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) Over the years, I’ve covered the faith-based response to a variety of hurricanes.

I traveled to New Orleans after Katrina, Houston after Harvey, the Florida Panhandle after Michael and Puerto Rico after Irma and Maria. No doubt I’m forgetting a few.

Inevitably, those watching the disturbing images on television or social media want to help immediately.

But typically, assessing the needs requires a bit of time.

That leads us to Hurricane Ian, the megastorm setting its sights on South Carolina’s coast after causing catastrophic damage in Florida.

“The best way to help after Hurricane Ian is to give financially to established organizations responding to the disaster,” said Jamie Aten, co-founder of Spiritual First Aid and co-director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College in Illinois.

“Reach out to those you know who have been impacted to ask how you might help,” Aten added. “Our research shows that providing spiritual support and attending to basic needs helps reduce distress in the face of disasters.”

At Christianity Today, Aten and Kent Annan provide a “free spiritual and emotional toolkit for Hurricane Ian.”

President Joe Biden on Thursday praised Federal Emergency Management Agency workers mobilizing to help. The federal government’s response is, of course, crucial after a natural disaster.

But so is that of the “faith-based FEMA” — from Mennonite chainsaw crews to Southern Baptist feeding teams to Seventh-day Adventist warehousing experts adept at collecting, organizing and logging relief supplies, as I’ve written previously.

An umbrella group of faith-based agencies and secular charities comprise the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD).

Among the help on its way to Florida: tractor-trailer rigs full of food and emergency supplies from Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee.

Also: two field kitchens staffed with about 20 volunteers from the Southern Baptists of Texas’ disaster relief ministry.

“This captures the spirit of our volunteers,” Scottie Stice, the Texas group’s director, told the Houston Chronicle. “We’re a faith-based organization and have been praying against this hurricane, but we stand ready to serve the needs of the survivors in Florida with hot meals and recovery operations afterwards.”

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. For suburban Texas men, a workout craze with a side of faith: “In a Houston suburb, men have been flocking to a workout group that promises more than just a sweat session; together, they aim to ease male loneliness,” the New York Times’ Ruth Graham reports.

Graham’s exceptional front-page story inspired interesting reflections on “the crisis of masculinity” by David French at The Dispatch.

2. Bolsonaro campaign to evangelicals: Brazil’s soul at stake: This story is the first of a two-part package by The Associated Press’ David Biller on the intersection of politics and religions in South America’s largest country, which has a population of roughly 215 million.

Read the second part: “In sacred Brazil dunes, critics see evangelical encroachment.”

In a piece republished here at ReligionUnplugged.com, Amy Erica Smith writes for The Conversation that “religion is shaping Brazil’s presidential election — but its evangelicals aren’t the same as America’s.”

3. Moscow patriarch: Russian war dead have their sins forgiven: “Russian soldiers who die in the line of duty in Ukraine have all of their sins forgiven, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed in a sermon, comparing their sacrificial death to that of Jesus,” The Associated Press’ Peter Smith writes.

“The assertion, made on Sunday, ratchets up Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s already staunch support for Russia’s war on Ukraine since its beginning in February.”

More Top Reads

• Clergy strive to reconcile politically divided congregations (by David Crary, Associated Press)

• Oklahoma City's egg-shaped First Christian Church torn down, endangering passing traffic (by Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman)

• An unenforced ban on clergy in Legislature: Tennessee's Amendment 4 (by Liam Adams, The Tennessean)

• Orthodox church in the Hamptons calls people with autism ‘part of our community’ (by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

• Survey: Today’s evangelicals more likely to welcome the stranger (by Emily Belz, Christianity Today)

• Church of England more a missionary these days (by Frank E. Lockwood, Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

• Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting (by Jason Dearen and Michael Rezendes, AP)

• Catholic archdiocese begins review of all Baltimore parishes as Mass attendance, already declining, fails to recover from pandemic (by Jonathan M. Pitts, Baltimore Sun)

• How M.I.A. Found Jesus (by Tyler Huckabee, Relevant)

• After 150 years, Jewish temple in Leonia ‘keeps chugging along’ toward Rosh Hashanah (by Deena Yellin, NorthJersey.com)

• Study: More than three-fourths of Republican evangelicals want U.S. declared a Christian nation (by Bob Smietana, RNS)

• National Cathedral raises $115 million for earthquake repairs, future (by Fredrick Kunkle, Washington Post)

• New dating apps — and ‘in person’ mixers — target religious and political niches (by Kathryn Post, RNS)

• LGBTQ-friendly church OK with getting Southern Baptist boot (by Peter Smith, AP)

• Satanic Temple sues Indiana over abortion law, claiming it violates religious rights (by Johnny Magdaleno, Indianapolis Star)

• Protesters bring guns, Nazi salutes to chaotic scene at Texas church's drag bingo event (by Emily Foxhall, Houston Chronicle)

• Think piece: For some Christians, ‘rapture anxiety’ can take a lifetime to heal (by AJ Willingham, CNN)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

I don’t always listen to podcasts, but I do when fellow Godbeat pros keep sharing the links on Twitter.

New York Times religion writer Ruth Graham had a busy — and insightful — week, appearing on The Daily podcast to discuss “the pastors being driven out by Trumpism” and The Run-up to talk about politics and evangelicalism.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.

• ‘Honk For Jesus’ reflects on the burdens Christian women are forced to bear (by Jillian Cheney)

• Faith, family and the dropping number of marriages (part 1) (by Terry Mattingly)

• Ritual prostitution and the rage over Trump (by Michael Metzger)

• Cardinal Zen’s trial adjourned before defense can cross-examine witnesses (by Clemente Lisi)

• ‘Traditional’ Jewish foods and cookbooks play a role in marking Rosh Hashanah (by Deborah Dash Moore)

• How the U.S. Congress is trying to fight against Uyghur forced labor (by Deborah Laker)

• Giorgia on their minds: What the Vatican thinks of Italy's election results and Meloni's victory (by Clemente Lisi)

• Sagamore Institute study attempts to quantify the cost of Bible translation (by Warren Cole Smith)

• Remembering Rodney Stark (1934-2022) (by Byron R. Johnson)

• Pandemic and politics exacerbate challenges facing an Ohio church (by Bobby Ross Jr.)

• An old question that’s back in the news: Why can’t non-Muslims visit Mecca and Medina? (by Richard Ostling)

The Final Plug

The Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas is a machine, producing frequent stories about religion as well as sports.

This fascinating piece — about religion and sports — explores how “religion aided the rise of top sports leagues — and ended up in their shadow.”

Happy Friday, everyone! To those in the midst of the storm, please stay safe.

Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for ReligionUnplugged.com 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.