Weekend Plug-in 🔌

Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.

(ANALYSIS) 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.

He said he had received the vaccine and his church is recognized as providing hope and help in the community. So he said having the vaccine pod at the church was a "step in the right direction" toward convincing people in the community to get the vaccine.

In a report for Faith & Leadership, veteran religion writer G. Jeffrey MacDonald explains:

This leeriness among Black Americans is rooted in the past and in the present. Burwell notes that many in his community know about the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, a 40-year U.S. Public Health Service study (1932-1972) that deceitfully withheld treatment from 399 Black men with syphilis in order to study the disease’s progression.

Black skeptics worry that they might be similarly abused in the name of science with emerging COVID-19 vaccines.

“It’s not just about Tuskegee,” said the Rev. Paul Abernathy, the executive director of the Neighborhood Resilience Project. “A lot of people had a history of clinical abuse in their social networks or even have personally experienced this in the current health care systems. This history of clinical abuse, I think, heavily informed perspectives on the vaccine.”

Minister R. B. Holmes Jr. of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, voices concern about COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on racial minorities.

Christianity Today’s Adam MacInnis reports:

Whatever the reason, Holmes said the crisis has created an emergency for black people, and African American community leaders, especially pastors, have to find a way to respond. After one too many funerals in 2020, he felt compelled to action.

“Why sit here as leaders and watch our people die and our families die?”

So Holmes organized the Statewide Coronavirus Vaccination Community Education and Engagement Task Force.

A final vaccine-related note: Some joke that the government should enlist the folks who manage the Chick-fil-A drive-thru to oversee vaccine distribution.

Well, a South Carolina mayor did just that. And this might come as no surprise: It worked marvelously.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Church in the Canyon became grieving site for Lakers fans: Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crashed across the street from a California church. This fascinating story by USA Today’s Mark Medina details the congregation’s helpful response.

Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 26, 2020, tragedy that claimed the lives of Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other passengers.

Religion Unplugged’s own Clemente Lisi wrote last year on the importance of the NBA star’s Catholic faith in his life.

2. Betraying your church — and your party: The Atlantic’s Emma Green explores the surprising reason that a Republican from Illinois gave for supporting former President Donald Trump’s riot-related impeachment.

Hint: It involves Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s faith:

Kinzinger knew most Republicans in his solidly conservative district would not agree with him. But the choice was easy: As someone who identifies as a born-again Christian, he believes he has to tell the truth. What has been painful, though, is seeing how many people who share his faith have chosen to support Trump at all costs, fervently declaring that the election was stolen.

3. Lawmakers, faith leaders pray for President Biden and Vice President Harris amid power transition: Not every journalist could make an interesting — and informative — story out of lawmakers praying.

But The Tennessean’s religion writer, Holly Meyer, is special. And so is her story:

It is not unusual for the faithful to pray for government leaders, said R. Marie Griffith, the director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

But the crises and chaos facing America right now could be adding a sense of urgency to these efforts as some seek to reduce tensions and unite the country, Griffith said. Across religious traditions, prayer can be a unifying act, she said. 

"That's an intentional action of submission to God and sort of joining together," Griffith said. "It would make sense to me that it's got particular resonances right now."

More Top Reads

• 2 brothers describe allegations of abuse by the Rev. Michael Pfleger (by Christy Gutowski, Chicago Tribune)

• For immigrants, relief and hope with new administration (by Peter Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

• Think US evangelicals are dying out? Well, define evangelicalism … (by Ryan Burge, The Conversation)

• In Biden’s Catholic faith, an ascendant liberal Christianity (by Elizabeth Dias, New York Times)

• Auschwitz survivors mark anniversary online amid pandemic (by Vanessa Gera, Associated Press)

• U.S. Supreme Court orders review of Texas ban on clergy at executions (by Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman)

• Francis Chan returns from Hong Kong after visa rejected (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)

• Sermon at Biden's first Sunday Mass as president blasts death penalty (by Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter)

• Hundreds attend largely maskless El Cajon concert by evangelical singer Sean Feucht (by Andrew Dyer, San Diego Union-Tribune)

• Some Black Southern Baptists feel shut out by white leaders (by David Crary, AP)

• Five myths about evangelicals (by Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Washington Post)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

In April 2019, the Lilly Endowment awarded an 18-month, $4.9 million grant to hire 13 religion journalists at The Associated Press, Religion News Service and The Conversation.

This week came the terrific news that Lilly has extended the funding for two years, providing an additional $1.75 million.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from Religion Unplugged.

• Hillel, Georgia Tech to jointly oppose anti-Semitism (by Dave Schechter)

• Should elite European officials outlaw Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter for meat? (by Richard Ostling)

• Religious freedom in action: Disrupting America’s prisons through religious partnerships (by Dr. Byron Johnson, Dr. Michael Hallett and Dr. Sung Joon Jang)

• In photos: Battling COVID-19, Malaysia holds one of its main Hindu festivals without devotees (by Alexandra Radu)

• March for Life supporter appeals to Biden to take part In the mostly virtual event (by Hamil R. Harris)

• Black Hebrew Israelite bishop dies days after fearing church punishment (by Princess Jones and Meagan Clark)

• Nearly a third of Americans say COVID-19 has strengthened their faith (by Mattie Townson)

• Indian farmers stormed the capital’s fort to fly a Sikh flag (by Zaffar Iqbal)

• New congressman, a Christian and former Trump doctor, reflects on Capitol riot (by Cheryl Mann Bacon)

• Biden's executive orders will widen rift among Catholic bishops (by Clemente Lisi)

• Sen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible, a nod to Jewish civil rights history (by Jonathan D. Sarna)

• A closer look: African countries top the list of hardest places to be Christian (by Tom Osanjo)

The Final Plug

I won’t say this is a purr-fect story.

But it’s purr-ty good.

Yes, Religion News Service’s Emily McFarlan Miller wrote about an author and publisher named Jon M. Sweeney who “is sharing the lessons he has learned from his cats in a new e-course called “The Spirituality of Cats.”

Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for Religion Unplugged and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.