Word&Way News: Dec. 6
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a reflection on changes in publication technology and our annual list of favorite books from the year.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
At Christmas, We Celebrate Light Dispelling Darkness. Edward Walsh reflected on the true meaning of the Christmas story for all who claim to believe in and follow Jesus.
Bolsonaro’s Indictment in Brazil Stirs Conservative Christian Supporters’ Outrage. A Catholic priest was among those indicted with the former president of Brazil for allegedly plotting a failed coup.
Review: Budding Lotus in the West. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Budding Lotus in the West: Buddhism From an Immigrant’s Feminist Perspective by Nhi Yến Đỗ Trần.
Latino Protestants Go on Pilgrimage to the Darien Gap. Aleja Hertzler-McCain reported on a trip to Panama by U.S. clergy seeking to better understand the dangerous journey of migrants heading to the United States.
From Bach to Beyonce, Why a Church Orchestra Aims To Lift Up Young Musicians of Color. Deepa Bharath reported on a Presbyterian church in California that started a string orchestra for teenagers and children.
Unsettling Advent
Our Advent series started this week, with devotionals by Brian Kaylor, Andrew Whitehead, Beau Underwood, Karrie Gaspard-Hogewood, John Marc Sianghio, and Jeremy Fuzy. You can sign up to receive the rest of the daily devotionals each morning in your inbox.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Samuel Perry on Religion for Realists
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
At 10:27 p.m. local time on Tuesday (Dec. 3), South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol gave a surprise televised address to suddenly declare martial law. Already polling with only about 20% approval and shrouded in multiple scandals, the president then also accused his political opponents of “anti-state activities” and sent military personnel to block lawmakers from entering the National Assembly. He failed in that latter effort as enough members got in the building to vote unanimously to end the martial law declaration. The lawmakers have since started the impeachment process.
Even before the democratic crisis that erupted this week, a group of Catholic clergy in the nation had called for Yoon to resign. They released a letter last week calling him “a man of falsehoods” and “a man of violence.” That move marked a continuing escalation between Catholic clergy and Yoon, who is Catholic. Because of Catholic support for Korean peace and reconciliation, the hawkish Yoon attacked the Church as an “anti-state force.”
Father Oh Yong-ho, an advisor to the Catholic bishops’ National Reconciliation Committee, said in response to Yoon’s criticism that the Church must continue its work to officially end war with North Korea and provide humanitarian aid to North Korea. Thus, the priest added, “The Korean Church has no choice but to be seen as an anti-state force.”
When a government heads toward authoritarianism, uses force to target political opposition, undermines press freedoms, and engages in corruption, may the church always find itself counted among those that government deems as “anti-state.”
Survey Says…
Other News of Note
Mike Baker and Ruth Graham of the New York Times reported on how Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, has praised the Crusades as he calls for Christians to govern.
Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Republican attorney general of Texas, is trying to shut down the homeless ministry of a progressive Reformed Church in America congregation.
In response to conservative Christians creating programs in Ohio for public school students to be released during class time for offsite religious instruction, the Satanic Temple is creating a similar program for students.
“As children hear Jesus’s admonitions to ‘go and sell all that you own and give it to the poor’ (without any work requirement!) and to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ (without checking their citizenship!), our children will learn that a Christian nation would take care of every single person from birth to old age and would not fixate on acquiring wealth as the only worthwhile goal of life.” —Rev. Joseph Farnes, an Episcopal priest in Boise, in a column mocking a proposal to require Bible reading in Idaho public schools.
Marisa Iati of the Washington Post reported on an Episcopal priest who might be defrocked because of his refusal to serve the Eucharist as he protests racism within his denomination.
Rikki Schlott of the New York Post reported on young men switching from Protestant to Orthodox churches in search of a more “masculine” Christianity.
Forum 18 reported on Uzbekistan’s persecution of religious groups like Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Buddhists.
The great planet Earth outlasted the late Hal Lindsey.
Elizabeth Bruenig of The Atlantic made a Christian case for saying “Happy Holidays.”
Each year, the town hall building in Gengenbach, Germany, is transformed into a massive Advent calendar, with the shade of a window raised each day to unveil a new picture.
Photo of the Week
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