“Monsters are everywhere in the Bible — and some are even human.”
These are some of the religion headlines that caught my attention this past week.
To be honest, though, I haven’t paid as close attention to the news as I normally do.
As I previewed in the last Weekend Plug-in three weeks ago, I took off a week for vacation (I had a wonderful time seeing country shows with my sister and parents in Branson, Mo.). Then I took off a week for a reporting trip to the Chicago area.
But in the Windy City, I came down with what at first I thought were allergies. Eventually, I tested positive for COVID-19. The experience threw me for a loop. I finally tested negative Friday night. I’m feeling much better.
However, I have no doubt I’ve missed a whole lot of the best reads in the world of faith. Feel free to catch me up!
One thing I didn’t miss: those amazing first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Think there might be a religion angle there? Enter the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner with this fascinating take:
The images raise issues for followers of the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and affirm the thoughts of Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, who in the 1700s imagined the possibility of galaxies beyond our own, says Harvard government professor Michael Rosen.
Religion News Service’s Claire Giangravé quotes Vatican astrophysicist Brother Guy Consolmagno:
“The science behind this telescope is our attempt to use our God-given intelligence to understand the logic of the universe,” Consolmagno wrote, adding that “the universe wouldn’t work if it weren’t logical.”
“But as these images show, the universe is not only logical, it is also beautiful. This is God’s creation being revealed to us, and in it we can see both his astonishing power and his love of beauty,” he said.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. When can a ministry count as a church?: “In the case of the Family Research Council, it depends on if you ask the IRS or the US Religion Census,” Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman reports.
According to ProPublica’s Andrea Suozzo, the FRC has joined “a growing list of activist groups seeking church status, which allows organizations to shield themselves from financial scrutiny.”
2. A Ukrainian priest splits Sundays between church and the front lines: The Washington Post’s Steve Hendrix and Serhii Korolchuk report from the industrial city of Kostiantynivka, following the work of an Eastern-Rite Catholic priest.
“Father Vitalii Kester’s Sunday routine is not what it used to be,” they write, “before war drove most of his congregation away and he started wearing army pants beneath his robes and splitting his day between one Mass at church and another with soldiers on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.”
For more compelling reading, see coverage by The Associated Press’ Lori Hinnant and Vasilisa Stepanenko of famed Ukrainian medic Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira:
Asked if she had feared death in captivity, Taira said it was a question her jailers asked often, and she had a ready answer.
“I said no because I’m right with God,” she told them. “But you are definitely going to hell.”
CONTINUE READING: “From NASA's Amazing Space Images To The War In Ukraine — The Week's Top Faith Headlines” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.