Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day of remembrance for the influential civil rights leader.
Adelle M. Banks, longtime national reporter for Religion News Service, marks the holiday with a fascinating look back at King’s last full year of life.
Among the details that Banks uncovered in a review of RNS’ 1967 archives: The Baptist pastor’s “growing outspokenness against the Vietnam War and his advocacy for the poor, while it garnered support from celebrities such as Dr. Benjamin Spock, drew criticism from evangelist Billy Graham and others.”
Banks, a 27-year RNS veteran, spearheaded an exceptional 2018 project on the 50th anniversary of King’s April 4, 1968, assassination.
Those stories, still worth a read, include:
• Remembering King’s last sermon with renewed hope
• A faithful journey from cotton field to White House: Q&A with a sanitation worker
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Why the Catholic Church Is losing Latin America: “The rise of liberation theology in the 1960s and ’70s, a time when the Catholic Church in Latin America increasingly stressed its mission as one of social justice, in some cases drawing on Marxist ideas, failed to counter the appeal of Protestant faiths,” report the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca, Luciana Magalhaes and Samantha Pearson.
“Or, in the words of a now-legendary quip, variously attributed to Catholic and Protestant sources: ‘The Catholic Church opted for the poor and the poor opted for the Pentecostals.’”
The Journal’s story from Brazil follows The Associated Press’ recent trend piece (highlighted in last week’s Plug-in) on a surge of evangelicals in Spain, fueled by Latin Americans.
2. A cryptic email, then a confession: How a Muslim group uncovered moles: “For many U.S. Muslims, the new scandal has been a reminder of the post-9/11 microscope under which they live,” explain the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein and Hannah Allam.
Emails ultimately led executives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations “to recordings and transcripts that documented what CAIR says is the most extensive known spying on a U.S. Muslim organization in recent memory,” according to the Post.
CONTINUE READING: “Ahead Of MLK Day, A Fascinating Look Back At Baptist Pastor's Last Full Year Of Life,” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.