Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Paula White, Trump’s Personal Pastor, Joins the White House
posted on November 1, 2019The New York Times‘ Jeremy W. Peters and Maggie Haberman report that televangelist and prosperity gospel preacher Paula White will join the Trump administration in an official role. They write, “Her role will be to advise the administration’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which Mr. Trump established last year by executive order and which aims to give religious groups more of a voice in government programs devoted to issues like defending religious liberty and fighting poverty.” White has been a spiritual adviser the president, though many evangelicals are divided on her view that “God blesses people he deems to be of strong faith with wealth, good health and other gifts.”
Will Anyone Remember 11 Dead Jews?
posted on October 31, 2019The Atlantic’s Emma Green reports on the efforts of Eric Lidji, a local Jewish archivist in Pittsburgh, to preserve the memory of the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. After the shooting, Lidji began collecting artifacts ranging from makeshift memorials to funeral programs, and “I Voted” stickers. Green writes that “the Jewish people, Lidji explained, have been able to maintain continuity in part because their archives have let them ‘come back later and be reminded.’”
Joe Biden Reportedly Denied Communion at a South Carolina Church Because of His Stance on Abortion
posted on October 31, 2019The Washington Post’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports that former Vice President Joe Biden was reportedly denied communion during a campaign stop at a Catholic church in South Carolina because he supports abortion rights. This incident is part of an ongoing debate within the Church over how to treat politicians who hold beliefs in conflict with church teachings. Bailey writes, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bishop, San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, has suggested publicly that politicians who favor legal abortion should be refused Communion. But other church leaders, including Washington’s recently retired archbishop Donald Wuerl, have openly disagreed.”
Muslim Headscarf Debate Divides France, in Climate of Hate
posted on October 31, 2019The Associated Press’ Elaine Ganley reports that tensions are rising in the debate over whether Muslim headscarves should be allowed in public spaces in fiercely secular France. Recent incidents include a French official demanding that a mother remove her headscarf when accompanying her child on a school trip and a shooting at a mosque earlier this week that wounded two Muslims. Nicholas Cadene, who works for the government’s Observatory of Secularism, said, “We’re in a climate of a meeting of fears, emotions, instincts.” Ganley writes, “For Cadene, French society is growing polarized as one part increasingly turns away from religion while another, notably Muslims, grows more visible.”
At J Street Conference, Presidential Candidates Say Israel Policy Is Due for a Reboot
posted on October 29, 2019Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron writes, “Five Democratic candidates spoke Monday (Oct. 28) at the annual meeting of the liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street.” J Street supports a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Shimron reports that Bernie Sanders received a standing ovation from the crowd of 4,000 in Washington, D.C. Sanders is Jewish, but it was his “popularity with young people and his willingness to take a tough stand on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, the settler movement and the failed peace process that won him support here,” Shimron writes.
How do Seattle Witches Celebrate Halloween? A Look into the Modern Religion Known as Wicca
posted on October 29, 2019For The Seattle Times, Tantri Wija reports that Wiccans are getting ready to celebrate Samhain—“the original Halloween, a modern(ish) version of an ancient Gaelic end-of-harvest festival.” Wicca combines modern ideas of naturalism and feminism with ancient Gaelic and Celtic traditions. “Wicca is kind of a mix of western magic and neopaganism,” says Robert Anderson, who runs a pagan bookstore and supplies shop. Samhain rituals may include a feast for the dead, a trance-like ritual, or tarot card readings.
Pope Francis Urges New Ways After Amazon Region Bishops Call for Married Priests
posted on October 29, 2019The Associated Press reports that Pope Francis encouraged the church to “open new roads for the proclamation of the Gospel.” His remarks on Sunday came after South American bishops proposed allowing married men to be ordained as priests in the remote Amazon region, which would break with the Catholic Church’s tradition of clerical celibacy. The AP reports that the pope has said he will respond to the proposal by the end of the year. “He also cautioned against self-righteousness, in an apparent slap at conservative critics who fear he is weakening the church’s foundations,” the AP writes.
Evangelicals Are Extremely Excited About Kanye’s Jesus Is King
posted on October 29, 2019Slate’s Ruth Graham reports that evangelicals are embracing rapper Kanye West after the release of his new album, Jesus is King. Recently, West has hosted Sunday services, an invitation-only musical Christian experience, and he has expressed support for President Trump, which puts him politically in line with many evangelicals. “West is hardly the first artist to flirt with religion as an artistic phase,” Graham writes. “But he has provided plenty of signals that he is not just dabbling in God-language as a motif, but plunging into the distinct values and practices of 21st-century American evangelicalism.”
“Border Church” and “Border Mosque” Team up for Prayer Service
posted on October 24, 2019Religion News Service’s Alejandra Molina reports that an interfaith day of prayer will happen at the San Diego-Tijuana border on October 27. More than a decade ago, the Rev. John Fanestil, a United Methodist minister, started a weekly prayer service known as “Border Church” at a local park on the border, “where family members separated by their immigration status can interact, even if their interaction takes place through border fencing.” Since April, a group of Muslims known as “Border Mosque” have joined them, and this month they will co-host the “binational day of prayer.”
Northern Ireland’s Evangelicals Lose on Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage
posted on October 24, 2019Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnut reports, “Abortion and gay marriage have become legal in Northern Ireland for the first time, rallying Christians against dramatic policy changes put in place without their consent.” The laws were passed by the United Kingdom, and this week lawmakers in Northern Ireland did not block the legalization of abortion. Peter Lynas, Northern Ireland director of the Evangelical Alliance of the UK, said, “There has been a significant mobilization, particularly on the issue of abortion. The issues have also united churches and seen evangelical and Catholics working closely together.”