This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the crucial developments at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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Ken Starr, known for his investigation into a marital affair by President Bill Clinton, spoke Wednesday on the rights of all people including Christians. His visit coincided with news of a Leesburg, Va., elementary school teacher who was suspended from his job for refusing to refer to a biological boy as a girl and vice versa.
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In an unexpected move, the more than 16,000 “messengers” to the Southern Baptist Convention narrowly elected Alabama pastor Ed Litton, known for preaching racial reconciliation, as the new president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Litton ran against the more conservative candidate Mike Stone in a runoff vote. The election signals an ideological divide in the SBC that is far from resolving.
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(OPINION) Barring an intervention from Pope Francis himself, the U.S. bishops will consider, and vote on Thursday, a plan for a document about Holy Communion that includes denying the sacrament to politicians who repeatedly support policies advocating abortion rights. That includes President Joe Biden, only the country’s second Catholic commander in chief ever.
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(OPINION) While The United Methodist Church debates societal issues — LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter, welcome of refugees and the like — its congregations’ real estate is eating away at the denomination and threatening its viability.
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More than 16,000 “messengers” of the gospel are gathering in Nashville this week for the first meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in two years. They’re expected to vote on several hot button issues, including women’s ordination, approaches to racial justice, resolving sexual abuse and electing a new president. As a temperature check from the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S, the results may be an indicator of the ideological direction of American White evangelicalism and will likely cause further division within the group.
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(OPINION) Rifkin explores his Jewish heritage and religion as he grapples with the death of his son. He explores the cultural tie to traditional burial and how his son opted against it — choosing cremation over a Jewish cemetery.
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(ANALYSIS) The Southern Baptist Convention will convene its annual meeting on June 15, 2021 amid hemorrhaging membership. Southern Baptists have lost over 2 million members since 2006, with over 400,000 defections in the last year alone. A data-oriented analysis of the SBC’s past resolutions gives insight into the group’s history and trajectory.
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Despite facing uncertainty about fundraising at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a Christian radio station that’s more than 90% listener supported is receiving more donations than ever before and even planning expansions to its radio signal and headquarters facilities.
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(OPINION) It's often said religious couples generally tend to have more children than non-religious ones. Journalists should ask local observers and national experts if that remains true, and why so, and what impact growing secularism in places like North America will have upon the looming Birth Dearth.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in summary highlights the drama expected to unfold at next week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Plus, find links to all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(ANALYSIS) The economies of countries dependent on tourism are clearly hurting, with visitor numbers plummeting as a result of the pandemic. The Thai government estimates $100 billion in losses to GDP but the actual loss cannot be captured in these numbers alone. Many cross-cultural exchange opportunities have been lost as well.
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In Marshall King’s 21 years reporting on food and writing columns, he noticed the intersection of food and faith. His childhood growing up with Amish grandparents and attending conservative Mennonite churches with food-filled fellowship halls planted the seed for his career in food writing.
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With peace letters written by schoolchildren to friends unknown to them across the border, Jesuit priest Joseph Kalathil set out to build bridges between India and Pakistan—neighbors scarred by decades of conflict and hostility. The challenge seemed not only risky but insurmountable. Yet, Kalathil remained determined.
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(OPINION) The “common-good capitalism” model is based on Catholic social teaching, a pre-Enlightenment work ethic that President Joe Biden subscribes to. Why don’t we use that?
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(REVIEW) One sure sign that the pandemic is fading may be the steady stream of books about it that have started to trickle out. It’s true that COVID-19 affected the planet like nothing else in our lifetimes. In fact, the fallout from what has transpired over the last 15 months could be felt for years, if not decades, to come.
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(OPINION) With the Supreme Court’s agreement to review the new, strict abortion law developed in Mississippi, it is crucial for religion reporters to understand which religious groups are advocating for and against it. The media will and should press American religious bodies to restate what they believe.
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Millions of cicadas, of a type called ‘Brood X’, are emerging from underground this summer from New Jersey to Indiana and Pennsylvania to Virginia. They’re known for casting off their shells and the humming music they create by rubbing their wings. But they also have a long history as symbols of death and rebirth in faith traditions from indigenous practices to Christianity that feels especially relevant as American life emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Both TV series about ultra-Orthodox Jewish life show the very human side of life in ultra-Orthodox communities and the Middle East apart from the incredibly tense political times experienced there. They unite audiences and make a closed-off society relatable. The reason: the common humanity and terrific allure of the personalities brought to life on the film stage.
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(OPINION) A Texas court ruling is sparking debates about an obscure First Amendment doctrine that exempts religious institutions from certain civil lawsuits to protect them from government interference in their internal matters. The ruling’s interpretation raises concerns about how lay people can hold these institutions accountable when abuses happen.
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