Monday's News & Ideas - 8/26/2019

‘I’m going to where people are’: The viral priest using TikTok to start a church
The Guardian: His videos were designed to draw Austin residents to religion but have made him a star of the new social media app that most of his age still don’t understand.

400 years of black giving: From the days of slavery to the 2019 Morehouse graduation
The Conversation: Robert F. Smith’s generous act is an extension of the underappreciated heritage of African American philanthropy.

How the religious right transformed Israeli education*
New Yorker: In the past decade, since Netanyahu came into power, Israeli society has undergone a process so transformative that a new Hebrew word had to be brought into use for it: “hadata,” or “religionization.”

Rev. William Barber calls on Democrats to host debate on poverty, racism
Religion News Service: The Rev. William Barber II, a progressive activist and pastor, called on DNC party leaders to host a presidential debate focused on poverty and to do more to address the concerns of poor and low-income Americans.

Evangelical group: Indefinitely detaining migrant children is wrong
HuffPost: World Relief, a Christian group, is speaking up against the Trump administration’s new plan to keep migrant kids indefinitely detained with their parents.

The Spark

Did a Brooklyn home’s tunnel provide passage to escaped slaves?
Underground Railroad participation is hard to prove. CityLab reports that activists battling to save 227 Duffield Street from demolition are trying to prove just that.

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