🐘 What We Know About The Faith Of The Two Latest GOP Presidential Candidates 🔌
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) Good morning, Weekend Plug-in readers!
A week has passed since influential pastor and author Tim Keller’s death. Look for some of the best tributes to him below.
Making news today: Texas’ GOP-controlled House could impeach scandal-ridden Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and kick the longtime Christian right culture warrior out of office, The Associated Press’ Jake Bleiberg and Jim Vertuno report.
Jumping into this week’s roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith, we start with two new entrants in the 2024 presidential race.
What To Know: The Big Story
Political opposites: “One has the most winning personality in politics,” the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan says of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
“The other doesn’t but has a story to tell about policy,” Noonan says of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Thusly, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and speechwriter for former President Ronald Reagan characterizes the two aspirants who declared for the GOP nomination this past week.
Scott focuses on faith: “A cornerstone of Republican Tim Scott's political career has been an unyielding faith,” USA Today’s Phillip M. Bailey notes.
Monday’s campaign kickoff by Scott, one of the nation’s most prominent Black Republicans, emphasized his Christian faith and personal story, according to the Washington Post’s Marianne LeVine.
At Politico, Natalie Allison asks, “Can Tim Scott actually win with piles of money, lots of faith and a big bet on Iowa?”
Christian broadcasters cheer DeSantis: Before his technology-challenged campaign launch on Twitter Wednesday night, the Florida governor found a receptive faith-based audience in his home state earlier in the week.
The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner reports:
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis conducted a massive focus-group test of a potential presidential-stump speech Monday evening at the National Religious Broadcasters convention.
Addressing an audience of approximately 2,000 evangelical Christians, Mr. DeSantis, a Catholic, brought the audience to its feet when he urged them to “Put on the whole armor of God,” quoting the New Testament book of Ephesians.
DeSantis and his wife, Casey, “rarely discuss the particularities of their religious beliefs in public,” according to America magazine’s Michael J. O’Loughlin and Christopher Parker.
P.S. Kellner has been busy at the NRB convention, producing stories ranging from interviews with “The Chosen” actors to the role of evangelicals in Jewish emigration to Israel.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. The faith of Tim Keller: “The pastor created a new blueprint for Christian thought, showing how traditional doctrine could address the crisis of modern life,” The New Yorker’s Michael Luo writes.
Read Keller’s obituary by ReligionUnplugged.com’s Rafa Oliveira.
See more tributes by The Atlantic’s Molly Worthen, Christianity Today’s Russell Moore, The Dispatch’s Chris Stirewalt, Universal Syndicate columnist Terry Mattingly and former World magazine editor Marvin Olasky.
Finally, see reflections on Keller by the New York Times’ Ross Douthat, who asks, “What has Trump cost American Christianity?”
2. Chaplains in public schools: Texas lawmakers approved a bill to allow school districts to replace counselors with chaplains, the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein reports.
Boorstein, a veteran religion writer, traveled to Austin to report on the Lone Star State’s efforts to insert religion in public life.
Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins delves into “the activists who spearheaded the Texas chaplains bill.” See more coverage from the Texas Tribune’s Robert Downen.
At the Dallas Morning News, the Editorial Board opines: “Chaplains in Texas schools? There are worse ideas.”
3. Tina Turner’s Buddhist faith: “While Tina Turner is heralded as an R&B and rock icon, her Buddhist faith was the soul that drove her eventful life and career,” the Los Angeles Times’ Jonah Valdez points out.
The “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” whose triumphant career made her world-famous, died this week at age 82, as her Associated Press obituary by Hillel Italie notes.
More Top Reads
A major report on Catholic clergy sex abuse in Illinois could draw lawsuits and reforms, but new criminal charges are unlikely, The Associated Press’ Michael Tarm and Kathleen Foody report. … A new era of nature spirituality is here, the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein writes. … Firewalkers in Greece honor Saint Constantine in mystery-shrouded, centuries-old rituals, AP’s Giovanna Dell’Orto explains. … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces pushback over a plan to subsidize ultra-Orthodox schools, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Dov Lieber. … Does the Catholic Charities Bureau in Superior, Wisconsin, have a religious purpose? That’s the question in a case going before the state’s Supreme Court, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Sophie Carson outlines. … What are the 10 most beautiful churches around the world? Check out this list from Architectural Digest’s Noelann Bourgade.
Inside The Godbeat
Welcome back, Claire Giangravé, Religion News Service’s Vatican correspondent, who has returned to work after her maternity leave and already has four bylines this week.
Meanwhile, congrats to the Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas on the birth of her new baby.
Good news for readers: Dallas prepped a few editions of her weekly religion newsletter before going on maternity leave.
Charging Station: ICYMI
Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.
Did the election of Donald Trump drive people from the pews?
The Final Plug
As a child, I loved watching professional wrestling.
Somehow, though, I never heard of Wayne Coleman — aka “Superstar Billy Graham” — who died last week at age 79.
I was fascinated by the superb obituary of Coleman produced by Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman.
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com and serves as 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 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.