After a week away, it’s nice to be back. Making headlines this week: A U.S. senator is demanding to know if the Christian aid organization World Vision is funding terrorism, Ken Chitwood reports for Christianity Today.
Pope Francis is going to Marseille to talk migration, but will Europe listen as it scrambles to stem an influx? The Associated Press’ Nicole Winfield, Trisha Thomas and Sylvie Corbet tackle that question. And Jerry Falwell Jr.’s latest legal battle with Liberty University — and his brother — has escalated, according to Religion News Service.
This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with the latest news — and there’s a lot of it — from the Southern Baptist Convention.
What To Know: The Big Story
Is sin a private matter?: A lawsuit filed by the Rev. Johnny Hunt, a former Southern Baptist Convention president, against the SBC’s Executive Committee and Guidepost makes that claim, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana reports. But legal experts are skeptical, Smietana notes.
The longtime megachurch pastor is upset over the disclosure that he covered up his sexual misconduct for a decade, according to the RNS story.
Moments that made the Rev. Bart Barber: The Conservative Resurgence that the SBC’s current president defied is now shaping his leadership, The Tennessean’s Liam Adams writes.
In other coverage, Adams notes that a top SBC committee documented a former CEO’s “professional fraud” but won’t pursue legal action. And Southern Baptist leaders are promoting strength even as a top committee faces increased instability.
Blackface controversy prompts dismissal: “The Southern Baptist Convention has ousted an Oklahoma church whose pastor defended his blackface performance at one church event and his impersonation of a Native American woman at another.”
That’s the lede from The Associated Press’ Peter Smith. The AP religion writer talked to the pastor, who told him it’s “repugnant to have people think you’re a racist.”
The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton delves deeper into the controversy.
The future of the denomination: “The SBC was a train wreck 100 years ago and found a way through. Can it do so again?” RNS’ Smietana explores that question. And in a separate piece, Smietana profiles the head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The main peg: “Once a baby-faced conservative revolutionary, Al Mohler is now an SBC institution.”
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Revisiting the Asbury revival: A spontaneous, 16-day spiritual phenomenon that drew thousands to a small Christian college in Kentucky in February was big news. It even made the front page of the New York Times.
But Asbury University refused to use the revival as a marketing tool, Daniel Silliman writes in an update at Christianity Today.
2. Faith and fraud: Why are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and people of faith in general — more likely to be fraud victims? Emma Penrod explains the reasons at ReligionUnplugged.com.
3. Lift Our Voices founder speaks: Prayer and faith were key when Gretchen Carlson took on Fox News in an epic lawsuit, the Washington Times’ Mark Kellner reports.
Kellner interviews Carlson, who has a new book on combating workplace abuse, “Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back.”
CONTINUE READING: “Sin, Resolve And Blackface: The Latest News From The Southern Baptist Convention“ by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.