Word&Way News: July 28
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a guest piece by Allan Boesak on Israel and apartheid, a review of Ryan Burges’s book The Nones, and an exploration of claims that U.S. military AI will be more Christian than AI from other nations.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Some Baptists Debate About Women Preaching, Others Listen to Women Preach. Brian Kaylor wrote about recent Baptist meetings overlooked by other media outlets.
Review: Theology and Star Trek. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Theology and Star Trek edited by Shaun C. Brown and Amanda MacInnis Hackney.
Frederick D. Haynes III on Succeeding Jesse Jackson, Marching, and ‘Woke Preaching.’ Adelle M. Banks spoke with the new leader of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
In New Book, Russell Moore Urges Evangelicals to Stop Lying and Come Back to Jesus. A conservative evangelical leader who found himself under attack for opposing Donald Trump reflects on faith and politics.
As Organized Religion Falters, the Devil Falls on Hard Times. Bob Smietana wrote about changing U.S. beliefs about the devil.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Andrew Whitehead on American Idolatry
Another noteworthy podcast this week:
Rev. Derrick Harkins joined host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush on State of Belief to talk about faith, politics, advocacy, and more.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor passed away Wednesday (July 26) after a career full of hits, controversies, and struggles. She’s perhaps best known for her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live, a moment worthy of reassessment today.
Rather than singing one of her new songs as originally planned, she switched to Bob Marley’s “War.” Hauntingly performing the song a cappella, she changed the lyrics at the end to denounce child abuse (instead of another verse on racism). As she denounced “evil,” she held up a picture of then-Pope John Paul II and tore it up. With the live audience uncomfortably quiet, she blew out some candles as the show switched to a commercial.
SNL cut the performance from its tape-delayed West Coast broadcast. Thousands of people called NBC to complain, and O’Connor was condemned in publications across the country. Some of her appearances after that were canceled or interrupted by booing.
We now know that thousands of children had been molested and assaulted by priests by that point. But it would be another decade until John Paul II addressed the issue. Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who had attacked O’Connor for “a gesture of hate,” resigned in 2002 after being exposed for his cover-up of clergy sexual abuse of children. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who had denounced O’Connor for “anti-Catholicism,” was removed from many of his public duties after being exposed in 2013 for his cover-up of clergy sexual abuse of children.
O’Connor’s act was harsh. But not any more so than the words of Jesus about a millstone. How many children could’ve been spared a hellish fate if more Church leaders had responded to O’Connor’s performance by seeking out abusers instead of criticizing her? But prophets aren’t usually accepted in their own time.
Other News of Note
Andrew Perez of The Lever wrote about how Leonard Leo, an influential conservative activist credited with shifting the U.S. Supreme Court rightward, bought a Catholic church in Maine.
Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace spoke at a prayer breakfast event on Thursday (July 27) and declared from the podium that she skipped sex with her fiancé that morning so she could make it on time.
The Oklahoman reported on a forum about Christian Nationalism at a local Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with presentations by professors Samuel Perry and Lisa Barnett.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a controversy about an Assemblies of God congregation that received millions in government meal programs for children but spent much of it on salaries and other church expenses.
“‘Peace’ in the Bible in Korea is often translated as personal inner peace, and it is rare for churches to preach the peace of the Bible in connection with the relationship between North and South Korea.” —Solga Kim in a Christianity Today article about how South Korean Christians think about reunification 70 years after the armistice agreement that divided North and South Korea.
Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post wrote about one man’s journey from undocumented immigrant to Catholic bishop.
McPherson College, a Brethren school in Kansas, now has the largest endowment for a small liberal arts college in the U.S. after an anonymous donor gave $1 billion.
Baylor University in Texas has hired the inaugural professor for the Lev H. Prichard III Chair in the Study of Black Worship to oversee the school’s Black Gospel Music Preservation Program.
Robert P. Jones wrote at his Substack newsletter White Too Long about President Joe Biden creating the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument this week:
Photo of the Week
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