Bobby Ross Jr.

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Behind the headlines: As winter storm cripples Texas power grid, people of faith rally to help

, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Behind the headlines: As winter storm cripples Texas power grid, people of faith rally to help

Texans like to brag that they live in “a whole other country.”

I don’t suppose, though, that whoever came up with that slogan had Siberia in mind.

As a severe winter storm crippled the state’s energy grid this week, my parents were among 4 million residents who lost electricity. Mom and Dad endured a really chilly night before going to stay at my sister’s house for a few days.

Heroes (think “Mattress Mack”) and villains (#FlyingTed) have emerged, while people of faith — as they tend to do during disasters — rally to help.

Here at Religion Unplugged, Jillian Cheney tells the inspiring story of a church that partnered with a Jeep club to rescue snowed-in families.

Houses of worship losing power themselves hampered some efforts to provide reliable sanctuary, but “leaders are doing all they can to connect and comfort their communities,” Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt reports.

Churches and other faith groups teamed up to help open an emergency warming center for the homeless at a Dallas convention center, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana notes.

Catholic churches in San Antonio and Fort Worth opened their doors, according to the Catholic News Agency’s Jonah McKeown.

Among others mobilizing to help: Southern Baptists, Churches of Christ and Episcopalians.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. A congregation of avatars: A few pastors minister “to the wild universe of virtual reality, or VR for short,” this fascinating feature by World magazine’s Juliana Chan Erikson explains.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , ,

President Joe Biden's a Pope Francis fan, but does that mean the pope's a fan of Biden?

, , , , , , , ,
President Joe Biden's a Pope Francis fan, but does that mean the pope's a fan of Biden?

Pope Francis appears to be a big supporter of President Joe Biden.

A majority of the U.S. Catholic bishops are not.

At least that’s a prominent narrative concerning America’s second Catholic president (after John F. Kennedy).

To wit: The headline on a Los Angeles Times news story this week declared: “Pope Francis is a Biden fan, but some U.S. Catholic leaders give president a frosty reception.”

My sincere question: Is it accurate to characterize Francis as a Biden fan?

“While Pope Francis has enjoyed a warm relationship with Biden from time spent together in both the U.S. and at the Vatican, it would be wrong to classify him as a partisan player in U.S. politics,” Christopher White, national correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, told me. “His approach to any world leader is to try to find common ground and see where there’s work to be done together.”

Clemente Lisi analyzes Catholic news for Religion Unplugged.

“I’d say the pope seems cordial to Biden, and the two have met a few times,” Lisi said in response to my question. “There seems to be a fascination in the media to lump these two men together.”

The Los Angeles Times is, of course, just the latest major news outlet to contrast the difference in tone between how the Vatican and top U.S. bishops — notably Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez — have greeted Biden’s inauguration.

The prominent West Coast paper suggests:

The rift stems from opposition by many in the church to abortion and same-sex marriage, while others see a broader interpretation of the sanctity of life, promoted by Francis, to include climate change, immigration and fighting poverty.

Biden “keeps a picture in the Oval Office of himself with Pope Francis,” the story notes. But does that picture mean as much to Francis? The paper doesn’t say.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , ,

Black church leaders working to promote COVID-19 vaccines to their skeptical flocks

, , , , , ,
Black church leaders working to promote COVID-19 vaccines to their skeptical flocks

Some religious people see the COVID-19 vaccines as an answer to prayer.

Others are skeptical.

To encourage wary African Americans to roll up their sleeves, many Black churches are working extra hard.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Margo Snipe notes:

As COVID-19 continues to push health disparities to the forefront, Black churches have become advocates for mask-wearing, hand sanitizing and vaccine distribution.

In a Religion News Service interview with Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the Rev. Jacques Andre DeGraff of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem, New York, “talks about how Black communities are overcoming distrust of the medical community.”

This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci joined Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House church in Dallas in a discussion aimed at quelling distrust about the vaccines, report the Dallas Morning News’ Jesus Jimenez and Religion Unplugged’s own Jillian Cheney.

“You have to respect the skepticism in the African American community,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases official. “You can’t just ignore that.”

Here in my home state of Oklahoma, the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Oklahoma City partnered with state and county health departments to organize a “vaccine pod.”

The Rev. Derrick Scobey discusses the outreach effort with The Oklahoman’s faith editor, Carla Hinton:

He said some Blacks recall the infamous "Tuskegee Experiment," a medical study in which hundreds of Black men in Alabama from the 1930s to the 1970s were misled into thinking they were being treated for disease.

"Because of that you still have African Americans that are very hesitant about taking this vaccine," Scobey said.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , ,

Hotter than inauguration! Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey burns religion-beat pro

, , , , , , , ,
Hotter than inauguration! Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey burns religion-beat pro

Joe Biden’s inauguration as America’s 46th president produced a ton of religion news. We’ll get to all that in a moment.

First, though, the most jaw-dropping Godbeat story of the week comes not from the Beltway but from the Bible Belt, courtesy of Religion News Service national writer (and gainfully employed) Bob Smietana.

Last Friday, RNS published Smietana’s 4,150-word investigative piece on the “cultlike environment” inside Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey’s $42 million headquarters in Franklin, Tenn., south of Nashville. That piece followed a December story by Smietana on Ramsey’s for-profit enterprise defying COVID-19 precautions such as wearing masks.

Ramsey Solutions didn’t take kindly to Smietana’s latest questions, responding with a sarcastic email that said, “Who would have guessed that an unemployed guy, oh I am sorry, a ‘freelance reporter’ would be the one to show us how horrible we are so we can change and to let the world know of our evil intent, secrets, and complete disregard for decency…..but YOU did it, you with all your top notch investigative skills have been able to weave together a series of half-truths to expose our evil ways. You are truly amazing.”

It’s unclear why Ramsey Solutions thinks one of the nation’s top religion correspondents is unemployed. But the statement proceeded to dox Smietana, sharing his email address, phone number and hometown with pastors, business leaders and the entire Ramsey team.

In a Religion Unplugged online panel discussion, Smietana talked about his coverage of Ramsey and the company’s response to him.

Also offering their insight were Cheryl Mann Bacon, retired journalism chair at Abilene Christian University; Meagan Clark, managing editor of Religion Unplugged; Holly Meyer, religion writer for The Tennessean; and Warren Cole Smith, president of Ministry Watch.

“If I were teaching PR Principles this semester, we would start with that as an example of how to never, ever, ever do public relations,” Bacon said of the email. “It just violated all of the basic principles of ethical public relations.”


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , ,

Christians and conspiracy theories that helped fuel some members of U.S. Capitol mob

, , , , , , , , ,
Christians and conspiracy theories that helped fuel some members of U.S. Capitol mob

Nearly 20 years ago, I wrote a column for The Oklahoman headlined “Internet deception runs wild.”

In that July 2001 piece, I highlighted the claim that an atheist group formed by the late “Madeline Murray O’Hare” had collected 287,000 signatures and was pushing to remove all Sunday morning worship service broadcasts.

“The good news is, the prayers have been answered — many times over,” I wrote. “Since the false petition related to the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair (that’s the correct spelling) began circulating in the late 1970s, the Federal Communications Commission has received more than 35 million signatures asking it to block her efforts.”

Two decades after that column ran, well-meaning religious people’s susceptibility to conspiracy theories has not waned.

If anything, the rise of social media has made it worse. Much, much worse.

“This last year has just been one giant conspiracy theory about everything — the pandemic, the civil unrest, the election — and it all sort of culminated with this terrifying scene we saw on Jan. 6. That was an army of conspiracy theorists, pretty much,” Tea Krulos told Religion News Service’s Emily McFarlan Miller this week.

Krulos is the author of the book “American Madness: The Story of the Phantom Patriot and How Conspiracy Theories Hijacked American Consciousness.”

Last week, I referred to President Donald Trump — who has repeatedly claimed he won an election he lost by 74 Electoral College votes and 7 million popular votes — as the nation’s conspiracy-theorist-in-chief.

In the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol — egged on by Trump — a leading evangelical theologian told NPR this week that it’s time for a Christian reckoning.

“Part of this reckoning is: How did we get here? How were we so easily fooled by conspiracy theories?” said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center in Illinois. “We need to make clear who we are. And our allegiance is to King Jesus, not to what boasting political leader might come next.”

In a May 2020 essay titled “Christians Are Not Immune to Conspiracy Theories,” The Gospel Coalition’s Joe Carter traced the problem all the way back to Satan spreading lies in the Garden of Eden.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , , ,

The role that religion played in shaping President Donald Trump's stunning last stand

, , , , , , , , , ,
The role that religion played in shaping President Donald Trump's stunning last stand

“Is it possible to be astonished and, at the same time, not surprised?”

A colleague recalled that quote — by fictional President Josiah Bartlet on a 2005 episode of the Emmy Award-winning political drama “The West Wing” — as a real-life mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

A Capitol Police officer this morning became the fifth person to die as a result of the insurrection.

How does religion figure in the tragic last stand of the nation’s conspiracy theorist-in-chief?

Let us count the ways, as highlighted by Religion Unplugged contributors:

• As thousands of protesters gathered outside the Capitol building claiming election fraud, some installed a giant wooden cross on the lawn, Hamil R. Harris notes.

• Others in the crowd carried flags and banners with Christian symbols and messages such as “Jesus Saves.” Kimberly Winston explains the history behind the array of flags.

• Christian leaders — some of whom have backed President Donald Trump because of his anti-abortion stance — condemned the pro-Trump mob and called for peace, Jillian Cheney reports.

In other noteworthy coverage, Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins explores the “two forms of faith on display” amid the chaos. The Atlantic’s Emma Green weighs in on “Storming the Capitol for God and Trump.”

Another must read: Houston Chronicle religion writer Robert Downen interviews Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler, who says he’s “genuinely shocked and horrified” by what happened Wednesday but stands by his Trump vote. (Click here for the GetReligion post and podcast about that piece and Mohler’s own podcast on the topic.)

Looking ahead, President-elect Joe Biden has invited Jesuit priest Leo O'Donovan, former president of Georgetown University, to deliver the invocation at Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, the National Catholic Reporter’s Christopher White reports.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. ‘Only in America’: Raphael Warnock’s rise from poverty to U.S. senator: Associated Press writer Russ Bynum profiles the progressive reverend who — as explained by Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks — plans to remain senior pastor of his Atlanta church.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yearenders-palooza -- Bobby Ross Jr. with positive, poignant ways to look at 2020 religion news

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Yearenders-palooza -- Bobby Ross Jr. with positive, poignant ways to look at 2020 religion news

A church shooting. Deadly twisters. Racial justice protests. And the biggest news in this tumultuous year: COVID-19.

These were among the most memorable stories that I covered in 2020.

Here is my personal year-end Top 10 list, mostly in chronological order:

• Texas church shooting: A gunman opened fire at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, killing two worshipers before an armed member fatally shot him. While the attack occurred at the end of 2019, it remained an important story in 2020. In the immediate aftermath, I covered a members-only prayer vigil, recounted minister Britt Farmer’s experience and explained why Farmer chose to talk to me. I profiled victims Richard White and Tony Wallace. Later, I moderated a panel discussion on church shootings. And I wrote about the church’s emotional return to its auditorium.

• Women in the church: My Christian Chronicle colleagues and I produced an in-depth package of stories on women’s roles in Churches of Christ. I focused on two distinct congregations: an Arlington, Texas, church that embraces traditional gender roles and a Los Angeles church that has added female elders.

• Tennessee tornadoes: On my last flight before COVID-19 grounded me, I traveled to Middle Tennessee to report on tornadoes that cut an 80-mile swath of death and destruction. I highlighted the leading role that Churches of Christ played in the disaster relief effort. I interviewed a church teen who was serving her community while grieving her 4-year-old friend, Hattie Jo Collins. I covered the funeral for a Christian family killed in the storm. And I reflected on how sadness gave way to gladness on the Sunday after the tornadoes.

• COVID-19: As of this moment, the global pandemic has killed 1.8 million people around the world.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Weekend Plug-In year in review: Religion-beat scribes select their top journalism of 2020

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What a year for religion news!

From the pandemic to the election, the major headlines of 2020 had huge faith angles.

For this special year-end edition of Weekend Plug-in, I asked some of the nation’s top reporters and columnists to share the favorite religion story they wrote during 2020.

However, some of them couldn’t stop at just one. I guess I’m OK with that because it means more terrific links in the list below.

It’s a holiday week, so I didn’t catch up with everybody. But I sure appreciate my colleagues who responded. And I beg forgiveness for the excellent Godbeat work I missed in this roundup, this week and every week.

Power Up: The Year’s Best Reads

Journalists who write about religion pick their top story — or in some cases, top stories — of 2020.

• Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post: Seeking power in Jesus’ name: Trump sparks a rise of Patriot Churches, published Oct. 26.

• Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service: Stacey Abrams’ passion for voting began with her preacher parents, published Oct. 16.

• Deepa Bharath, Orange County Register: Hospital chaplains fill role of surrogate family members during times of isolation, depression, death, published July 12.

• Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post: These Mormon twins worked together on an IRS whistleblower complaint over the church’s billions — and it tore them apart, published Jan. 16.

• Katherine Burgess, Memphis Commercial Appeal: Family of Tennessee death row inmate awaits 'miracle' as 11th hour DNA test underway, published Oct. 20.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , , , , , ,

Trump calls COVID-19 vaccine 'medical miracle;' some religious believers remain skeptical

, , , , , , , , , ,

“A medical miracle.”

In a Friday night video, that’s how President Donald Trump characterized the first COVID-19 vaccine approved by the U.S. government.

“We have delivered a safe and effective vaccine in just nine months,” Trump said. “This is one of the greatest scientific accomplishments in history.”

But as the New York Times’ Simon Romero and Miriam Jordan note, “A vast majority of people will need to be vaccinated to create a decisive decline in infections.”

However, “only about half of Americans are ready to roll up their sleeves when their turn comes,” report The Associated Press’ Lauran Neergaard and Hannah Fingerhut.

What’s religion got to do with it? (A lot, actually.)

The Times article features a Mississippi pastor named Adam Wyatt who enrolled in a vaccine trial after one of his congregants died of the virus:

Mr. Wyatt views hospital visits as one of his most important obligations as a pastor, and recalls feeling helpless as he gathered with the congregant’s family in a hospital parking lot, barred from entry by pandemic precautions.

But Mr. Wyatt, 38, did not tell many people about his decision afterward to enroll in the trial in Hattiesburg, about an hour’s drive west of his small town. “You hear, ‘This vaccine is the mark of the beast, don’t get this, it’s Bill Gates’s population control, you’ll get the microchips in you,’” he said. “A lot of my folks probably won’t get it.”

Meanwhile, Washington Post religion writer Sarah Pulliam Bailey traveled to Houston to talk to a pastor whose life depends on the vaccine but who faces skeptics within his own church.


Please respect our Commenting Policy