies because the information was received during a spiritual confession,” AP notes.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with this week’s elections and — looking ahead to next year’s voting — the latest GOP presidential debate.

What To Know: The Big Story

Five takeaways: “Voters across the country cast ballots to elect a governor in Kentucky, decide legislative control in Virginia and determine whether the Ohio state constitution should be changed to enshrine the right to have an abortion.  

“These are all races and issues that faith voters care about, even though off-year elections get less attention in the U.S. than presidential and midterm congressional ones.”

So reports ReligionUnplugged.com’s Clemente Lisi, who details “five things we learned from this year’s results and what they mean to faith voters.” 

The fight goes on: “In the wake of a sound abortion rights victory in Ohio, some faith leaders are rejoicing, others mourn and all say their efforts to mobilize around abortion are far from over.”

Religion News Service’s Kathryn Post emphasizes that the abortion debate in Ohio is “not a simple clash between religious and secular voters.”

It’s much more complex than that, as the RNS story explains.

A focus on Israel support: Looking ahead to the 2024 presidential election, five GOP candidates — not including Donald Trump — took the debate stage Wednesday night.

In the first debate since war erupted in the Middle East, the Republicans “appealed to Zionist evangelicals while condemning campus antisemitism,” Christianity Today’s Harvest Prude reports.

They “spent over an hour addressing the conflict and coming to Israel’s defense.”

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. ‘Christian Nashville-ism’: “The mix of religion, power, money and influence around Nashville and its suburbs makes it fertile ground for a Southern evangelical take on Christian nationalism,” Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana reports.

Smietana’s take on Williamson County follows an in-depth report last year by The Tennessean’s Liam Adams and Cole Villena on “the suburban ‘new frontier’ for American evangelical Christianity.”

2. ‘We are going crazy’: Washington Times religion writer Mark A. Kellner shares the story of an Israeli family whose loved one is being held hostage by Hamas.

“Yonatan and Ido Shamriz have met with legislators in the U.S. Capitol and addressed thousands of students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, with the same message Wednesday: Secure the safe release of their younger brother Alon from Gaza,” Kellner writes.

3. Furious Southern Baptists: “A brief filed in a Kentucky case has infuriated members of the denomination across the country, just as it grapples with an abuse scandal.”

The New York Times’ Ruth Graham delves into the controversy.

More Top Reads

A Jewish man named Paul Kessler died in Southern California while protesting in support of Israel. What really happened? The Los Angeles Times’ Grace Toohey, Jeremy Childs, Richard Winton, Noah Goldberg and Terry Castleman seek answers. … “Daniel Dávila knew he would become a devil at age 12.” That’s Associated Press writer María Teresa Hernández lede on a feature about Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico. … Kids’ access to porn is a problem. Are state laws the solution? Maria Baer explores the question for Christianity Today. … A Holocaust survivor recalls “Night of Broken Glass” horrors in an interactive, virtual reality project, AP’s Kirsten Grieshaber reports from Berlin. … A major survey finds “conservative” and “orthodox” priests are on the rise, according to Catholic News Agency’s Jonah McKeown. … A private school outside Boston has banned a campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, “the latest sign that the Israel-Hamas war has become a scorching campus flashpoint,” Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron explains. … And in a think piece at The Atlantic, makes a case for “When anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic.”

Inside The Godbeat

The Religion News Association presented its 2023 Excellence in Religion Reporting Awards this week in a ceremony at Columbia Journalism School in New York.

Check out the RNA’s social media posts for a complete list of winners.

Two religion journalists I admire won first-place honors for the first time: my Christian Chronicle colleague Erik Tryggestad and The Tennessean’s Liam Adams. I’m sure I’m missing others!

In other awards news, ReligionUnplugged.com won three first-place Eppy Awards from Editor & Publisher. Congrats to the entire team! And please consider giving to RUP’s NewsMatch campaign.

Charging Station: ICYMI

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

Amid the ongoing war, Israel’s national library opened its doors.

Gil Zohar reports from Jerusalem.

The Final Plug

COVID-19 left Della Souder blinded. Then it took her father.

But the young Christian mom refuses to “give up on God.”

I traveled to Texas to spend time with Souder and her family. Read my Christian Chronicle story.

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.