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?
