“American Jews Are Terrified.”
That was the headline on a must-read piece by The Atlantic’s Emma Green this week.
“A deadly shooting at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey is the latest manifestation of anti-Semitic violence that doesn’t fit in a neat, ideological box,” notes Green’s insightful (as always when her byline is at the top) report.
We’ll mention Green again as we dive into the Friday Five:
1. Religion story of the week: As I mentioned in a post Thursday, Sarah Pulliam Bailey’s Washington Post profile of a D.C.-area pastor who told his congregation “I am tired in my soul” is definitely worth your time.
The piece gets into pastor sabbaticals, mental and spiritual health, and the huge expectations placed on black ministers. Ed Stetzer called it “a great story, and a picture of how a pastor sometimes needs to step back.“
2. Most popular GetReligion post: In our most-clicked commentary of the week, Editor Terry Mattingly looks at an ambitious story examining waves of stress hitting Catholic priests.
“The bottom line: This Associated Press feature touched on many valid subjects, but there was no way to cover — in depth — the complex nature of this subject in the American church as a whole,” tmatt wrote.
For starters, the feature focused in tight on New England — a region where Catholic demographics appear to be headed down, down, down. Are stress levels lower, or just different, in parts of the country where Catholicism is growing?
3. Guilt folder fodder (and more): They were “lovers in Auschwitz, reunited 72 years later. He had one question,” notes the New York Times. Trust me, you need to read this story.
Also for your weekend reading list: Emma Green’s piece for The Atlantic on “The Christian Withdrawal Experiment” and Bob Smietana’s Religion News Service/Associated Press story on cancer survivor Luke Putney and the healing power of music
4. Shameless plug: Change is coming to GetReligion, as tmatt announced this week.
Be sure to check out his post that starts the process of explaining what to expect as of Jan. 1. A key to the future: GetReligion needs some financial help — from readers.
5. Final thought: Interested in more details about this strange concept of giving 10 percent? I wrote an entire post about it.
Happy Friday, everybody! Enjoy the weekend!