Bobby Ross Jr.

, , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: Prayers for Maui -- houses of worship burned, then people of faith arrived to help

, , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: Prayers for Maui -- houses of worship burned, then people of faith arrived to help

All of us have been watching news of the devastating wildfires in Hawaii.

That’s where we start our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.

What To Know: The Big Story

Wildfires’ human toll: At least 55 people are dead in Hawaii’s worst natural disaster, and that number will likely rise as search and rescue operations continue, The Associated Press reports.

President Joe Biden, Pope Francis and other prominent leaders and ordinary people around the world are offering prayers.

Up in flames: The fires leveled the historic town of Lahaina on Maui, destroying cultural landmarks, according to ABC News.

Those landmarks include the Waiola Church, the first Christian church on Maui; and the Baldwin Home, its oldest house, which served as a missionary compound around 1834.

A Buddhist temple also is among the sites feared lost or damaged, as are Episcopal and Methodist churches.

USA Today’s Terry Collins shares these heartbreaking reflections from a leader of the Waiola church:

It took just two words for Judy Kinser to describe her beloved historic church on the island of Maui, which just celebrated its 200th anniversary three months ago.

"Destroyed. Devastating," Kinser, treasurer and office administrator at Waiola Church in Lahaina, Hawaii, said Wednesday. "Not sure if the church building and preschool buildings (are) also gone."

As word and images of the wildfires began spreading across the town of Lahaina, longtime member Anela Rosa, the church's lay minister of 13 years, tearfully confirmed the worst.

"It's gone, the social hall, the sanctuary, the annex, all of it," Rosa told USA TODAY Wednesday. "It is totally unimaginable."

Relief efforts: As always after disasters, faith-based organizations are mobilizing help.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: Justice in the Tree Of Life synagogue shooting -- will killer be executed?

, , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: Justice in the Tree Of Life synagogue shooting -- will killer be executed?

I’m back in Oklahoma after spending big chunks of the last week in California and Texas.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with the killer’s sentence in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

What To Know: The Big Story

Antisemitic attack: “The man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue was formally sentenced to death Thursday, one day after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.”

That’s the lede from The Associated Press’ Peter Smith (a religion writer who has covered this case from the beginning) and Michael Rubinkam.

Painful process: Survivors characterized Robert Bowers’ trial as extremely difficult to endure and a necessary accounting, according to the New York Times’ Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Anna Betts and Jon Moss. The Times:

“Most families of the victims have said that they supported a death sentence, but some have been outspoken in their opposition to it. One, Miri Rabinowitz, whose husband was killed, said executing the gunman would be a “bitter irony” because her husband had been devoted to “the sanctity of life.”

What’s next: But a big question remains: When will Bowers be put to death?

An even bigger question: Will he actually be executed?

As Religion New Service’s Yonat Shimron points out, “it will take years and likely decades for the sentence to be carried out, if it happens at all.” RNS explains:

Bowers will join 41 others on federal death row. Sixteen people have been executed by the federal government since Congress reinstated capital punishment in 1988.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: The Saturday Night Live protest by Sinéad O'Connor was a sign of anger to come

, , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: The Saturday Night Live protest by Sinéad O'Connor was a sign of anger to come

After a busy day of flying from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles and then driving to San Diego, I filed this week’s newsletter a bit late.

Confession time: I forgot how slowly everything moves in Southern California, from baggage claim to the rental car line to the clogged highways. I just ran out of time Friday before needing to take care of more important matters.

Without further delay, let’s jump right into our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with Wednesday’s death of Sinéad O’Connor at age 56.

What To Know: The Big Story

Sinéad O’Connor’s protest: The Irish singer-songwriter — who famously ripped up Pope John Paul II’s photo on “Saturday Night Live” in 1992 — condemned clergy sex abuse early, but America didn’t listen, the New York Times’ Liam Stack recounts.

In her native country, O’Connor was a lonely voice for change until Ireland changed with her, according to the NYT’s Ed O’Loughlin.

The Catholic Church’s abuse scandals “made Ireland more secular, and more understanding of her criticisms,” O’Loughlin’s story notes.

Career-altering flashpoint: The Associated Press’ Holly Meyer examines O’Connor’s legacy:

More than 30 years later, her “Saturday Night Live” performance and its stark collision of popular culture and religious statement is remembered by some as an offensive act of desecration. But for others — including survivors of clergy sex abuse — O’Connor’s protest was prophetic, forecasting the global denomination’s public reckoning that was, at that point, yet to come. O’Connor, 56, died Wednesday.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: More Moore on values voters and what appears to be a permanent Trump effect

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: More Moore on values voters and what appears to be a permanent Trump effect

Among the week’s intriguing headlines: Pope Francis is hurrying to bolster his progressive legacy as his health problems increase, the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca reports.

In Israel, the political rise of ultra-Orthodox Jews is shaking the nation’s sense of identity, the WSJ’s Dov Lieber and Shayndi Raice note. A related major vote is expected as soon as Sunday.

In the U.S., a crowded field of GOP presidential candidates is vying for the Christian Zionist vote as Israel’s rightward shift spurs protests, according to The Associated Press’ Tiffany Stanley.

Also, “the Robert F. Kennedy boomlet is over,” Semafor’s Benjy Sarlin opines. Before it ended (or not, since he isn’t that interested in mainstream press views), the Democratic presidential candidate gave an exclusive, nearly 40-minute interview to Jewish News Syndicate’s Menachem Wecker.

The King’s College in New York is canceling fall classes and laying off faculty but insists it’s not closing, as Emily Belz at Christianity Today and Meagan Saliashvili at Religion News Service explain.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with former President Donald Trump’s lingering hold on right-wing voters.

What To Know: The Big Story

More of the same: “One of former President Donald Trump’s most steadfast evangelical critics said he expects Trump to be the Republican nominee in 2024, and that the years since Trump’s election in 2016 have been an ‘apocalypse.’”

“There’s a wide-open choice, and still you have a majority in the Republican primary behind Trump,” Christianity Today editor-in-chief Russell Moore tells Yahoo News’ Jon Ward. “I would be shocked if he’s not the Republican nominee.” Moore has a new book, ”Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America,” which releases July 25.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: Many churches are vanishing, while others are growing. Trends worth covering?

, , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: Many churches are vanishing, while others are growing. Trends worth covering?

This newsletter marks the return of Weekend Plug-in after two weeks of vacation. Did you miss me?

I’m still catching up on the headlines I missed while watching a whole lot of Texas Rangers games.

But I know the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on two important religious freedom cases — one on religious accommodation at work and the other involving free speech and free exercise protections for people of faith who are creative professionals.

Click the preceding links, by the way, to read excellent coverage of the decisions by the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner.

In more recent news, the gunman who killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury announced. The decision clears the way, as The Associated Press’ Peter Smith reports, “for further evidence and testimony on whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison.”

In case you need a reminder, this is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with the giant religion trend that should be bigger news.

What To Know: The Big Story

Houses of worship closing: “Everybody is caught up with fighting over sexuality or politics on Twitter — and almost no one is paying attention (to) the collapse of congregational life in America.”

Religion News Service national writer Bob Smietana made that prescient observation on social media this week. Smietana, of course, wrote a book on the subject called “Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters.”

Many churches are shrinking. Then again, some churches are growing. Trends worth covering? What are the patterns here?


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: Updates on faith angles in America's post-Roe cultural landscape

, , , , , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: Updates on faith angles in America's post-Roe cultural landscape

Since the most recent Plug-In edition, the gunman in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue massacre that killed 11 Jewish congregants was found guilty, as The Associated Press’ Peter Smith reports.

Pittsburgh’s Jewish community came together after last Friday’s conviction, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Megan Guza. Next up is the death penalty phase of Robert Bowers’ trial, which could take six weeks.

In other news, close to 1.5 million foreigners have arrived in Saudi Arabia for Islam’s annual Hajj pilgrimage, the first without the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with Saturday’s one-year anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

What To Know: The Big Story

Post-Roe America: On June 24, 2022, federal protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years came to an end.

Such was the result of the high court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

A year after Roe’s fall, 25 million women live in states with abortion bans or tighter restrictions, AP’s Geoff Mulvihill, Kimberlee Kruesi and Claire Savage report.

People of faith split: At the anniversary, the nation’s religious leaders remain sharply divided over abortion, as AP’s David Crary points out:

In the year since the Supreme Court struck down the nationwide right to abortion, America’s religious leaders and denominations have responded in strikingly diverse ways — some celebrating the state-level bans that have ensued, others angered that a conservative Christian cause has changed the law of the land in ways they consider oppressive.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , ,

Five big takeaways from the Southern Baptist Convention's 2023 annual meeting

, , , , , , , , ,
Five big takeaways from the Southern Baptist Convention's 2023 annual meeting

Making headlines this past week: A tornado has devastated the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton, killing three people and injuring at least 75. As always, look for the “faith-based FEMA” to be among the helpers.

In Rome, Pope Francis has left the hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier. His surgeon says the pontiff is “better than before,” The Associated Press’ Francis D’Emilio reports.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with five key takeaways from the Southern Baptist Convention’s big annual meeting in New Orleans.

What To Know: The Big Story

1. No women pastors: As nearly 19,000 people — including 12,737 registered messengers — attended the SBC meeting, the nation’s largest evangelical denomination expanded restrictions on women in leadership.

See coverage by the New York Times’ Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias, Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks, the USA Today Network’s Liam Adams and Katherine Burgess, the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca and the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner.

2. Saddleback out: The SBC rejected an appeal by Rick Warren to reinstate the California megachurch that he founded.

The reason for its ouster: It has women pastors. Also denied reinstatement: a smaller church with a female pastor in Louisville, Kentucky.

See coverage by The Associated Press’ Peter Smith, Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt, the Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton, RNS’ Banks and Bob Smietana and the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein.

3. Sex abuse reform: The debates about women’s roles threatened to push the issue that dominated last year’s meeting to the background.

But the slow work to address the abuse issue plodded on, as Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt explains.

4. The Rev. Bart Barber reelected: The small-town pastor from Farmersville, Texas, will serve a second one-year term as the SBC’s president.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , ,

Plug-In: Life after Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who mixed religion and politics

, , , , , , , , ,
Plug-In: Life after Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who mixed religion and politics

In the headlines, former President Donald Trump has been indicted on federal charges in the classified documents case. A possible prison sentence aside, will the case help or hurt Trump with conservative Christian voters? Stay tuned.

Here in Oklahoma City, where I am, the Oklahoma Sooners celebrate their third straight Women’s College World Series championship. The best team in college sports finished the season by winning a record 53 games in a row.

And yes, Jesus is a big part of their team chemistry, as ESPN’s Hallie Grossman has highlighted.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with Thursday’s death of Pat Robertson at age 93.

What To Know: The Big Story

‘He obeyed God’: That’s how the Christian Broadcasting Network characterizes Pat Robertson’s life.

More from CBN:

Pat Robertson dedicated his life to preaching the Gospel, helping those in need, and educating the next generation. He founded the Christian Broadcasting Network and numerous organizations, including Operation Blessing, Regent University, the American Center for Law and Justice, and International Family Entertainment Inc. He was also a New York Times best-selling author and host of The 700 Club.

Pat was married to the love of his life and partner in ministry for 67 years, Dede Robertson, until she died in 2022. Together, they had four children, 14 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren.

Religion and politics: Robertson was a “pugnacious conservative whose Christian Broadcasting Network defined televangelism for decades,” the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner writes.

“With CBN, ‘The 700 Club,’ Regent, the Christian Coalition, and a run for president, he changed evangelicals’ place in public life,” according to Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt.

The 1988 Republican presidential candidate “turned evangelicals into a powerful constituency that helped Republicans capture Congress in 1994,” the New York Times’ Douglas Martin notes.

Robertson’s legacy: The Associated Press’ Ben Finley explains:


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , ,

Plug-In: Fear and heroism recounted at Tree Of Life Synagogue massacre hearings

, , , , , ,
Plug-In: Fear and heroism recounted at Tree Of Life Synagogue massacre hearings

Good morning, Plug-in readers.

Among the news we’re watching: Jehovah’s Witnesses, a global denomination of 8.6 million, are resuming their large conventions for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, as Religion News Service’s Alejandra Molina reports.

Meanwhile, a real longshot has paid off in Las Vegas — aka Sin City, according to Crux’s John Lavenburg:

This temple to secular hedonism, where even the airport has slot machines, and where a 2020 study of the ratio of residents to restaurants found the answer to be the classically diabolical number of 666, became the first new Roman Catholic Archdiocese in America in 19 years.

Whoa, that’s some kind of lede!

This is our weekly roundup of the week’s top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We begin with a long-awaited trial in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

What To Know: The Big Story

Fight for killer’s life: As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s religion editor, Peter Smith was a key part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, which claimed 11 lives.

Now with The Associated Press, Smith is providing must-read coverage of the federal trial in the case that started this week:

Show of defiance: In compelling testimony Wednesday and again on Thursday, survivors recounted the fear they experienced and the heroism they witnessed during the attack. At several moments, Smith noted, witnesses “used the opportunity to educate the jury about their faith — a show of defiance before the man who tried to destroy them and who has expressed little emotion while seated at the defense table.”

Tracking antisemitic threats: The Tree of Life shooting “led to arguably the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to protect Jewish institutions in America.”

In a front-page piece for the New York Times this week, Campbell Robertson details the expansion of “the Secure Community Network, the closest thing to an official security agency for American Jewish institutions.”
Like Smith, Robertson is covering Bowers’ trial, as is the Wall Street Journal’s Kris Maher.


Please respect our Commenting Policy