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1. "Black and White evangelicals once talked about ‘racial reconciliation.’ Then Trump came along." White evangelicals angered over the killing of George Floyd this summer have joined protests and declared that “Black lives matter” — and some have even championed reparations as they tried to promote racial reconciliation. But their continued support for President Trump has disgusted Black evangelical leaders, many of whom have let them know they are not interested. 2. "Christian groups unveil new criminal justice reform push" A coalition of Christian groups including the Church of God in Christ and the National Association of Evangelicals is launching a new criminal justice reform push that seeks to rally believers behind policing changes grounded in biblical principles. ... the Prayer & Action Justice Initiative has its roots in a campaign started in the aftermath of the coronavirus to help save small churches at risk of closing, with top contributors to that work now channeling their energy toward the criminal justice project. It is expected to include prayer gatherings, nonviolent protests and policy advocacy — all aimed at advancing the cause of racial equity in the justice system. ... Other groups participating in the new coalition include the Center for Public Justice, Prison Fellowship, the American Bible Society, the Asian American Christian Collaborative, the National Day of Prayer and World Relief. Former pro football player and outspoken Christian Benjamin Watson also is part of the coalition. ... the initiative is calling for greater public disclosure of reports on use of force by law enforcement agents, deaths in custody and other metrics.Other elements of its agenda include easing sentencing laws and limits on parole releases, as well as the use of faith-based prison programs and other infrastructure to help inmates prepare for life after release. 3. "2,500 evangelicals sign pandemic statement warning: Don’t ignore science" “A Christian Statement on Science for Pandemic Times” expresses concern for the “politicization of science in the public square when so many lives are at stake.” Signers pledge to wear masks, get vaccinated and correct misinformation and conspiracy theories.
To date, the statement has been signed by 2,500 Christians; among them are theologians N.T. Wright and Richard Mouw, and the presidents of several seminaries, including Mark Labberton of Fuller Theological Seminary and Michael Le Roy of Calvin University. Signatories also include Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and Lisa Sharon Harper, a popular writer and activist. 4. "QAnon: The alternative religion that’s coming to your church" But there’s another challenge that pastors I spoke with say is on the rise in their flocks. It is taking on the power of a new religion that’s dividing churches and hurting Christian witness. ... In a fraught political moment, the pastors I spoke with worried that taking on QAnon, by addressing politics directly, would divide the church. But QAnon is more than a political ideology. It’s a spiritual worldview that co-opts many Christian-sounding ideas to promote verifiably false claims about actual human beings. QAnon has features akin to syncretism — the practice of blending traditional Christian beliefs with other spiritual systems, such as Santeria. Q explicitly uses Bible verses to urge adherents to stand firm against evil elites. One charismatic church based in Indiana hosts two-hour Sunday services showing how Bible prophecies confirm Q’s messages. Its leaders tell the congregation to stop watching mainstream media (even conservative media) in favor of QAnon YouTube channels and the Qmap website. |
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1. "Joe Biden’s acceptance speech caps off an unusually faith-filled Democratic National Convention" Speakers, organizers and delegates appealed to a conciliatory, inspirational form of religion with a fervency not seen at any party convention in recent memory — Republican or Democratic. The noticeable focus on faith, though frequently offset by appeals to religiously unaffiliated voters who make up an ever-increasing percentage of the party, was tied to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and oriented partly to moderates and even conservatives, who Democrats hope have will abandon President Donald Trump on Election Day. 2. Franklin Graham: "In watching some of the Democratic National Convention on television this week, it has been interesting to see the absence of God. ..." 3. "Why a Trump Win Is Critical to the Survival of Christian Faith and Values" Doug said, "The only thing I can explain about [Trump's] spirituality is that God touches each of us in different ways. And it's beyond logic. I mean, there are great scientists as you know, who are born-again Christians. It just defies logic. ... You can believe in carbon dating and still believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God," he said. ... And when you're touched by God, it's powerful; it defies everything else. It wipes out everything else. You don't get a choice. You have to believe, because you've just encountered God," Doug said. "Something like that happened to him. And so he's been very sympathetic to the evangelical cause." 4. John MacArthur: "any real true believer is going to be on [Trump's] side in this election." 5. Jim Bakker: "I think if we elect the wrong people—and you see how wrong it’s been—we’re gonna have a revolution. The church people are going to march in the street ..." 6. "People of Faith: Engage 2020" Webinar The “People of Faith: Engage 2020” webinar, hosted by Issue One, explored how people of faith and church communities can engage civically to promote shared values and integrity in a volatile election year. It featured Christian musician Michael W. Smith, longtime Southern Baptist leader Dr. Richard Land, President Obama’s evangelical outreach leader Michael Wear, & Campaign Co-Founder Justin Giboney and young author and theologian, Kaitlyn Schiess. The conversation will be moderated by former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp and Weston Wamp, Issue One’s Senior Political Strategist. Former Rep. Wamp serves as the co-chair of Issue One’s ReFormer’s Caucus, chairs the Gospel Music Foundation and was previously the co-chair of the National Prayer Breakfast. 7. "Josh Dickson’s road from Republican evangelical to Biden’s faith outreach director" Growing up in Rochester, New York, attending an evangelical church on Sundays and Bible study on Wednesdays, Josh Dickson never expected he would one day support a Democrat for president. Today, Dickson is not only a Democratic voter but the Biden for President campaign’s national faith engagement director. Saying he still cherishes the values his parents instilled in him, Dickson was converted by his experience as a community organizer in Chicago’s South Side. |
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1. "Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion" But since 2007, things have changed with surprising speed. From about 2007 to 2019, the overwhelming majority of the countries we studied—43 out of 49—became less religious. The decline in belief was not confined to high-income countries and appeared across most of the world. Growing numbers of people no longer find religion a necessary source of support and meaning in their lives. Even the United States—long cited as proof that an economically advanced society can be strongly religious—has now joined other wealthy countries in moving away from religion. Several forces are driving this trend, but the most powerful one is the waning hold of a set of beliefs closely linked to the imperative of maintaining high birthrates. Modern societies have become less religious in part because they no longer need to uphold the kinds of gender and sexual norms that the major world religions have instilled for centuries. Although some religious conservatives warn that the retreat from faith will lead to a collapse of social cohesion and public morality, the evidence doesn’t support this claim. As unexpected as it may seem, countries that are less religious actually tend to be less corrupt and have lower murder rates than more religious ones. Needless to say, religion itself doesn’t encourage corruption and crime. This phenomenon reflects the fact that as societies develop, survival becomes more secure: starvation, once pervasive, becomes uncommon; life expectancy increases; murder and other forms of violence diminish. And as this level of security rises, people tend to become less religious. 2. "Summer Unrest over Racial Injustice Moves the Country, But Not Republicans or White Evangelicals" Among religious affiliations, white evangelical Protestants (72%) are most likely to say police killings of unarmed Black men are isolated incidents. Their views are unchanged since 2018 (71%) and 2015 (72%). The attitudes of white mainline Protestants (53%) and white Catholics (56%) are not statistically different from their views in 2018 (59% and 63%, respectively) but their views have significantly shifted since 2015 (73% and 71%, respectively), when these groups were aligned with white evangelical Protestants on this issue. Compared to white Christian groups, white religiously unaffiliated Americans (30%) are less likely to view these police killings as isolated incidents, down from 38% in 2018 and a high of 44% in 2015. Among all religiously unaffiliated Americans, 26% view police killings of unarmed Black men as isolated incidents. About three in ten (31%) nonwhite Protestants say the same. ... Among religious groups, majorities of white evangelical Protestants (56%) and white Catholics (51%) agree that “today discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities,” as do more than four in ten white mainline Protestants (43%). By contrast only about three in ten white unaffiliated Americans (30%) and nonwhite Protestants (28%) agree. Among all religiously unaffiliated Americans, 27% agree. Notably, white mainline Protestants are the only religious group in which agreement with this statement have declined consistently over the last five years, dropping from 55% in 2015 to 51% in 2019 to 43% today. The attitudes of white unaffiliated Americans have remained stable over time. ... Majorities of all white Christian groups disagree that generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for Black Americans to work their way out of the lower class, including white evangelical Protestants (72%), white Catholics (62%), and white mainline Protestants (54%). Fewer nonwhite Protestants (44%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (35%) disagree, including 38% of white unaffiliated Americans. The attitudes of white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics views are mostly unchanged since 2018 (67% and 57%, respectively) and 2015 (69% for both). However, disagreement with this statement has consistently declined among white mainline Protestants since 2018 (62%) and 2015 (72%). White religiously unaffiliated Americans have not significantly changed their views since 2018 (40%) but are notably less likely to disagree with this statement today than they did in 2015 (51%). |
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1. "Evangelical Anti-Trafficking, Humanitarian and Denominational Organizations Petition Ivanka Trump to Protect Vulnerable Children" Today, leaders from World Relief, International Justice Mission, World Vision U.S., Bethany Christian Services, the Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and various other evangelical institutions sent a letter to Ivanka Trump, one of the administration’s most outspoken advocates for victims of human trafficking, urging the White House to protect vulnerable, unaccompanied minors who have been put at risk by the administration’s suspension of key provisions of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). 2. "FRC Releases New Publication on Biblical Principles for Human Sexuality" The publication comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which has accelerated the sexual revolution and empowered other activist judges to rule in ways that will have far-reaching effects throughout society. |
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