Monday's News & Ideas - 11/29/2021

The Unite the Right rally changed her life. She now wants to defeat white nationalism.
Religion News Service: Since that searing summer day four years ago, Rabbi Rachel Schmelkin has devoted herself to better understanding what happened and working to make sure it never happens again.

The truth about Black women in ministry
Sojourners: Black women have been historically marginalized both in the church and society — and this trend continues today in theological education as well as the church. Neither the church nor the world of theology will survive if things continue in this direction.

Hanukkah’s darker origins feel more relevant in time of rising antisemitism, intense interest in identity*
The Washington Post: Hanukkah is generally marked as a fun, lighthearted and religiously less significant holiday, but the story historians tell is heavier.

Phil Saviano, key clergy sex abuse whistleblower, dies at 69
Associated Press: Phil Saviano, a clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Roman Catholic priests in the United States, has died. He was 69.

Black Catholics have a right to be frustrated with a church that ignores racism
MSNBC: Black Catholics push back against an archbishop’s claim that social justice movements are “pseudo-religions.”

The Spark

Is society coming apart?
Despite Thatcher and Reagan’s best efforts, there is and has always been such a thing as society, The Guardian says. The question is not whether it exists, but what shape it must take in a post-pandemic world.

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