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) Want to be smart? Avoid simple narratives.

That’s especially true on the still-timely subject of religion and the COVID-19 vaccines.

For evidence, check out these recent stories:

• “As vaccine mandates become a reality, politicians, pastors and even the pope are speaking out against faith-based exemptions,” the Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas reports.

But here’s the twist: “In many cases, those who claim a religious exemption are part of a denomination that doesn’t share their concerns, although many faith leaders do support making exemptions available.”

• “Does respect for human life mean vaccine mandates?” asks a story by the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein.

The answer? It’s complicated.

“In recent days, with a handful of organizations from Facebook and Google to the University of Virginia announcing vaccine mandates, religious leaders and organizations have considered their own teachings and values on the question of how to show respect for life,” Boorstein writes. “And their conclusions vary widely.”

• This news, via USA Today, jumps out at you: “Florida church vaccinates hundreds after 6 members die from COVID-19 in 10 days.”

"It's just been ripping our hearts apart,” the senior pastor says in the story by Marina Pitofsky.

It’s probably no surprise that social media pounced on the church for waiting until members died to promote vaccinations.

Except, as anyone reading the entire report learns, it didn’t: “The church vaccinated about 800 people in March at a similar event as COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in the U.S.”

While not religion related per se, Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal column this week makes some excellent points.

“Americans need to be more tactful and understanding when it comes to measures like masks and vaccines,” the column suggests, and Noonan explains why..

More interesting coverage:

• Why so many white evangelicals are shifting from vaccine hesitance to acceptance (by Mya Jaradat, Deseret News)

• Russell Moore: Sickness, death from COVID-19 likely reducing some vaccine hesitancy (by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

• ICYMI: The young and secular are least vaccinated, not evangelicals (by Ryan Burge, ReligionUnplugged)

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1.  U.S. employers get religion with vaccine mandates: Have we mentioned religion and the COVID-19 vaccines yet?

Seriously, this is an important angle from Reuters’ Tom Hals, who writes:

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) — As coronavirus infections rise again, U.S. companies mandating vaccinations are confronting an uncomfortable question rarely asked by an employer — what is an employee's religious belief?

2. America’s Revival features calls to prayer, Jesus trumps COVID claims and Mike Lindell conspiracy theories: Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana reports on a three-day Christian nationalist event north of Dallas (held, in case anyone is curious, in the suburb where I lived when I worked for The Associated Press in Texas):

FRISCO, Texas (RNS) — The organizers of America’s Revival love Jesus and America, too.

And they believe God still has a plan for the United States. 

“He loves the United States,” Joshua Feuerstein, a Oneness Pentecostal preacher and founder of America’s Church, told a crowd of more than 1,000 worshippers on Friday (Aug. 6).

3. Florida coach Bobby Bowden remembered as the Billy Graham of college football: ReligionUnplugged’s own Hamil Harris — nicknamed “Porkchop” when he played football for Florida State — reflects on the coach he knew.

“Thank you so much for your prayers,” Bowden told Harris recently.

Bowden succumbed Sunday to pancreatic cancer. He was 91.

More Top Reads

• In Surfside, age-old Jewish traditions bring comfort amid grief (by Ruth Graham, New York Times)

• Decrying ‘evil’ of abortion, L.A. archbishop became public face of plan that could deny Biden Communion (by Marisa Gerber, Los Angeles Times)

• The Holy Land Experience never made It to the financial promised land (by Daniel Silliman, Christianity Today)

• 'Take us to the water.' Three men touched by gun violence baptized in Ohio River (by Pat McDonogh, Courier Journal)

• Film series ‘The Chosen’ explores its Catholic side in the Eternal City (by Claire Giangravé, Religion News Service)

• Meet the Jewish woman raising millions from evangelical Christians to alleviate poverty in Israel (Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

• How T.D. Jakes and local churches became affordable housing developers (by Jacqueline J. Holness, Christianity Today)

• Jennifer Hudson: Their shared faith ‘definitely’ helped her depict Aretha Franklin in ‘Respect’ (by Adelle M. Banks, RNS)

• Some churches using enneagram personality tool to help spiritual seekers, couples (by Danae King, The Columbus Dispatch)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

When The Associated Press recently hired Holly Meyer — then The Tennessean’s award-winning religion reporter — as its global religion editor, I voiced hope that she’d keep writing occasionally.

Thus, I was pleased to see her team with David Crary for a story this week on Facebook and religion.

I love the lede:

Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers.

The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against the privacy and security concerns they have with Facebook.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

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

• How America's first pilgrims help explain vaccine resistance (by Michael Metzger)

• Hip hop artist Street Hymns explains history of Christian battle rap (by Jewels Tauzin)

• United Methodist divorce nears, while denomination's left wing moves further left (by Terry Mattingly)

• Five ways faith plays a role in Netflix-trending show ‘Manifest’ (by Jillian Cheney)

• Will Candice McQueen really be the first female president of a Church Of Christ university? (by Bobby Ross Jr.)

• Belarus regime crackdown on orthodox church is altering prayers, purging clergy (by Felix Corley)

• Simone Biles, coverage of her mental health and why no mention of rosaries (by Clemente Lisi)

The Final Plug

How it started:

How it’s going:

It’s wonderful to see Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today’s senior news editor, blessed — finally — with a tater from her pastor.

Happy Friday, everyone. 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.