Friday's News & Ideas - 10/8/2021

Religious minorities and others at grave risk in Afghanistan and urgent action needed, U.S. panel declares
Baptist News Global: The United States and the global community must pressure the Taliban to cease persecuting Afghanistan’s religious and ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQ communities and even Muslims, said a virtual panel of experts convened by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
NPR: Newly arrived Afghans test a refugee resettlement system that's rebuilding on the fly

‘That doesn’t sound like a seminary’
Sojourners: The nondenominational Hartford Theological Seminary is rebranding with a new name that the school’s leadership hopes will better reflect the institution’s renewed focus on peacebuilding, interreligious dialogue and conflict resolution.

Conversations address going separate ways
United Methodist News: This fall, a number of groups have planned online or in-person events aimed at helping Methodist churchgoers discuss and discern which direction they and their congregations might choose.

Don’t let religious liberty claims mask bad faith arguments
Christianity Today: Inconsistent and insincere appeals for exemptions to public health rules are undermining important freedoms.

Karl Barth’s affair with Charlotte von Kirschbaum wasn’t the only major conflict behind his theology*
Christian Century: The troubling nature of the Barth-Kirschbaum relationship is not limited to sexual infidelity. Did she get the credit she deserved for her contributions to Barth’s teaching and writing?

The Spark

The movable feast
In the midst of the nation’s most recent racial reckoning, Columbia Journalism Review reports that America’s food media has been forced to consider issues including appropriation, privilege, cultural heritage and ethnicity.

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