I was in Waverly, Tenn., reporting on the aftermath of historic flooding that claimed 20 lives as Hurricane Ida — “one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S.” — made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday.

On Monday afternoon, as I was boarding a flight in Atlanta to return home to Oklahoma City, The Associated Press sent a “flash” — its designation for “a breaking story of transcendent importance” — about the chaotic end of America’s 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

Guess what?

The big news week was just getting started.

By midnight Wednesday, a divided U.S. Supreme Court had provided “a momentous development in the decades-long judicial battle over abortion rights.” The court declined, at least for now, to overrule a new Texas law that bans most abortions in the state, raising hope among abortion opponents and concern among abortion-rights supporters that Roe v. Wade could be jeopardy.

Also, Ida’s “weakened remnants tore into the Northeast and claimed at least 43 lives across New York, New Jersey and two other states in an onslaught that ended Thursday and served as an ominous sign of climate change’s capacity to wreak new kinds of havoc.”

The news just keeps coming, and I haven’t even mentioned COVID-19 — which continues to rage with cases and hospitalizations “at their highest level since last winter.”

Mercy.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Afghanistan’s arc from 9/11 to today: once hopeful, now sad: This is a powerful read by Kathy Gannon, Afghanistan and Pakistan news director for The Associated Press.

“A country of 36 million, Afghanistan is filled with conservative people, many of whom live in the countryside,” Gannon explains. “But even they do not adhere to the strict interpretation of Islam that the Taliban imposed when last they ruled.”

AP religion writers Luis Andres Henao, Peter Smith and Mariam Fam report on U.S. faith groups working to help refugees after the war, while World’s Mindy Belz highlights new Taliban clampdowns “as U.S. officials make it harder for vulnerable Afghans to escape.”

At The Christian Chronicle, Cheryl Mann Bacon and I interview a retired Air Force general and his wife, who have worked for years to build schools and improve life for Afghan girls.

2. What Texas abortion foes want next: Journalists tend to favor abortion-rights supporters (this bias is not new) in news coverage. The Houston Chronicle’s banner front-page headline today (“Abortion rights groups: ‘We need action now’”) is a typical example.

That’s one reason I appreciated this insightful interview by The Atlantic’s Emma Green with John Seago, Texas Right to Life’s legislative director, who “shepherded and supported the passage of this law.” Green dares to talk to the anti-abortion side.

Give credit, too, to the team that produced the New York Times’ front-page abortion story today — including Texas-based national religion writer Ruth Graham — for reflecting both sides.

3. Faith-based disaster relief groups balance COVID safety with speedy response to Hurricane Ida: “The surge in COVID-19 rates makes responding to disasters like Ida more complicated,” notes this timely story by Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana.

The damage from Ida has overwhelmed Indigenous communities in Louisiana’s Delta, according to RNS’ Emily McFarlan Miller.

See additional coverage on faith-based disaster relief from The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton, Christianity Today bloggers Jamie Aten and Kent Annan, Baptist Press’ Diana Chandler and The Christian Chronicle’s Erik Tryggestad.

CONTINUE READING: “From Ida To Afghanistan To Abortion, The Best Religion Reads In A Gigantic News Week,” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.