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 afternoon, Weekend Plug-in readers!

It’s National Shameless Plug Day.

Or maybe it’s really not, but I still want to share an in-depth feature I did on faith nights hosted by Major League Baseball teams. I traveled to San Diego and Los Angeles to report this story for ReligionUnplugged.com.

But that’s enough shameless plugging for now.

In major news this week, former President Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia, accused of scheming to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in that state.

“While most of those indicted are lawyers or people with close connections to Trump, at least one is a faith leader: an Illinois pastor and former police chaplain charged in connection with efforts to intimidate Georgia election workers,” Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins reports.

This is our roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start with the resignation of a top Southern Baptist Convention official.

What To Know: The Big Story

Out immediately: Willie McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, resigned Thursday.

“In a recent resume that I submitted, it included schools that I did not attend or complete the study,” McLaurin said concerning his decision.

The short version: He lied.

Not the first time: McLaurin is just the latest SBC Executive Committee head to leave amid controversy, as Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana points out:

McLaurin became interim president after Ronnie Floyd, the previous president, resigned in October 2021 after months of controversy over the SBC’s sex abuse crisis. Floyd’s predecessor, Frank Page, resigned in 2018 due to misconduct. 

Regarding McLaurin, the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner notes:

The first Black man to head the group that handles matters for America’s largest Protestant denomination outside of an annual business session, the pastor and leadership coach was considered a leading contender for permanent appointment.

The vetting process: The Tennessean’s Liam Adams details how McLaurin’s falsified credentials were uncovered:

Executive committee chair Philip Robertson confirmed McLaurin’s resignation in a statement Thursday. A presidential search team, in a review of McLaurin's application for the permanent position, "discovered disqualifying information during their process of vetting and due diligence,” Robertson said.

“McLaurin’s education credentials that he presented in his resume are false," Robertson said.

The New York Times’ Ruth Graham explains why the resignation matters:

With more than 13 million members, the S.B.C. is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and serves as a bellwether for priorities among American evangelicals. The S.B.C. has been wracked by fierce divisions in recent years over politics, gender and race. Some conservatives in the denomination fear that it is drifting toward liberalism, while others fear a takeover by a faction that values ideological purity over all.

At the S.B.C.’s annual meeting this summer, delegates hotly debated women’s roles in church leadership. The denomination voted against readmitting two churches that had appealed their expulsion for having women pastors. Delegates also took steps to amend the denomination’s constitution to strengthen the ban on women as pastors, a move that may open up other hundreds of churches to investigation and expulsions.

The executive committee, which has more than 80 members, conducts business for the denomination between its annual meetings. The chief executive of the committee is considered more powerful in many ways than the denomination’s president, a more high-profile but comparatively symbolic role.

Pointing to McLaurin’s request for forgiveness for “the harm or hurt that this has caused,” the SBC’s president, Bart Barber, says, “Biblical Christianity offers you one and only one response to that plea, fellow Southern Baptists. Yes, Willie, I forgive you.”

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. From Buddhists to Zoroastrians: “The exhibit hall at the Parliament of the World’s Religions brought the diversity of religious practices and spiritual beliefs to life.”

Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana reports from Chicago.

See additional coverage from Smietana and The Associated Press’ David Crary.

2. Bomb threats and ‘swatting’ campaign: “At least 26 institutions have experienced incidents since late July as online trolls work together to harass Jews and other religious minorities.”

The Forward’s Arno Rosenfield and Louis Keene detail the coordinated antisemitic campaign.

3. Faith after Hawaii fires: “In the aftermath of the worst disaster in memory on their island — the deadliest fire in US history — Maui’s Christians gathered on Sunday morning to offer prayers, continue to coordinate relief efforts, and mourn the loss around them.”

That’s the lede from Christianity Today’s Morgan Lee.

See additional coverage from The Associated Press’ Bobby Caina Calvin, Giovanna Dell’Orto and Audrey McAvoy and last week’s Plug-in.

More Top Reads

Russian Orthodox priests face persecution for supporting peace in Ukraine, The Associated Press’ Kostya Manenkov writes. … The United Methodist Church disaffiliation movement in the U.S. is largely White, Southern and male-led, according to a new report cited by The Tennessean’s Liam Adams. … Legal experts question a federal judge’s order telling Southwest Airlines lawyers to get religious-liberty training, AP’s David Koenig reports. … Women at the first March on Washington included a secretary, a future bishop and a marshal, Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks recounts. … A summer camp in California gives Jewish children of color a haven to be different together, as AP’s Jacquelyn Martin details in words, pictures and video.

Inside The Godbeat

Covering the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and its aftermath tested a Jewish journalist.

Ron Kampeas explains how in an essay for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Charging Station: ICYMI

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

Churches flourish in one of Sweden’s Bible Button cities by caring for neighbors.

That’s the trend explored by ReligionUnplugged.com’s Paul Glader.

The Final Plug

OK, can I do one more shameless plug since you’re still reading?

As the two-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan approaches, I delved into the relationships forged between refugees and people of faith in the U.S.

Read my stories from Oklahoma City (with exceptional photos by my colleague Audrey Jackson) and San Antonio. And check out my related column on an interesting connection I discovered.

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.