Weekend Plug-In: A church booting out older members?
Each week, I highlight top headlines from the world of faith for the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
Here are a few links from my latest Weekend Plug-In column:
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. What’s really going on inside the Minnesota church accused of trying to expel its elderly members: The St. Paul Pioneer Press produced the original report on a United Methodist congregation’s alleged attempt to “usher out gray-haired members in (an) effort to attract more young parishioners.”
The story quickly went viral.
Everybody from The Atlantic’s Emma Green to The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher commented on it.
Thankfully, the Washington Post’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey and then Slate’s Ruth Graham dug a little deeper. Also, GetReligion’s Terry Mattingly discusses this topic on the “Crossroads” podcast.
Yes, nuance is a wonderful thing. The real story is more complicated than it first appeared.
2. Multiracial churches growing, but challenging for clergy of color: Production editor and national correspondent Adelle Banks recently celebrated her 25th anniversary with Religion News Service.
Read her latest in RNS’ “Beyond the Most Segregated Hour” series.
(Bonus: It’s datelined Keller, Texas, which happens to be my hometown.)
3. Auschwitz was liberated 75 years ago. But politics are complicating the celebration: The Los Angeles Times’ Jaweed Kaleem has the story from Kraków, Poland.
In related news, the Washington Post reported on 50 world leaders gathering in Jerusalem to commemorate the anniversary. Dignitaries and delegations filled Yad Vashem, the city’s somber memorial to the Holocaust’s 6 million Jewish victims.
I was blessed to visit the memorial last year with a group of U.S. religion journalists.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at [email protected].
“Weekend Plug-in,” featuring analysis, insights and top headlines from the world of faith, is produced in partnership with Religion Unplugged.
