Friday's News & Ideas - 6/14/2019

Catholic bishops stop short of mandating lay involvement in abuse investigations
Religion News Service: The inclusion of lay people is a moral “commitment” but not mandatory in the resolutions the bishops adopted Thursday morning on how to deal with sexual misconduct.

How giving water to illegal immigrants became a religious freedom issue
Deseret News: The Trump administration has brought some faith-based volunteers to court as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration.
The New York Times: An Arizona teacher helped migrants. Jurors couldn’t decide if it was a crime.

Southern Baptist historic gavel a reminder of racist legacy
Religion News Service: The gavel which opens the annual meeting of the SBC is named for John A. Broadus. He was a slaveholder, a believer in white superiority and a founding faculty member of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

6 things I wish people understood about atheism in America
Vox: 10 percent of Americans identify as atheists -- but there’s a lot that people don’t know about us.

Maryland has created a truth commission on lynchings -- can it deliver?
The Conversation: Despite the prevalence and seriousness of the practice, there has been an “astonishing absence of any effort to acknowledge, discuss, or address lynching.” Until now.

The Spark

Who am I?
Daniel José Camacho writes at Sojourners about genetic ancestry tests and what they can’t tell you about identity.

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