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) A few weeks ago, realizing how quickly 2021 was racing toward 2022, I made a mental note of the year’s top religion stories so far.

On my quick list: Christian nationalism at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Battles over pandemic-era worship restrictions. Faith’s role in vaccine hesitancy. The biggest Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in many years. The Communion drama between President Joe Biden and U.S. Catholic bishops. Jewish connections to the Florida condo collapse.

Nowhere in my mind: Afghanistan.

But now — especially after the suicide bombings in Kabul on Thursday — it’s looking as if news (much of it tied to religion) in that war-torn nation will dominate headlines for weeks and even months.

As I noted last week, it’s impossible to keep up with all the rapid-fire developments, but these stories delve into compelling religion angles:

• Stranded at the airport (by Mindy Belz, World)

• Taliban follow strict Islamic creed that doesn’t change with the times, scholars say (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

• Taliban’s religious ideology has roots in colonial India (by Sohel Rana and Sumit Ganguly, ReligionUnplugged.com)

• Who is ISIS-K, the group officials blame for the Kabul airport bombings? (by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)

• Desperate Afghan Christians turned away at airport, aid groups say (by Alejandro Bermudez, Shannon Mullen and Matt Hadro, Catholic News Agency)

• Kabul airport attacks strand Afghan contacts of Christian humanitarians (by Cheryl Mann Bacon, Christian Chronicle)

• Catholic bishops, church charities pledge to help Afghan refugees (by Timothy Nerozzi, ReligionUnplugged.com)

• As vulnerable Afghans flee Kabul, US faith groups prepare to aid them (by Jack Jenkins, RNS)

• From mattresses to halal food, U.S. refugee groups race to aid arriving Afghans (by Ted Hesson, Reuters)

• Houston's faith community prepares to receive Afghan refugees (by Lindsay Peyton, Houston Chronicle)

• Local mosque overwhelmed with donations as Afghan refugees arrive in Northern Va. (by Daniel Berti, Prince Williams Times)

• Don’t overlook how the Catholic church has helped Afghanistan for years (by Clemente Lisi, ReligionUnplugged.com)

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Houses of worships struggle back, and tread lightly on vaccines: “Emptied out by the pandemic, most churches in New York City do not require worshipers to be vaccinated,” reports this story by Liam Stack, the New York Times’ Metro correspondent. “Rules vary from place to place.”

John Gehring with the advocacy group Faith in Public Life tells Stack: “Faith is a light to help you navigate through uncertainty and darkness, but what a lot of people have been grappling with is what do you do when church itself becomes a place of anxiety. Religious leaders want people to come back to church but to do that safely is a hard thing to do in an environment where there are so many unknowns.”

2. Amid a boom of plus-sized churches, one Catholic church wants to keep it small: And now for something completely different — or at least off the beaten path — Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron profiles a little church in North Carolina.

“The explosive growth of Catholicism in the Diocese of Raleigh has led to building massive churches,” RNS explains. “One church has been fighting to keep things small.”

3. What it’s like to be homesick for a church: Everything Kelsey Dallas writes for the Deseret News seems to show up in this weekly roundup.

Yes, I’m a big fan of her work.

But this isn’t a typical newsy, in-depth piece by Dallas. It’s more personal. Give it a read.

More Top Reads

• The new chief chaplain at Harvard? An atheist. (by Emma Goldberg, New York Times)

• Silenced by COVID, mariachi Mass returns to Tucson cathedral (by Giovanna Dell'Orto, Associated Press)

• How a COVID-19 order in Texas launched an unusual religious liberty battle (by Mya Jaradat and Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

• After year of delayed ceremonies, more than 50 couples tie the knot at Community Bible Church (by Jackie Wang, San Antonio Report)

• Safeguard gaps leaves refugees vulnerable to sexual abuse, exploitation (by Danial Silliman, Christianity Today)

• In shift, Israel quietly allows Jewish prayer on temple mount (by Patrick Kingsley and Adam Rasgon, New York Times)

• The GOP waves white flag in the same-sex marriage wars (by Meredith McGraw, Politico)

• Nadia Bolz-Weber installed as ELCA’s first pastor of public witness (by Emily McFarlan Miller, Religion News Service)

• ‘I kept putting God in too small of a box’: Five clergy on their unexpected callings (by Renée Roden, Religion News Service)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

The Religion News Association announced the finalists Thursday for the 2021 Awards for Religion Reporting Excellence.

Be sure to check out all the names — it’s a who’s who list of top Godbeat journalists — but I want to call special attention to ReligionUnplugged.com’s honorees.

They include Jillian Cheney, Micah Danney, Julia Duin, Paul Glader, Michael Ray Smith, Alexandra Radu, Celia Viggo Wexler and Kimberly Winston. Way to go, RUP team!

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

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

• Female Muslim activists become targets of online harassment (by Rishabh Jain and Fateh Veer Singh Guram)

• Flood swamps Tennessee church’s building — for the second time (by Bobby Ross Jr. and Calvin Cockrell)

• America let down Afghanistan’s women and girls even before the troop withdrawal (by Michael Metzger)

• Docuseries: Kashmiri Hindus talk Hindu-Muslim peace after fleeing violence (by Harshita Rathore)

• ‘Pray Away’ shows Christians trending away from conventional conversion therapy (by Jillian Cheney)

• Where the world’s most severe violence based on religion is occurring today (by Ewelina U. Ochab)

The Final Plug

Congrats and best wishes to ReligionUnplugged.com’s managing editor, Meagan Clark!

Clark has moved to Boston to work on a master’s degree in religion and public life at Harvard Divinity School. She’ll balance her coursework with her duties with this award-winning online magazine.

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.