Good morning, Weekend Plug-in readers! We open with Dolly Parton, who celebrated her 77th birthday Thursday and gave the world a gift — a new song.
“I had a dream about God standing on a mountain, looking down on us, saying ‘Don't make me have to come down there,’” she said of her inspiration.
Give it a listen as we dive into the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.
What To Know: The Big Story
Yes, opponents of abortion gathered for the annual March for Life on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Click here to see a research file on the mainstream coverage of this year’s event.
Fifty years after Roe v. Wade — and seven months after its overturning — the anti-abortion movement has “multiple reasons to celebrate — and some reasons for unease.”
That’s the assessment of The Associated Press’ David Crary. The movement has reached a crossroads, as The New York Times’ Ruth Graham notes. And since last year’s ruling, the fight has moved to statehouses, as noted in this report from Religion News Service.
Stand for Life: A new organization with Southern Baptist ties “will bridge anti-abortion groups … as the larger movement redirects focus in a major way,” The Tennessean’s Liam Adams points out.
More: In Missouri, religious leaders who support abortion rights filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the state’s abortion ban, AP’s Jim Salter reports. At the same time, Indiana’s top court is weighing a challenge to that state’s abortion ban.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Family slain in Utah: “The seven caskets sat in a neat row at the front of the quiet chapel.”
That’s how The Salt Lake Tribune’s Courtney Tanner begins her sensitive, nuanced coverage of the funeral for a Latter-day Saint family — five children, their mother and their grandmother.
The man who killed his family had been investigated two years prior for child abuse, according to AP’s Sam Metz.
2. Sabbatarian Christians: Last year, we highlighted a story by Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt on a rural mail carrier fired for refusing to make Amazon deliveries on Sunday.
Now, that case is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will rethink a decades-old “precedent making it easy for businesses to deny workers’ religious accommodation requests,” Bloomberg Law’s Khorri Atkinson and J. Edward Moreno report.
3. Religious diversity champion: Here at ReligionUnplugged.com, Kimberly Winston profiles Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America. It’s a delightful, insightful read, starting with the opening sentence that points out Patel used to be “something of a jerk.”
CONTINUE READING: “March For Life Coincides With 50th Anniversary Of Roe V. Wade” by Bobby Ross, Jr., for Religion Unplugged.