Just when worship gatherings seemed safe again, delta variant raises renewed concerns
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.
ORLANDO, Fla. — At the Equip Conference last weekend, most people saw no need to wear a mask.
Fully vaccinated myself, I enjoyed the feeling of normalcy as nearly 1,000 worshipers sang and prayed in a Central Florida hotel ballroom.
“It’s great, especially being vaccinated, to feel safe to shake hands with everyone, to give hugs, to talk and be in close proximity,” church planter Roslyn Miller told me at the regional gathering of Churches of Christ. “I’ve seen so many old friends and people I’ve known for years.”
But since then, concerns that vaccinated people may spread COVID-19’s highly contagious delta variant have kept rising.
“The war has changed,” according to an internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document cited Thursday night by the Washington Post and early today by the New York Times.
Oh boy, here we go again.
Houses of worship “are weighing the benefits and potential backlash of mandating masks again,” the Post ‘s Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports. However, some religious leaders remain skeptical of the virus.
White evangelical Christians “are more resistant to getting the vaccine than other major religious groups,” the Wall Street Journal‘s Ian Lovett notes in a story on new survey data.
On the positive side, “America’s religious communities have played an important role in upping acceptance of vaccines designed to thwart COVID-19,” the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner explains, quoting the same Public Religion Research Institute study.
While some houses of worship contemplate a return to COVID-19 safety protocols, others never ceased such measures, The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton points out.
In an open letter to fellow Christians, a Missouri church elder makes a biblical case for getting the vaccine.
When will this pandemic finally end?
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. Facebook’s next target: the religious experience: The social media giant “has been cultivating partnerships with a wide range of faith communities over the past few years, from individual congregations to large denominations, like the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ,” the New York Times’ Elizabeth Dias reports.
At Reuters, Elizabeth Culliford writes that “Facebook decided faith groups are good for business. Now, it wants your prayers.”
2. Sermon via hologram? California preacher ‘visits’ Auckland congregation using ‘teleportation’ video: “As a die hard Trekkie, I love to see the church engage technology, innovation, and science all within the confines of our amazing faith to change the world with the gospel of Jesus,” the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr. said on Twitter.
The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner explores this holy Trekkie — er, tech — development.
3. In 2010, the U.S. apologized to Native Americans. A new spiritual movement aims to recognize it: Religion News Service’s Emily McFarlan Miller delves deeper into the Indigenous boarding schools story that Plug-in first highlighted last month.
This follows Associated Press religion writer Peter Smith’s story last week on U.S. churches reckoning with the traumatic legacy of Native schools.
In related news, the Wall Street Journal’s Vipal Monga and Kim Mackrael report on Canadian churches burning in suspicious fires following the discovery of Indigenous unmarked graves.
BONUS: Are you watching the Olympics?
ReligionUnplugged’s own Hamil R. Harris catches up with 1996 gold medalist Dominique Dawes, who talks about the mental challenges of the Games and offers her support for U.S. gymnast Simone Biles.
Also here at ReligionUnplugged, Liza Vandenboom Ashley opresents a guide to Olympians of faith competing in Tokyo.
More Top Reads
• Divine transformation: Ex-Alaska strip club becomes church (by Mark Thiessen, Associated Press)
• As Muslim Advocates founder resigns, former staffers allege hostile workplace (by Aysha Khan, Religion News Service)
• New evidence points to old motive in 1985 church murders (by Daniel Silliman, Christianity Today)
• She's knocked on New Jersey doors for decades. Then COVID changed everything (by Deena Yellin, USA Today)
• Invoking the spirit of Selma, Texas activists begin 27-mile march demanding federal action on voting rights (by Alexa Ura, Texas Tribune)
• Rolling Stone’s publisher planned to convert a Black church into his home, but residents fought back to preserve it (by Alejandra Molina, RNS)
• The Latin Mass took off in this North Carolina diocese. What will happen under Pope Francis’ new restrictions? (by Peter Feuerherd, America)
• Conservative Catholic media set the journalism agenda on Latin Mass and Burrill resignation (by Clemente Lisi, GetReligion)
• Is it legal to ask nominees to federal office if they believe in God? (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)
• Ex-cardinal McCarrick faces milestone charges in Catholic sex abuse crisis (by Elizabeth Dias, Ruthe Graham and Liam Stack, New York Times)
• Former Mars Hill elders: Mark Driscoll is still ‘unrepentant,’ unfit to pastor (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)
Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines
Too few of America’s regional newspapers have a full-time religion journalist.
I’m pleased to report that the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has appointed a new one — with a name familiar to Godbeat insiders.
Frank Lockwood is returning to his previous role as religion editor after serving as the Little Rock newspaper’s Washington, D.C., correspondent. This is fantastic news for readers.
In the story announcing his return to Arkansas, Lockwood said covering politics isn’t as fun as it used to be.
"Covering Washington right now is like being in the middle of a bitter, ugly divorce," he told the Democrat-Gazette. "In the old Washington, people could disagree with each other without demonizing each other."
Charging Station: In Case You Missed It
Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from Religion Unplugged.
• Why the Burrill resignation is the biggest story in U.S. Catholicism (by Clemente LIsi)
• Biden’s American Families Plan prioritizes elites, may not support faith-based child care (by Chelsea Langston Bombino)
• Maverick City music is a part of a gospel music comeback (by Liza Vandenboom Ashley)
• Q&A with Mellissa Florer-Bixler on 'how to have an enemy' (by Kenneth E. Frantz)
• ‘My Unorthodox Life’ is a microcosm of America’s divide (by Meagan Clark)
• New data shows violence against Christians persists in Modi’s India (by Surinder Kaur Lal)
• Did January attack on Capitol Highlight 'D.I.Y. Christianity' as decade's next big thing? (by Richard Ostling)
• Two religion stories that deserve more attention: China and India (by Ira Rifkin)
• Surviving COVD-19, fire, mosque, demolition: Rohingya refugees hold onto faith (by Shoaib Mir, Parthu Venkatesh P. and Rishabh Jain)
• Docuseries: Their son was lynched for being Muslim in India (by Harshita Rathore)
The Final Plug
How would you like to end the column this week?
We can deliver a message to Satan.
Or we can contemplate the meaning of non-religious “weed nuns” reportedly "on a mission to heal the world with cannabis.”
Happy Friday, everybody. Enjoy the weekend.
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.